An Introduction to the Question of Women's Ordination

Often students will come to me or others here at St. John’s desiring quick answers to questions that demand a more prolonged reflection than expected. The question of women and ordination is one such occasion. As we now live in a world of instant gratification, our inclination is to insist that our needs and concerns be addressed as swiftly as possible, and we miss sight of the fact that speed almost always reduces quality. St. Francis de Sales wrote in his Introduction to the Devout Life, “the slow cure is the sure cure.” A quick treatment of what ails us (be it for the body, the mind, or the soul) is frequently an incomplete treatment and seldom a lasting remedy. If we sincerely desire truth, we should yearn for the fullness of its meaning and invest in a deep exploration of it, and we should never permit the transmission of truth to be agitated and compromised by the impatience of others.

That being said, every exploration requires a beginning, so when it comes to the question of why priestly ordination cannot be imparted on women, I offer the following as a humble introduction, with all the brevity I can muster:

I. From the Testimony of Revelation

It is clear from the biblical testimony that Jesus willed that only men be among the body of his apostles. The early church continues this practice and asserts it as a matter faith and respect for Christ’s will. If Christ instituted his priesthood, willing that it be reserved for men alone, the will of the Divine Savior must be echoed in the will of the Church in full purity. In other words, “the Church ‘does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination’” as a matter of simple obedience to Christ’s will and authority. These words, expressed by Pope Paul VI and reiterated in John Paul II’s apostolic letter, ordinatio sacerdotalis, express the fact that the Church’s authority is derived from and depends on unity with Christ’s sovereign authority. As such, the Church simply has no power to autonomously alter what Christ authoritatively institutes. Just as the Church has no authority, right, or power to change the sacramental sign chosen by Christ for baptism from water to rose petals or that of the Eucharist from bread to corn chips, so also the Church enjoys no authority, right, or power to change the sacramental sign chosen by Christ in Holy Orders, that being a human male.

II. From the Humanity of Jesus

This brings us to another level in the Church’s response – the priesthood as a particular “sign” of Christ, liturgically. When God the Son came into the world and assumed a humanity as his own, there were two possible expressions of this humanity – masculinity or femininity. “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us” (john 1:14) and took on our common humanity but as bearing the character of the masculine. On multiple occasions, Jesus then refers to himself as the “bridegroom” (Mark 2:19-20; Luke 5:34-35; John 3:29) and offers a parable about himself using a bridegroom as the allegorical representation of himself (Matt 25:1-10). In doing so, he reveals that his fundamental disposition toward the Church is that of a husband toward a bride. Indeed, St. Paul adds in his discourse to the Church in Corinth, “I betrothed you to Christ to present you as a pure bride to her one husband” (2 Cor. 11:2) and St. John also continues the image of Jesus as “husband” to the Church and the Church as “the Bride, the wife of the Lamb” (Rev 21:2, 9; 19:6-8).

The Catholic belief of the priesthood is not that it is a mere occupation but that the grace of ordination imparts a reconfiguration of one’s being, so that “the priest truly acts in the person of Christ (in persona Christi)” as St. Cyprian attested in the 3rd century. The priest then functions as both the “sign” and medium of Jesus’ ministry to the Church as Bridegroom. Just as Christ’ humanity was the “image” of his divinity (Col 1:15), so also the humanity of the priest is the “very image” of Christ’s humanity when Christ exercises his ministry within the sacraments (inter insigniores, n.5). “He [the priest] represents Christ, who acts through him.” As signs must have a natural resemblance to what they are signifying, the masculinity of Christ’s ministry must be represented through a corresponding masculinity, so that the liturgical gestures of the Heavenly Bridegroom become actively represented in the sign of the priestly groom and the Eucharistic sacrifice of the New Adam (1 Cor 15:45-49) are exercised through the sign of another “Adam.” This was not only the intention of Christ but a beautiful drama of salvation, and we are obliged by fidelity to abide by it and preserve it.

III. In Respect to Rights and Salvation

In her book, The Catholic Priesthood and Women, Sr. Sarah Butler points out that excluding women from the priesthood cannot be seen to be an injustice in a true sense. Her reasoning is this: exclusion from the priesthood would only be an injustice if the priesthood substantially contributed to the salvation of the one ordained. However, it does not. Whereas baptism is that sacrament that imparts the graces of salvation, with confirmation, eucharast, confession, and anointing as those sacraments oriented toward increasing holiness within the recipient, Holy Orders is not imparted for the salvation or holiness of the priest but for his service toward the salvation and holiness of others. Because the graces of holiness and salvation are available to all through the other sacraments, irrespective of Holy Orders, exclusion from the priesthood cannot be said to be a true injustice on the part of the Church. As she states in her book, “Notwithstanding the fact that baptized members of the Church legitimately claim to participate in her life, no one among them, according to Catholic teaching, has the right to be ordained: ‘to consider the ministerial priesthood as a human right would be to misjudge its nature completely.’” (p.43)

IV. In Respect to Dignity and Worthiness

In their explanations, both Sr. Sarah Butler and John Paul II rely on the testimony of the early Church in relating the question of ordination to the person of Mary. St. Epiphanius asserted in the 4th century, “if women had been directed by God to offer sacrifice or to perform some ecclesiastical office, it would have been more proper to Mary than to anyone else in the New Testament to exercise a priestly role.” Yet, our Lord did no such thing, despite the fact that Mary had the deepest union with our Lord and the most steadfast dedication to him. John Paul II then concludes, “the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the Church, received neither the mission proper to the Apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the non-ordination of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them.” (ordinatio sacerdotalis, n.3) If Christ’s restriction of the priesthood from Mary was neither an injustice nor an insult to the dignity of his mother, neither should it be taken as such by his daughters in grace.

“The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints” (inter insigniores, n.6).

Along with the above, I invite you to read Sr. Sarah Butler’s book, The Catholic Priesthood and Women, as well as the Declaration on the Admission of Women to the Priesthood (by the Sacred Congregation for the Defense of the Faith) and John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter on Reserving Priestly Ordination to men Alone.