“Womanpriests”, “Pope Joan”… and a side of PC
Lately, I’ve come across several stories, websites, conversations, etc. about ‘womanpriests’. [Some of the websites 
claim to be in communion with the Roman Catholic Church. They aren’t. No matter their claims, they aren’t.] One story is about a movie that’s out, exclusively in Europe right now, about the legend of a female Pope that lived during the 9th century. This claim is unsubstantiated and completely fabricated. One story, which I saw posted on Facebook, spoke of a ‘womanpriest’ from the St. Louis area who is pregnant. “The first female Roman Catholic priest to be pregnant in history.” What is the obsession with women being priests?!?!
I think the obsession is the false understanding of freedom in our culture, mixed with a heavy dose of moral relativism, topped with a false sense of equality… served with a side of PC. In our culture, fairness has been turned into a “if they get one, I deserve one too” system. Society completely distorts the understanding of gender, gender roles, equality, fairness and the intention of God in regards to gender and sexuality. The world has turned everything into a competition and some people believe that in order to be considered ‘equal’, they must have the same opportunities as everyone else. Think about that – it doesn’t make sense.
Why is it, that as soon as a man is allowed (created) to do something, some women automatically insist that they should be allowed to do the same? The insistance includes many such things that are outside the scope of a woman’s role. See, when a man is ordained a priest in the Catholic Church, he becomes the spouse of Mother Church. Plain and simple. No apologies here… politically correct or not.
Being politically correct is not Catholic. It’s not charitable, it’s not what Jesus did, it’s not what we should do. Being politically correct asks us to waterdown our faith, to become “tolerant” of everything that’s going on around us – whether morally acceptable or not. No thanks.
As always, I’m not diggin’ on women. I’m not trying to deify men. What I’m saying is that we were each created for something great, as a man or as a woman. Those things can be (and most likely are) different.
Stand up for the dignity of each person. Respect life. Respect what God created you for. Stand up for Truth. Stand up against the notion of tolerance. Ruffle feathers, if that’s what it takes. Christ wasn’t a fairweather prophet… He didn’t take the position of “acceptance”… See, what Christ did (which is what we are supposed to model our lives after) is that He loved sinners too much to allow them to stay where they were.
TrueMan up!
Dave, I normally enjoy reading your posts (although I’m clearly not a “man”), but I’m frustrated with this one. See, no one I have ever asked, including you in this post, has been able to give a good reason why women can’t be priests. As far as I can tell, it’s simply based on a tradition started thousands of years ago when women weren’t allowed to do anything. If things like the priest facing the alter and speaking in Latin can be changed with a meeting at the Vatican, why can’t this? Further, is a nun not espoused to the church as well? [P.S. who says the Church is female? Since when does it have a gender?] If not, why can’t they marry? Quite frankly, I’m insulted by your “women don’t deserve to do what men can” tone here. But if you can explain all this to me, please do.
I figured I’d get some questions, and possibly some backlash, from this post. Thank you for asking the question! I will respond here, and may also follow up with another post on this topic b/c lots of people don’t read the comments section. *Please note: this is not the “theology of Dave DiNuzzo” this is the theology of the Roman Catholic Church, which possesses the Fullness of Truth.*
The reasons why women can’t be priests are many, but are all linked together. First and foremost, as pointed out in the Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), a priest acts “in persona Christi” – in the person of Christ. (CCC 1548.) Christ was a man. The men whom He chose to be His closest disciples (the Apostles) were men. Also, Christ often referred to Himself in Scripture as the bridegroom, and the Church, as you will see below, as His bride. (Too many verses to list!) As the Catechism points out in paragraph 1577: “Only a baptized man validly receives sacred ordination. The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry. The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ’s return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.” Instead of seeing “women CAN’T be priests” (and seeing that as an injustice), we hold that it is better to see that “Christ chose for men to be priests”.
There is often a misnomer between the “common priesthood” that we all share in via our baptism and the ministerial priesthood. These are NOT the same thing and do NOT entitle us to the same purpose, function or designation. The ministerial priesthood (that of bishops and priests) is “at the service of the common priesthood.” (CCC 1547.) This service to the common priesthood is ordered specifically in the role of a man as protector and provider, similar to the role of a man in a marriage/family. (See Genesis 2:15 where God commanded Adam to “cultivate and care for the garden.” This sets the stage for gender roles, the role of a man and the role of a woman, as seen later -after the fall- in Gen 3:17.) The fact that man was created for one role and woman for another does NOT mean that one is better than the other. In so many of his writings, Pope John Paul II stated over and over: “Men and women are equal in dignity, but different in role.” (Please do a Google search for “Letter of Pope John Paul II to Women”, click the Vatican link and specifically read Section 11. This document is awesome.)
Priests function as a father, hence the designation of “Fr. So-and-So”. A woman cannot be a father. (Some women, unfortunately in many cases today, step in to perform some of the same functions a father would when a family is stripped of or abandoned by the man, but this does not make a woman a father.) I do the laundry, wash the dishes, bathe my children, comb their hair, cook dinner, teach them, care for them, etc. but that doesn’t make me a woman. I don’t conceive them in my womb, I don’t have one. I don’t birth them, I can’t. I will never experience the pangs of childbirth. Even though I perform some of the functions of a mother, I cannot be a woman. It’s not that a woman can’t perform the functions of a priest, it’s that she wasn’t created to do so. It is disordered for a woman to attempt to be a man and vice versa. I’ve never said “I should get to do that because a woman gets to.” It doesn’t make sense.
To say that “it’s simply based on a tradition started thousands of years ago when women weren’t allowed to do anything” is short-sighted and attempts to remove God’s vision and plan. He is ever-present and eternal; He knows all things that have, do and will happen. He would have planned it differently had He wanted it different. [The issues with Vatican II have nothing to do with this discussion; none of the changes following Vatican II were doctrinal changes. The attempt of Vatican II was to bring about a culture of spreading the Gospel in the modern age, in a way that would be more effective. The jury is still out on some of those changes.]
No, a religious sister is not espoused to the Church, she is the spouse of Christ. (See CCC 796 – “The Church is the Bride of Christ”.) A religious sister should be faithful to Mother Church and part of Her work.
I apologize for insulting you, Sheila. My tone was not intended to come across as “women don’t deserve to do what men can”. I attempt in earnest, in all of my writings, to uphold the dignity of women and challenge men to respect all women as the crowns of creation. Again, this isn’t about some notion of fairness. Men were created for a specific role, women for another. Those roles are different. That doesn’t make one better and one worse.
Dave
I love your response to Sheila! It’s always good to get a refresher as to why we believe what we believe. 🙂
You are absolutely right when you say that men were created for a specific role and women for another. God gave men Jesus as a role model and Jesus gave us Mary as our Spiritual Mother and role model. Women have the absolute role of being mothers. Women can give birth, are made to give birth, and have been gifted with the role and responsibility of allowing God to work through us for the purpose of creation. No life is created without God’s hand in the mix. He creates every soul through the joint efforts of men and women. Our culture has gotten off track (out of the order that God intended) by trying to do each other’s jobs. I was working with some men at a bar-b-q and I complimented one of the Dad’s on the job he was doing putting burgers and rolls together. He looked up shocked and made a comment like “really???Usually my wife tells me I’m doing it all wrong. You know the story that women do things so much better than men. I never get complimented on anything I do” Some Women have beaten their men into the ground with criticism. Their souls have been destroyed and they have become slaves who are told what to do, how to do it, and when to do it, all because they have not done anything to make sure that their souls stayed strong and women are running all over them in their weakness. For both men and women it is so important to keep their souls strong through Prayer, Sacraments, and Fasting to keep the order that Jesus created. If we don’t make an effort to build each other up, then we stop making an effort to help each other get to heaven and ultimately to God. Using forgiveness, love, tender guidance, caring, through the knowledge of The 10 Commandments, Beatitudes, and the leadership of the Magisterium will help us get back to a collaborative environment where we all work together for the common good of each other, no matter how small, and use our God given roles to journey back to God. We have let the culture influence us to compete against each other to the point of destroying others to get ahead rather building up each other to move forward together. We have let the culture sell us the falsehood that abortion, euthenasia, court ordered deaths are ok. We seem to have forgotten our purpose of being here in this world and that is to give glory to God through honoring the souls that we share in this world. It is not about being first, smartest, fastest, best, above all. It’s about loving our neighbor as our selves and doing everything that Jesus did while he walked on this earth to save us. He gave us the stories in the bible as an example to follow: Samaritan Woman, The Marriage of Cana, Preventing the stoning of the woman by making the statement Those without sin cast the first stone, and he presented us with healings, just to mention a few stories that reflect the Sanctity of Marriage, Sin and Forgiveness, Reconciliation and Healing. If we intent to return to God, we need to work towards the order that will get us there and let go of taking on new roles that could take us futher away from our intended target.
You did a wonderful job articulating the position of the Catholic Church.
One thing that wasn’t covered in your post, but contributes to the argument is: Why do women have this desire? Is it because they want to do everything that a man does, or is it because they don’t know what their role in the Church is? Or how to express their talents in service to the church?
Just a thought.
I appreciate this discussion.