why we don't have women priests? QUESTION from Nancy February 8, 2001 Why the catholic church doesn't have women priests?
It seems not fair........
Nancy
ANSWER by John-Paul Ignatius, OLSM on April 26, 2001h Dear Miss Nancy:
Why does it not seem fair? The priesthood is guaranteed to no one. Most men cannot be priests either. Is that fair? Yes. The priesthood is NOT a job that one applies for. It is not subject to equal opportunity employment because it is not an employment, it is not a job. It is a vocation in which GOD PICKS YOU FOR, and the Church confirms.
I could say that it is not fair that I cannot give birth? but that would be a ridiculous statement.
Fairness is not the issue, God-given roles properly administered is the issue.
Women cannot be priests because first Jesus did not choose any women to be priests. And contrary to liberals who say that given the times Jesus could not have appointed women priests, they are wrong. Jesus flouted the typical treatment of women during the 1st Century and allowed women to be close to him in ways that the morass of the times never allowed. He raised the status of women to equal dignity with men. This was unheard of for the times. Jesus, who is God, remember, certainly could have appointed women priest if He wanted to.
The economy of creation, and of the Church, is paterfamilias (father, the head of the family). This is the way God set things up. God the Father is Himself a Paterfamilias and as he made man in his image he has made us human beings in a manner of social interaction based upon the paterfamilias pattern.
Thus, since women cannot be fathers or represent fathers, women cannot be priests any more than a man could have been the Virginal Mother of Jesus.
Jesus and the Catholic Church has raised womanhood to a lofty and dignified position that in many ways outranks the position of men. It is a human woman who is Queen of Heaven. The King is Jesus, thus no other human male gets that position other than the God-man.
Jesus, and yes, St. Paul, elevated women to a place of dignity that had never been experienced before in history -- to a place of equality in spirit and dignity and person.
But equality in spirit, dignity, and person does not give equality in function. Women can give birth, men can't. That is an inequality. Men can impregnate, women can't. That is an inequality. Women can be mothers. Men can perform motherings tasks, but cannot be mother. Men can be fathers. Women can perform fatherly tasks, but cannot be father.
Likewise, the priesthood is reserved to men because it is a function of the father of the family. The husband and father is the priest of the home. The patriarch is the high priest of the clan, the parish priest is the father of the parish family, the bishop is the father of the local church family, the Pope (which is a word that means father) is the father of of the whole Christian family.
God, not the Church, set this paterfamilias economy. We need to respect that and remember that God knows human beings a little better than feminist do.
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