Why No Woman Priests
Essay title: Why No Woman Priests
Why has the Church ruled and maintained the ruling that only men may serve as priests? Should this practice continue, or should it change? Why?
It appears as though the ruling that “only men may serve as priests,” is a matter of great debate. There are those who say the practice of only ordaining males as priests is sanctioned by God himself! On the other hand, there are those who say the ordainment of only males is mandated by men, therefore not the true intentions of God. There is a vast amount of evidence that has been gathered to support both arguments, but the question still remains. Should the practice of ordaining only males continue to be exclusive, or should woman also be allowed to become priests? Further, if we do decide to allow women to become priests, what do we base this decision on?
Priesthood
According to the Roman Catholic Priests (2007), Roman Catholic Priests attend to the spiritual, pastoral, moral, and educational needs of the members of the church (1). Unmistakably, these duties are similar among many different religions Catholic or not. There are two different types of priests that serve the Church. There are diocesan priests and religious priests. If a priest chooses to serve as a diocesan priest, he is appointed to oversee the religious needs of a particular area selected by a Bishop. If a priest chooses to serve as a religious priest, “he belongs to a religious order and is assigned duties by superiors” Roman Catholic Priests (2007).
Ordaining only men
Since the time of Christ the ordainment of only males has been the norm within the Christian religion. Not surprisingly, but possibly lesser known, the Christian religion
Women Priests
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is not the only religion that has practiced the tradition of ordaining only males for thousands of years. Non-Christian religions such as Judaism and Islam have also ordained and or appointed only males as heads of their religious orders. In the Apostolic Letter, (Ordination Sacerdotal is of John Paul II, 1994), Pope John Paul II supported the ordainment of only males by stating “it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men: the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men: and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God’s plan for his Church” (Ordinatio Sacerdotal is, 1994). It appears as though the Church has no intentions on changing this rule even though there is no solid evidence proving God’s intentions.
Ordaining Women
“There is no reference in scripture to Jesus ordaining anyone, male or female” (Javierre-Ortas, 2005). In 1976, Pope Paul VI created a commission (and had instructed them to find evidence in the scriptures in favor of the ordination of women, what they reported back was they found nothing that said a woman could not be ordained. Is it possible that God meant to dismiss women from his ministry, but forgot to mention it throughout history? Well the Bible does add some help; it states that Jesus called all people to follow him, men and women. The bible also states that Jesus traveled from town to town spreading the word of god, and where Jesus went his disciples followed.
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What this man made document fails to mention is women also followed Jesus during this time in support