Response to this question

[sowinskija]

Why cant women be Priests?

I got this question from another Catholic and need a response. She was trying to claim we are sexist or something like that.

 

[Zimm3r]

Why can’t men be nuns?

Women are nuns.
Men are priests.

It is as discriminatory as a women having a certain anatomy and men having a certain anatomy.

 

[ProdglArchitect]

More specifically, it is becuase we do not have the authority to declare that women can be priests. Christ only selected men as his apostles and we follow his example.

Had Christ wanted to pick a woman, he had the perfect choice in Mary, and he’d have had no qualms about doing so, just as he didn’t feel any need to adhere to any social custom that didn’t fit within God’s plan. Frankly, I don’t think this person is going to listen to you though, they operate under the mistaken impression that the Pope / Bishops control the Church, which simply isn’t true; not that they’ll listen to you when you tell them that. The Holy Spirit guides the Church, and Christ’s life defines our customs. We can’t change that because to do so would to cease being Catholic.

 

[frjohnmaryt]

Why Jesus himself did not call any woman to be one of the 12 Apostles? There were only 12 men Apostles no women but there were women among the 12 when Jesus appeared to them and also at the ascension and at Pentecost.

 

[JRKH]

Why can’t men be nuns?

Women are nuns.
Men are priests.

It is as discriminatory as a women having a certain anatomy and men having a certain anatomy.

Actually - I would find this argument to be totally unsatisfactory.
In response to the question "Why can’t men be nuns? I would counter - they can, except they are called monks.

Prodigal’s answer is much better. Jesus did not select any men as apostles. Further, in mass (and also in confession) the priest is acting “in persona Christi”. Christ was a man - the priest is a man.

But maybe talk to your friend about this…
There is very little that a priest can do that a female religious cannot. He can administer the sacraments - and even here, women are Eucharistic minsters.
Women religious run large institutions, hospitals work side by side with priests in many ministries etc…and hold many high positions.
So - in what way are they being prevented from serving God???
And that is the key - are they being prevented from serving God???

Peace
James

 

[Inego_de_Loyola]

Vatican I:

we teach and define as a divinely revealed dogma that when the Roman pontiff speaks EX CATHEDRA, that is, when,
in the exercise of his office as shepherd and teacher of all Christians,
in virtue of his supreme apostolic authority,
he defines a doctrine concerning faith or morals to be held by the whole church,
he possesses, by the divine assistance promised to him in blessed Peter, that infallibility which the divine Redeemer willed his church to enjoy in defining doctrine concerning faith or morals. Therefore, such definitions of the Roman pontiff are of themselves, and not by the consent of the church, irreformable.

[(Link)](http://www.papalencyclicals.net/Councils/ecum20.htm#Chapter 4. On the infallible teaching authority of the Roman pontiff)
John Paul II's Ordinatio Sacerdotalis:

Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.

(Link)
It doesn’t get more infallible than this.

 

[Jerok]

Actually - I would find this argument to be totally unsatisfactory.
In response to the question "Why can’t men be nuns? I would counter - they can, except they are called monks.

Prodigal’s answer is much better. ** Jesus did not select any men as apostles.** Further, in mass (and also in confession) the priest is acting “in persona Christi”. Christ was a man - the priest is a man.

But maybe talk to your friend about this…
There is very little that a priest can do that a female religious cannot. He can administer the sacraments - and even here, women are Eucharistic minsters.
Women religious run large institutions, hospitals work side by side with priests in many ministries etc…and hold many high positions.
So - in what way are they being prevented from serving God???
And that is the key - are they being prevented from serving God???

Peace
James

I knew you were a heretic! (see bolded)

Anywho, Vatican I is pretty infallible, yeah, though you could trust us fallible people on the internet. What if Vatican I had made a typo and instead of men being priests it was hens!

 

[JRKH]

I knew you were a heretic! (see bolded)

Anywho, Vatican I is pretty infallible, yeah, though you could trust us fallible people on the internet. What if Vatican I had made a typo and instead of men being priests it was hens!

OOOOPPPPSS…:bigyikes:

You know what is surprising is that it has taken so long for someone to point it out…

Guess this is a lessen in humility for me. Almost no one reads my responses……

Peace
James