J
JReducation
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This would be applicable if the Church has the authority to ordaine women. But it does not. Unless the Church has that authority, to do so is to violate the Will of God. Do you want to belong to a Church that violates the Will of God? We have enough problems without commiting another sin.
If we read John’s Gospel we observe that Mary is given to John as his mother and John to Mary as his son. We see that Christ first reveals his resurrection to Mary of Magdala.
In Luke’s Gospel the Incarnation is first revealed to Mary, then to Joseph. The two greatest mysteries of the Christian faith are first revealed to women. It’s not as if the Apostles and their disciples did not appreciate women. They wrote about their key roles in key moments of salvation history, something that was very uncommon for Jewish men to do. Therefore, we cannot claim that they were a product of their time and that’s why they had no ordained women. They had oather great events and mysteries in which they placed women in prominent roles, as I said, contrary to the custom of the time.
The early Catholic Church was the first organization in the world to give women autonomy. Notice that nuns were given authority and control over large estates and large monasteries. Observe that they were called Abess, which is a bastardization of the title Abbot, which means Father. They had a male title and still do. These women had control not only over land, but great amounts of wealth. Their male counterparts did not govern them. Benedictines, Franciscans and Dominicans never held any power over the female branches of their orders. They were completely autonomous long before women had the right to speak in their own homes.
After the French Revolution congregations of sisters were founded. They too received Pontifical Right, which they enjoy to this day. This means that they are not submitted to the authority of the bishop, but only the authority of the Pontif, just like male religious. Long before women were allowed to select their husbands, religious sisters were among the great scholars in the Church and the world. They educated future kings and pope alike at a time when most children in the secular world were educated by men and only men went to school. Religious congregations were already running schools for women.
The separation of the sexes when it comes to Holy Orders is not a cultural separation or an anthropological one. It is an apostolic separation. Women were not included among the Apostles, but were included among the first to proclaim the Gospel. There wee always women who were spiritual leaders, just look at Catherine of Siena, Clare of Assisi, Teresa of Avila, Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
Let us not forget that men were also excluded from Holy Orders. Only a select few were included. If you look at the great religious orders of men, most of the members were not ordained. The two largest religious families in the history of the Church have been the Benedictines and the Franciscans. To this day, less than half of the monks and friars are ordained, yet they are males. Ordiantion of males was never a given or a right. Only those who are called may be ordained. In my own house we have six brothers, but only one of the brothers is ordained. Yet, he is not the superior. The superior is a lay brother. The point is that men and women are called to different ministries and different ways of life. Even among males, there is no such thing as a right to be ordained. Those to be ordained are called forth either by the bishop of their diocese, if they are secular men or by their superiors, if they are consecrated men. We must never assume that all males can be ordained. That is not the case.
Even in religious life, not all men and women can be religious. It is not a right. It is a privilege bestowed by Christ on some, not all. That why not every woman or man is a consecrated religious.
I hope this helps.
Fraternally,
Br. JR, OSF
