A Response to Women Who Want to Be Priests

I have never heard this explained better!  Thank you!

I think a better example would have been instead of a man cannot be a nun it should have been a man cannot be a mother (give birth) That to me is a great vocation!! One that only women can do.

Thank you, Pam!

Men can become brothers.  And just because you are fulfilled in YOUR vocation doesn’t mean that all women are.  This isn’t just about you.  There are women who are being called by God to the priesthood and are not allowed to say yes to that calling in the Church and I think that is very sad.   It isn’t through obedience to the powers that be that change happens.  I believe that one day women will be accepted as priests in the Church. I have faith that the Church will eventually do the right thing.  Pax, Anna VanSant

Same old song of the Catholic Church-men are superior. No wonder the membership keeps shrinking.

My struggle to understand the Church’s teaching on the all male priesthood was difficult. No theological argument worked for me.  Then one day while driving, which is when I do a lot of thinking, the answer came to me as clearly as if a voice spoke through my car radio.  “The priesthood is a gift, not an employment right.” Mystery solved.

I remember my mother pointing out that if Jesus had wanted women to become priests, he would have had his own Mother, or Mary Magdelane, or one of the other women who he had befriended there at the Last Supper to receive that ordination and set the precedent. He didn’t, because as the author so eloquently notes, men and women are created to with unquie and varied gifts and abililites that preclude women from being ordained priests.

It’s funny (or actually sad, really) that 2000 years later some who honestly believe themselves to be faithful Catholics think they know better, and want to right Jesus’ wrong. Thanks but I’ll stick with the original plan — that men and only men can be priests, and women can serve in other beautiful and fulfilling ways that are and have always been part of God’s master plan.

“Women can’t be priests, just as men can’t be nuns. One vocation is not superior to the other.”

There is a hierarchy in the church. Brothers can be somewhat equated with sisters, but brother and sisters are equal to priests. Therefore, one is superior to another.

I just can’t accept that the priesthood is not seen as superior to life as a religious sister. I love many of the priests and sisters I’ve known in my life, but the assertion that they are equal is absurd. Why, then, is the concept of obedience used in another one of your points? A population of priests consisting of a mixture of compassionate, thoughtful men and women would be more representative of the congregation and more balanced in perspective. Does anyone truly believe that God differentiates between men and women? That tired argument that God made men and women differently just doesn’t make any sense. Women bring strong leadership gifts to the work. They have much to teach and to offer. Priesthood should be about the dispositions and service in love that individuals bring to parishes. What a difference it would make to both men and women to see women in the priest’s role! 

“I feel100% fulfilled in whatever my vocation may be.”   It is possible- and likely- that you’re trying to state your happiness at being engaged (with a vocation to marriage).  You presume that if you were called to sisterhood, you’d be just as fulfilled– and yet that is presumptious.    Almost as much as knowing 100% who God would call to any specific role.

Also, this statement- and article- have the same feel as so many responses:  anger, indignation, and a general “why won’t they just sit down and be obedient”.  Women who rock the boat are presumed to be greedy, powerhungry idiots out to ruin the church.  All of those presumptions mask a righteousness and unwillingness to consider a God who works beyond rules.   Perhaps the angry defenders of Church tradition ought to spend time in prayer with this issue, instead of simply dismissing it outright. 

In your private prayer—- God may shatter your expectations of Him and his Church.  But if God does reaffirm the Church rules to you privately, He may also ask for a bit of humility in dealing with those who haven’t heard Him as clearly yet.

Greetings:
A woman on a cross is twice as horrible as a man because of twice the beauty that was
put into them.

by(e)carg

Actually the number of baptized Catholics worldwide has increased about 12% in the past decade with the numbers in America stable, according to the Vatican.  Also, never has Church teaching ever state that men are superior.  “By defending the dignity of women and their vocation, the Church has shown honor and gratitude for those women who-faithful to the Gospel-have shared in every age in the apostolic mission of the whole People of God. They are the holy martyrs, virgins and mothers of families, who bravely bore witness to their faith and passed on the Church’s faith and tradition by bringing up their children in the spirit of the Gospel.” (from Apostolic Letter Mulieris Dignitatem, n. 27: AAS 80 (1988), 1719.)

To clarify your last sentence, are you saying that the Church is wrong, even though it has been infallibly taught for the past 2000 years?  I ask respectfully,not because I am a man, but as one of God’s children, to look into what Blessed Pope John Paul II says about this in his Apostolic Letter ORDINATIO SACERDOTALIS.

God is certainly not calling any women to the priesthood.  God does not call people to vocations they cannot fulfill.  That would be like saying men are being called by God to become nuns…we know they most certainly are not.

It comes to a question of obedience: if we are obedient to God’s Will, spoken through His Church, then we will submit to whatever that is. It is not God’s Will that women be clergy, and this is spoken through the official teaching of the Magisterium and confirm some years ago by the Holy Father, Blessed Pope John Paul II.  The Church does not have the authority to ordain women as priests. 

For those who are interested in the roles of men and women you might want to view this lecture http://vimeo.com/16653964

An excellent presentation on this topic which clearly articulates why the church teaches what it teaches is given by Dr. Peter Kreeft, professor of philosophy at Boston College. The audio of this presentation can be accessed at http://peterkreeft.com/audio/09_priestesses/peter-kreeft_priestesses_.mp3

Well said Michael!

How do you know it is God calling? The evil one would love to see division in the church and that by disobeying the leaders we are sinning against the Holy Spirit. There is a big difference between men and women and they are created to not one be superior to the other but to complement each other. Not all men are worthy of the sacramental priesthood. In the east men can marry but not in this country. Thus Latin rite priest cannot marry. Women have a strong roll to play in fact one I do believe is the greatest calling and that is to be a mother! That is by far the greatest vocation. But in this modern world everyone wants what they can’t have and think it is their right. That is sad.

By the way Pam thanks for writing this and God’s Blessings on your Marriage!

Thank you very much! Dr. Peter Kreeft is fantastic. He is one of the authors for our Servant Books imprint.

I think you mean me (Lindsey)…if so, thank you very much and God bless you!

A beautiful Trappist priest once pointed out to me that the Catholic Church gave women enormous opportunities in education and leadership.  The idea that the Catholic church represses women is absurd.  The Magnificat is the greatest feminist statement in history.

we have to know that the call to be priest has to come from above,not as per our wishes.even if a person that is a man wants to be priest it would become fruitful only if we had the call .  what if a man want to be a priest and every priest wants to be bishop and every bishops wants to be cardinal  and every cardinal wants to be pope ?
but other than our own wishes what we have to look at is what is gods plan about us . try to find out gods will

when god wants women to be priests then god will sure let it happen
not seeking gods will and pursue our interest had beeen the problem for the gospel all the time
Any women who thinks they are qualified and eligible to be priest may not be good for the job even if they were born as man

as the god has said in the scripture  ‘ i had known you even when you were in mothers womb.if god wanted a person to be priest dont be doubted that he will let them born as man

After all being a priest is standing in the alter in the place of jesus . to take his place we have to offer oursevles fully all our desires , ambitions and the like  and let the lord deside who should represent him or stand in his behalf

if all those who desire to be priest both men and women , had they submitted those wish to god and let him decide
the church would have been stronger

I corrected it! sorry about that!

No worries, haha. Lot’s of names flying around here.

Some women are called to the priesthood. Deny that all you want but God knows it to be true. Sometimes people must disobey in order to bring about any change and or reform to what is unjust. They go bravely knowing fully what the consequences are. The words of excommunication may be spoken or even put into writing but to those women who believe the Holy Spirit is on their side…excommunication is all in the mind….Also,what good does it do? Their consciences are clear because they love the church.

I attended Judy Beaumont’s ordination yesterday in Fort Myers, Florida. It was a beautiful service and she is now a Roman Catholic priest, perhaps not in the eyes of the institutional church, but in the eyes of many of the faithful who are the church and those who support her ministry to the poor. If you are interested in learning more about the woman priest movement, I recommend a viewing of the documentary “Pink Smoke Over the Vatican.” Also check out the web site Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests and Bridget Mary Meehan’s blog (she is a woman bishop) bridgetmarys.blogspot.com …

The example of St. Therese shows us that it is not wrong, in itself, to have those feelings and questions about it–it is not so easy a concept to grasp as it’s made out to be.  Yes, Jesus picked twelve men.  We can still wonder why–and theologians could do a better job of explaining how the role of the priest in the sacraments entails men standing in, so to speak, for Jesus?  The church could do a better job of explaining, and demonstrating, that the priesthood is not about power and authority for its own sake, which it occasionally appears to be.

Merely saying, “The Pope said so, so be quiet,” is a call for thoughtless, not thoughtful, understanding, and dignified, obedience.

Please show one single example of a culture that assigned a high status to “women’s work.”  Once that happens, I’ll accept your “separate but equal” argument.

[...] month in this space, Lindsey Simmons defended the Judeo-Christian tradition that priests are male. Depending on your theology, it dates back either thirty-five hundred years, to Aaron, or further, [...]