Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

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polonius
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Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

Post #1

Post by polonius »

The Catholic Church insists that it cannot ordain women priests and any such attempt to do so is invalid.

The original reason was stated in Aquinas' Summa Theologica.

"Wherefore even though a woman were made the object of all that is done in conferring Orders, she. would not receive Orders, for since a sacrament is a sign, not only the thing, but the signification of the thing, is required in all sacramental actions;
Accordingly, since it is not possible in the female sex to signify eminence of degree, for a woman is in the state of subjection, it follows that she cannot receive the sacrament of Order . . . Summa Theologica Suppl. qu. 39 art. 1.


However, this argument isn’t taken seriously any longer. So the Church had to come up with a new reason not to ordain women.

The argument now used that Christ made apostles of men only, only a man can be ordained. But if we follow this logic, although Romans and Greek were in Israel in Christ's time, he only made Jews apostles. So, if the Church is to use parallel reasoning, only Jews can be ordained priests.

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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

Post #11

Post by steveb1 »

[Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]

Hah! You made a beautiful point in applying the Church's "logic" to the parallel between the "Jesus only ordained males" and the scriptural claim that he also only ordained Jews, and so, in order to be consistent, the Church should mandate that only Jews should be ordained into the priesthood.

Nicely done.

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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

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marco
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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

Post #13

Post by marco »

steveb1 wrote: [Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]

Hah! You made a beautiful point in applying the Church's "logic" to the parallel between the "Jesus only ordained males" and the scriptural claim that he also only ordained Jews, and so, in order to be consistent, the Church should mandate that only Jews should be ordained into the priesthood.

Nicely done.
It's false logic, steve. Jesus CHOSE men from a population made up of 50:50 men and women. God knows why. His sample population included no Chinese because of the restrictions in his area of work. It is logical to follow Christ where Christ had a choice; illogical to refuse access to Chinamen on the basis that Christ chose no Chinamen. Christ's immediate sample group involved Jews. Later, when he became less racially prejudiced, he advised his apostles to "teach all nations." That would suggest he anticipated some of those taking on sacerdotal roles.

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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

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polonius
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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

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Post by polonius »


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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

Post #16

Post by JehovahsWitness »

[Replying to post 12 by 101G]

So what point are you making? Are you suggesting women should be Apostles?
INDEX: More bible based ANSWERS
http://debatingchristianity.com/forum/v ... 81#p826681


"For if we live, we live to Jehovah, and if we die, we die to Jehovah. So both if we live and if we die, we belong to Jehovah" -
Romans 14:8

polonius
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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

Post #17

Post by polonius »

JehovahsWitness wrote: [Replying to post 12 by 101G]

So what point are you making? Are you suggesting women should be Apostles?
RESPONSE: No priests. Please read the header.

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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

Post #18

Post by RightReason »

[Replying to polonius.advice]
RESPONSE: You are overlooking the facts of history and the formal teachings of the Catholic Church from St Thomas Aquinas monumental Summa Theologica.

"Accordingly, since it is not possible in the female sex to signify eminence of degree, for a woman is in the state of subjection, it follows that she cannot receive the sacrament of Order . . . Summa Theologica Suppl. qu. 39 art. 1.
I overlook nothing. This corroborates my post. It is not possible for a woman to be a priest because of her state – she is female not male.

Christ's Church is His bride.

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Re: Why a woman cannot be ordained a priest.

Post #19

Post by Tcg »

[Replying to post 1 by polonius.advice]

The simple answer of course is misogyny. Misogyny expressed in ancient times that quite astonishingly is still influencing modern people.

The difficulty here is to understand why people today would cling to ancient and outdated prejudices. Perhaps a fear of thinking for themselves? What else could it be?

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Post #20

Post by tam »

Peace to you,
Christ's Church is His bride.
Yes, a bride made of both male and female members.

Christ had a male nature. A priest acts in persona christe. In order to act in persona christe one needs to share the nature of Christ.
Actually, Christ has both a male and female "nature" - see Wisdom for example (Proverbs 8).

Regardless, it makes no sense to think that the "nature" of Christ is about gender, rather than spirit.

You are focusing on the flesh, when the flesh counts for nothing. As if the most important thing about sharing the nature of Christ is to be male. That makes no sense. People can be male and know nothing of Christ (as the priesthood of the RCC reveals); while some can be female and know Christ. And vice versa.


The nature of Christ is not tied up in, or dependent upon, the male gender.



Peace again to you,
your servant and a slave of Christ,
tammy

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