fredag 4 februari 2011

Catholic women priests - a theological break through on its way!?

"Few people will have noticed that a subtle shift has taken place in the central Catholic Teaching Authority with regard to the reasons for which women are being excluded from the ordained ministries.

In the document Inter Insigniores of 1975 a number of arguments had already been abandoned, arguments favoured by earlier theologians. Among these we find:

* Women may not touch sacred objects . (for example: Richard of Middleton)
* It is not becoming for women to have the clerical tonsure. (for example: Henricus de Sergusio)
* Women are not created in the image of |God. (for example: Huguccio, Antonius de Butrio)
* Women are less intelligent than men and highly unreliable. (for example: John Duns Scotus § 19). This last reason, incidentally, was still part of the Church's official Canon law until 1915.

Over the past 25 years some of the arguments of Inter Insigniores itself are now seemingly being ignored.

Reading the documents in which our present Pope, Pope Benedict XVI, has been involved, we find that little weight is attached to reasons such as:

* Paul did not allow women to teach men (1 Timothy 2,11-15).
* Women should be subject to men ( 1 Corinthians 11,2-XVI).
* Only a man is a perfect human being and can thus properly represent Christ (Thomas Aquinas).
* Christ was incarnated as a man, in fact maleness is an essential ingredient of the Incarnation in God's plan of redemption, an argument Pope John Paul II was fond of (Mulieris Dignitatem § 26).

In documents of the last 25 years Pope Benedict XVI no longer mentions such reasonings. Rather he narrows his focus. He reduces the argument simply to three central key assertions:

1. Jesus appointed only men as apostles.
2. In doing so Jesus established masculinity in the ministry as a permanent norm that has to be followed by the Church.
3. This norm of having a male ministry has been confirmed by the constant and universal Teaching of the Church throughout Tradition.

In short we may say that, according to Pope Benedict XVI, Christ established a masculine order of bishops and priests; and that the Church of all times and places has constantly affirmed this as a norm through its practice and teaching.

So what to make of these central assertions by Pope Benedict XVI? We can do no better than briefly examine the validity of each of the three pegs on which he now hangs the argument."

Read the whole article here.

2 kommentarer:

Anonym 6 februari 2011 kl. 13:40  

Tack för en mycket intressant och upplysande artikel. Jag har själv aldrig funnit de teologiska argumenten för att utestänga kvinnor från präst- eller diakonvigning särskilt hållbara. - Men vad säger du om traditionen? Är det inte risk att vår Katolska kyrka går sönder alldeles om kvinnor tillåts bli präster?
/Karin

Anonym 23 februari 2011 kl. 19:53  

Det finns hopp....

Document of Renunciation of Ordination to Diaconate

On July 22, 2007, I was ordained to the diaconate by Bishop Patricia Fresen, of Germany and South Africa who was ordained by three male bishops in Germany for the group called Roman Catholic Women Priests. The ordination took place at the Santa Barbara Immaculate Heart Spiritual Center. Because neither Patricia Fresen nor myself were given permission for the ordination by Pope Benedict XVI, the ordinations were illegitimate and not recognized by the Roman Catholic Church. Thus an excommunication process called Latae Sententiae occurred, excommunicating oneself by failure to observe the Canon Laws of the Church.

I wish to renounce the alleged ordination and publicly state that I did not act as a deacon as a part of this group except on two occasions, when I read the gospel once at mass and distributed communion once at this same mass. I withdrew from the program within two weeks of the ceremony because I realized that I had made a mistake in studying for the priesthood. I confess to the truth of Pope John Paul II's Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis . I confess the authority of the Holy Father on these issues of ordination and recognize that Christ founded the ordination only for men.

Formally, I relinquish all connection to the program of Roman Catholic Women Priests and I disclaim the alleged ordination publicly with apologies to those whose lives I have offended or scandalized by my actions. I ask God's blessings upon each of these folks and their families.

Norma Jean Coon, RN, MFCC, PhD
San Diego, California
Tuesday, February 8, 2011

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