The priesthood is reserved for men and any violation of this carries the penalty of an automatic excommunication. But this does not mean that women are inferior. The priesthood is simply not the role of the woman.
Jesus only selected men for apostles. He could have easily chose his mother for whom he had much love, but he didn't. We would not claim that Jesus was sexist.
When the priest says "this is my body, this is my blood" on the altar, he is acting in the person of Christ. Integral to Christ is his maleness. The priest does not say "This is Christ's body" he says it's his body, because he is in persona Christi.
The Church is not refusing to ordain women. It simply has no right to ordain them. God did not give them this right. If it has been forbidden since the beginning of Christianity, it cannot suddenly be allowed. The doctrines of the church can develop but they cannot be abrogated.
Check out the full article here:
http://www.catholicnews.com/data/stories/cns/1002915.htm
Phil,
ReplyDeleteI love the Eucharist, and think male priests should be the norm; however, it is just not true that they are saying "this is my body" because they are acting in persona Christi. If you have looked at the Eucharistic prayers (which I'm sure you have) you will see that it is part of the narrative of the night of the Last Supper. It is commonly known as the Institutional Narrative, that is, the narrative in which Christ asked the Church to celebrate the Eucharist, by eating His Body and His Blood.
If you are going to post with regards to reasoning for certain doctrine, please do so accurately as not to give false ideas to non-catholic and catholic alike.
Thank you for your valuable information :)
ReplyDeletesome much rationalisation
ReplyDeleteFemales Cant act in the personhood of christ