Why doesn't God want Female Priests?

[vincentleo]

Early Christian literature is pretty consistent with the theme found in the Bible. For example, in the Didache (50-120 AD) we see:

“Appoint, therefore, for yourselves, bishops and deacons worthy of the Lord, men meek, and not lovers of money, and truthful and proved; for they also render to you the service of prophets and teachers” (ch 15)

In the Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus (about 215 AD), we have:

“A widow is appointed, she is not ordained, but is chosen by name. . . The widow is appointed by word alone, and then may join the rest of the widows. Do not lay hands upon her, for she does not offer the oblation, nor does she have a liturgical duty. Ordination is for the clergy because of liturgical duty. The widow is appointed because of prayer, which is a duty for all.” (ch 10)

It is also worthwhile to point out that the male-only priesthood is a closed subject, since St. Pope John Paul II stated, in the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, the following:

“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.”

As for WHY, other ideas have been proposed that I agree with, but I think there is something else here that is not often recognized: our own viewpoint on the subject. The idea of women priests wasn’t even an issue the first 19-20 centuries of the Church’s history: people did not think in terms of equality the way modern individualism does today, and it was simply accepted that men and women were clearly segregated in many social ways - and for good, carefully considered reasons too. I think the biggest explanation of why the priesthood is male-only has more to do with this, than anything else.

For example, the reference to Apostolic Tradition of Hippolytus above says that a woman (the widow) does not have a liturgical duty. This seems to imply a distinction touching on human nature itself, which clearly could be recognized by a community or people in its social organization.

The point is, there is another possible explanation of the male-only priesthood that is not often voiced: that the modern equality-centric view of things is not entirely correct, and the male-only priesthood is a testament to an earlier wisdom (regarding human dignity and human nature) that has in many places been forgotten today.

 

[bpm4330]

The church teaches that the priest “acts in persona Christi Capitis”.

From the Catechism:

1548 In the ecclesial service of the ordained minister, it is Christ himself who is present to his Church as Head of his Body, Shepherd of his flock, high priest of the redemptive sacrifice, Teacher of Truth. This is what the Church means by saying that the priest, by virtue of the sacrament of Holy Orders, acts in persona Christi Capitis:

It is the same priest, Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents. Now the minister, by reason of the sacerdotal consecration which he has received, is truly made like to the high priest and possesses the authority to act in the power and place of the person of Christ himself (virtute ac persona ipsius Christi).
Christ is the source of all priesthood: the priest of the old law was a figure of Christ, and the priest of the new law acts in the person of Christ.

 

[FrDavid96]

But there is hope because there is historical evidence for it as FrDavid pointed out. And the fact that the commission is composed of 6 women and 6 men. A stroke of genius by the Pope. And there is watch site for this commission:

Commission Watch

The ultra-conservative nay-sayers are being silent from what I can tell.

No, there is NO historical evidence for women deacons. None.

All of the evidence proves that there were not women deacons in the early Church.

What we had were deaconesses, which is something altogether different from female deacons.

 

[simpleas]

I particularly found this part refreshing…

Finally, some critics worry that reviving the female diaconate—or even acknowledging its history—would erode the Orthodox Church’s understanding of men and women as meaningfully different. Given the many ways in which the Orthodox Church’s theology, homiletics, iconography, and hymnography support a vision of man and woman as equal but not equivalent, the ordination of deaconesses seems unlikely to compromise this vision. Not ordaining deaconesses may even undermine the Orthodox claim that men and women each have distinctive charisms. For to make this claim while ordaining only men to holy orders skews the entire church toward the masculine charisms. Ordaining deaconesses would allow the distinctive female charisms to benefit the whole church. Refusing to ordain them, lest this be misunderstood as a capitulation to secular trends, sends the wrong message, a message of fear rather than faithfulness.

It says much better what I was thinking of, better than I could ever write and get across to other posters.

 

[kainosktisis]

Thank you. I appreciate your comments.

I am a woman, & I acknowledge & accept that God ordains men to vocations that He alone determines the why & everything else, & that’s good enough for me. To do otherwise is like Korah trying to take what isn’t his to take…& I’m not ready to have the earth swallow me alive as it did him & the others who’d followed after his example…

From Numbers 16 & 17 NAB (USCCB Website):

Numbers, CHAPTER 16

Daily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

bible.usccb.org

Numbers, CHAPTER 17

Daily Bible Readings, Podcast Audio and Videos and Prayers brought to you by the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

bible.usccb.org

Just saying…