Women priests?

[bscarleton]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post on these forums so it’s nice to ask a question and get involved in the community. I need help finding an article or reference regarding why women cannot be ordained as priests. My mother is interested in knowing more and I want a layman’s explanation that goes through the reasons why it is impossible. The encyclical from John Paul II is good but his language is a bit “loftier” than what I’m looking for. Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks!

 

[jerome_ky]

Here’s a good one:

catholic.com/tracts/women-and-the-priesthood

 

[frjohnmaryt]

Search for this document ordinatio sacerdotalis on the internet.

 

[Mark121359]

Here’s a few;

ewtn.com/library/DOCTRINE/ALL-MALE.TXT
ewtn.com/library/DOCTRINE/MALEPRIE.TXT
ewtn.com/library/issues/whywomen.txt
ewtn.com/library/doctrine/angldiff.txt
ewtn.com/library/issues/takingno.txt

 

[tskrobacz]

The easiest answer is…when nothing is forbidden, nothing is required.

 

[MarcoPolo]

Hi everyone!

This is my first post on these forums so it’s nice to ask a question and get involved in the community. I need help finding an article or reference regarding why women cannot be ordained as priests. My mother is interested in knowing more and I want a layman’s explanation that goes through the reasons why it is impossible. The encyclical from John Paul II is good but his language is a bit “loftier” than what I’m looking for. Does anyone have suggestions?

Thanks!

A short answer is because the sacrament of holy orders requires the priest to act “in the person of Christ,” whom was and is the male bridegroom of the Church. A sacrament, by its nature, demands the natural resemblance to that which it signifies. i.e. it has to be water for baptism (not peanut butter or something); it has to be bread for the Eucharist (not potatoes or something); etc… To use the contrary would make the sacrament ineffective. It’s impossible to baptize with peanut butter - no sacrament would occur. In the same way, attempting to impart the sacrament of holy orders to a female would not have an effect. This does not speak to the dignity of woman, which is fully equal to man’s. But it is similar to how males, by nature, cannot gestate babies - they are ineffective at accomplishing that matter. But it doesn’t make males inferior. The genders have differences and different gifts, both which build up the body of Christ.

 

[DavidFilmer]

There is no ontological reason why women cannot be ordained priests (“ontological” means “according to the nature” - women and men (and Jesus) share a common human nature; there is no ontological difference). Women certainly have Sacramental capacity to receive Orders, just as they have Sacramental capacity to receive the other six Sacraments.

But, in order to ordain women (or to confer any other Sacrament), you must have a suitable minister - someone who has the authority to confer the Sacrament.

The Church teaches that only Bishops have the authority to ordain someone, but they can only exercise their authority upon male recipients. They have not been given the authority to ordain women.

This is not a shortcoming of women, but a shortcoming of the Church. Women can receive Orders, but the Church is incapable of ordaining them.

You see this teaching plainly in the teaching of John Paul the Great, in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (empahsis mine):

We 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. (Declaramus Ecclesiam facultatem nullatenus habere ordinationem sacerdotalem mulieribus conferendi, hancque sententiam ab omnibus Ecclesiae fidelibus esse definitive tenendam.)

 

[MarcoPolo]

There is no ontological reason why women cannot be ordained priests (“ontological” means “according to the nature” - women and men (and Jesus) share a common human nature; there is no ontological difference). Women certainly have Sacramental capacity to receive Orders

I do not believe this is quite accurate:The Christian priesthood is therefore of a sacramental nature: the priest is a sign, the supernatural effectiveness of which comes from the ordination received, but a sign that must be perceptible[18] and which the faithful must be able to recognize with ease. The whole sacramental economy is in fact based upon natural signs, on symbols imprinted upon the human psychology: “Sacramental signs”, says Saint Thomas, “represent what they signify by natural resemblance”. The same natural resemblance is required for persons as for things: when Christ’s role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally, there would not be this “natural resemblance” which must exist between Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by a man: in such a case it would be difficult to see in the minister the image of Christ. For Christ himself was and remains a man. (Inter Insigniores, 5c)

 

[bscarleton]

Thanks everyone for your help! There should be plenty of links here to help me get started. I couldn’t remember the name of the JPII encyclical so that will help, and Mark’s list of EWTN articles looks good too. These forums are awesome… keep up the good work everyone !