THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN
Cooke, Bernard J. & Donnelly, Dorothy H. & Ford, J. Massyngberde & Tavard, George H.
THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN A Statement by the President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin At its Fall meeting in Washington, the Administrative Committee...
...May Mary who has been depicted as a priest from the fifteenth century intercede for us that we may have priesthood which is acceptable to God rather than man...
...Why not look honestly into the eyes of those who seek ordination and try to answer with them the question of the meaning of "priesthood" today...
...2) The theological argument is unconvincing...
...At the same time, the theological justification (which, obviously, had to be streamlined because of the brevity of the document) was quite inadequate...
...However, there is a far more impelling question of justice which does not revolve around the servants but those to be served...
...How honest is this rite, how founded in the actuality of pastoral need and obedience to the Spirit's choice of human persons through manifesting Her powers in them...
...This is discussed at considerable length by P. Heriberto Jones (Commentarium in Codicem luris Canonici, Paderborn, 1954, vol...
...The report, however, gave a very powerful reason for not ordaining women: "Revelation is made known to us from Tradition as well as from Sacred Scripture (cf...
...2) The Archbishop's citing of tradition as a "ponderous" theological argument against such ordination seemed rather to canonize "history," and reflected a static view of tradition negating the living action of the Spirit in our own times seen in the efficacious ministries of women...
...It is this openness which I do not sense in the report...
...Part of this effort should be an empa-thetic listening to the insights and experience of other Christian Churches, rather than any attempt to exert pressure on them as they wrestle with the question...
...Such gifts are not anybody's property, nor is the ordination which would confirm gifts for serving...
...d) the ideal priest is essentially deeply human and empathetic (4:15...
...It is possible to obtain a dispensation for many of these impediments now...
...In the context, the sense is not clear, as the possibility of "a contrary theological development" appears only in a quote from a committee's report, and we are not told if the Archbishop shares this openness to the future...
...The argument is not that the traditional discipline "can be explained simply by culturally conditioned notions of male superiority...
...of "sacrament" itself...
...As Pope Paul has said, "although women do not receive the call to the aposto-late of the Twelve and therefore to the ordained ministries, they are none the less invited to follow Christ as disciples and co-workers...
...the matter is too basic and far-reaching to be handled in any other fashion...
...Traditionally among those precluded from ordination to the priesthood until very recent times are the following: those born out of wedlock...
...of Confirmation...
...their contributions are needed in the decision-making process at the parochial, diocesan, national and universal levels...
...If this is what is happening, then we can assume that a serious and continuing discussion has been begun, in which case the theological superficiality of the recent statement's argumentation is inoffensive...
...Coming almost simultaneously with Cardinal Willebrand's warning to U.S...
...However, most interesting and most important for the ordination of women is the fact that hermaphrodites may be ordained if the predominant sex is male...
...b) priesthood does not depend on legal and physical qualifications (7:16...
...Does it state a fact concerning the current practice...
...To speak of "serious theological obstacle," "serious theological issue," "compelling reasons," without specifying what such reasons are, is not enlightening...
...bishops' statement, 'Theologians and canonists have been unanimous (on this issue) until modern times . . ." These are encouraging words when they are seen in the light of a multiplicity of changes which have been recently implemented in the Church, changes which indeed run contrary both to the nearly 2,000 years of tradition and to some portions of Scripture...
...for if, on the contrary, the bishops' view is meant to be decisive, the document disregards the intelligence and faith of reflective U.S...
...Surely, the presence of bishops at the Detroit Ordination Conference would have been a sign of such brotherly co-searching for new theological insight...
...It is true that the equality of women is an ideal which has yet to be fully realized in many fields, such as education, politics and employment...
...The Church will suffer, indeed it will be betrayed, if women are given only a secondary place in its life and mission...
...Those who fell into it heightened their commitment to woman liberation, and weakened their credibility as proponents of a serious theological position...
...Second, accept the freedom and supreme authority of the Holy Spirit in giving powers to whosoever She will, but see such gifts as given for the community, so given for a time and for a place...
...Discussion of the posibility of ordaining women to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church is now a lively issue in the United States...
...The Church owes women, both religious and lay, its own great debt of gratitude for their commitment and loving service...
...The operative sentence is 'Andra-gynoides cum certo sint viri, ordinum capaces existunt.' This book has the imprimatur...
...The Church has grown more aware of the variety of ministries open to women...
...To be faithful to the Spirit, who is at work among us, we must also address ourselves seriously to the question of women in the Church...
...I sensed no urgency or challenge to listen to the Spirit's mighty deeds in Christian men and women...
...It is too remote from the contemporary sciences to be able to deal with many of the contemporary human problems...
...It is then necessary for theology in this question to look to the life and practice of the Spirit-guided Church...
...1) The language is ambiguous...
...Canon lawyers, theologians and bishops may well have to face the question of a priest who changes sex after ordination...
...Above all, I would love to see religious orders of men and women responding with vigor to that challenge, more concerned with raising the level of consciousness of our own fellow-Christians (neither clerical nor vowed) about the existence, the beauty, and the great responsibility of the gifts they possess for the church...
...If ordination affirms a call to serve the community by the receiving and giving of some gift (or psychic energy) called "sharing," then I would hope that some presuppositions would operate and affect such a rite, its organic, historical development, use, and evolution: First, relate "serving" to the rea-son-for-being of the Church: to proclaim the Gospel and discern the gifts in the community...
...What the question of admitting women to full liturgical ministry demands is a thorough and open-minded study and appraisal...
...The full text of the statement follows: The proclamation by the United Nations of 1975 as International Women's Year was welcomed by all...
...This report admitted that the question was complex and that there were aspects to it which needed further study...
...Why not a statement calling for a high-level, dialogical, man-woman, ecumenical study of the whole question of Holy Orders...
...Because of (this reason) a negative answer to the possible ordination of women is indicated...
...What is called "a very powerful reason for not ordaining women" is simply a restatement of the fact that women have never been ordained to the priesthood...
...Why not a careful study of Jesus' revolutionary approach to service as a Rabbi who did not belong to the cultic, levitical priesthood of the Temple...
...It is only proper to make public, too, the fact that the U.S...
...Christians...
...It would be pointless to list the many authorities and the theological note that each assigns to this teaching...
...These are now still more irrelevant than the notion of male superiority...
...But what the statement does do is highlight for all of us the vital need for relating a rite like ordination to its theological roots, to re-examine these, and to retheologize, aided by all the signs of the times: psychology, sociology, biology, history, etc...
...If the Church is to have the services of those who proclaim the message of Christ, she must discern the gifts, not repress them...
...I wish to make two last points...
...De Ordine vol...
...Why, then do only the male children have access to ordination...
...I'm afraid the Archbishop overlooks contemporary studies that insist upon the role of history as establishing the theological tradition of the Church, and would definitely include the present action of the Spirit in the lives of women in ministry...
...The diaconate for women is, of course, more firmly established in Scripture and Tradition than the priesthood or the episcopate...
...I would love to be challenged by our episcopal leaders to do theology in-depth on the ways to remove such scandalous disunity which keeps "such" from happening...
...It is not enough to make statements...
...COMMENTS ON THE BERNARDIN STATEMENT BERNARD J. COOKE 'Seriously Disappointing' Archbishop Bemardin's statement on the ordination of women was not really a surprise, but in many ways it was seriously disappointing...
...Let us hope that this is the genuine thrust of the statement...
...But many others will disagree with and be disturbed by what I have said with respect to the question of ordination...
...Why, for instance, is there not more emphasis on the time-testing of candidates for ordination in real ministry before they are applauded and accepted in the diaconate or priestly ordination...
...Episcopalians that ecumenical progress would be jeopardized by granting women full liturgical ministry, Archbishop Bemardin's words seem part of an official effort to close rather than stimulate Catholic discussion of the issue...
...Indeed, a close study of Hebrews seems to suggest that the priesthood will only reflect the image and likeness of God when both masculine and feminine virtues are brought into play...
...that instead we approach one another with charity and mutual respect, constantly examining our own motives-not the motives of others-in order to be as certain as is humanly possible that we are indeed at all times seeking to know and do the will of Jesus Christ...
...In a circle of sharing of gifts, ordination would fade into its proper significance as one sacrament which could be used to confirm a particular gift for a group, and not the Holy Grail of all our striving...
...I see ordination not treated in this statement as a possibly evolving, living rite capable of expressing differing meanings in differing times and places...
...L'Osservatore Romano, English edition, May 1, 1975) Through educational efforts of the Church, we must make sure that people are truly convinced of woman's dignity and equality, an equality whose essential foundation, as the Holy Father has reminded us, is found in the "dignity of the human person, man and woman, in their filial relationship with God, of whom they are the visible image...
...What had been conceived as a serene discussion of theology became in part an exercise in protest...
...The theological problem is one which Vatican II began to look at but never fully faced: Do we still have a Christian anthropology...
...in a very special way they are called to collaborate with all other segments of the Church in the essential work of evangelization...
...Although many of the arguments presented in times gone by on this subject may not be defensible today, there are compelling reasons for this practice...
...our statements must be matched by actions which will bring more women into the mainstream of the life of the local Church...
...Such discussion can contribute to a better understanding of ministry, priesthood and the role of women in the Church...
...But none of this did I find-nor the hint of it- and so I am disappointed, but not discouraged...
...More, however, needs to be done...
...Most importantly, why not call for honest study of the shameful division between clergy and laity in the Church, between men and women in both Church and society, and still, between Christians in all the Churches...
...Or does it formulate a norm for the future...
...On the surface at least, the theological judgment of the U.S...
...I was struck by the absence of such theological questioning and call to such questioning in the statement...
...Constitution on Divine Revelation, (8-10...
...We've always done it this way" is not exactly heavy theological artillery...
...In a special way we must also be grateful to those who today manifest their loyalty and love by pressing the question of their role in the Church...
...I know that many will welcome this statement...
...However, the constant tradition and practice of the Catholic Church against the ordination of women, interpreted (whenever interpreted) as of divine law, is of such a nature as to constitute a clear teaching of the Ordinary Magisterium of the Church...
...While it is true that he annunciated clearly that the present undefined teaching of the Church is against such ordination, he leaves room for change and development in his words "until a contrary theological development takes place, leading to a clarifying statement from the Magisterium" and, citing from the U.S...
...J. MASSYNGBERDE FORD 'Not Wholly Negative' It would be improper to see Archbishop Bernadin's statement concerning the ordination of women in a wholly negative light...
...What we need now is frank, unprejudiced discussion, public interchange of insights and views and judgments, discussion and interchange which will involve all elements in the Church...
...3 De Subjecto (1963) which reference I have been unable to obtain...
...Nowadays there are an increasing number of sex changes through surgery...
...Once our theology has understood the methods and assimilated the positive results of the contemporary sciences of man, it is not at all certain that womanhood will still be considered incompatible with the sacrament of Orders and with sacerdotal functions, The problem of ordination of women, as it is now posited, requires a reformulation of the Church's understanding of what "being human" means...
...I do not wish to be facetious but rather, as I am a registered nurse as well as a theologian, I realize that this interpretation of Canon 968 is of urgent and pressing importance...
...Constant tradition and practice" constitute indeed a source of doctrine if the point in question belongs to the revelation...
...Throughout its history the Catholic Church has not called women to the priesthood...
...I'd like to see us be more selective about our sacraments...
...And, since the episcopal and priestly office is basically a ministry of service, ordination in no way "completes" one's humanity...
...Will the removal of male-ness erase the indelible character of the priesthood given to the candidate through the sacrament...
...Fortunately progress is being made in all these fields and many others...
...By situating the exclusion of women from such ministry in the area of doctrine, Archbishop Bemardin's statement does more than suggest that the bishops' view demands assent rather than discussion...
...Secondly, the greatest oversight both of the Theological Statement on Women's Ordination and of the recent Ordination Conference itself was that neither paid attention to the Epistle to the Hebrews...
...While this is a task of the whole Church, bishops have a special pastoral responsibility in this regard...
...5:2-3, 7-10...
...I shall list a few examples...
...Though not formally defined, this is Catholic doctrine...
...The well-founded present discipline will continue to have and to hold the entire field unless and until a contrary theological development takes place, leading ultimately to a clarifying statement from the Magisterium...
...Theologians and canonists have been unanimous until modern times in considering this exclusion as absolute and of divine origin...
...Briefly stated the epistle teaches us: a) where the priesthood is changed (from Levi to Melchize-dek and Judah), there is of necessity a change in the law (Hebr...
...As a result, several of the speakers defined their position and, by the same token, themselves as Christian women, in response to the Archbishop's statement...
...bishops on the issue of ordaining women as liturgical celebrants seems quite absolute...
...In fact, however, no one, male or female, can claim a "right" to ordination...
...But if it pertains only to the discipline of the sacraments, the Church has the authority to change it, even if this particular point of discipline could be shown to derive from the Apostles...
...The important thing now is that we not engage in recriminations...
...The expression, "women are not to be ordained to the priesthood," can be taken in two different senses...
...so that together we can discover where the Spirit of God is moving us...
...Helvi Sipila, General Secretary of the International Women's Year, in November of last year, he stated that the designation of International Women's Year "does not find the Church inattentive to the problem or lacking in a clear desire to solve it...
...Why not use Confirmation to affirm in adult fashion and years tested gifts in local groups...
...Denial that such a task needs to be done would amount to blindness to the major challenge that the Church faces today in all developed countries...
...It would be correct to do this only if ordination were a God-given right of every individual...
...c) it is a call from God even for Christ (5:4-6...
...And it is not enough to show interest only in these areas of concern...
...Perhaps God, our Parent, is deliberately withholding vocations from males so that in justice we shall have no alternative but to ordain women...
...only if somehow one's human potential could not be fulfilled without it...
...but the trap had been laid...
...And the Archbishop does not explain whether this is, in his eyes, a matter of revealed and therefore unchangeable doctrine, or a matter of venerable but changeable discipline...
...members of a lynching party...
...There are many in the mission fields, in prisons, in hospitals, confined to their homes, etc...
...those having a bodily defect through mutilation, blindness, deafness, inability to speak, lameness if it requires the use of a cane, the possession of a sixth finger, the adhesion of the three end fingers, epilepsy...
...An indispensable part must be the prayerful discernment (by the entire Church) of the Spirit's movement in the Church, trying to discover to which Christians, man or woman, the various charisms of 'ministry are being given...
...Many other cultural conditions have affected the discipline, such,, as the place of woman in Jewish religion, the involvement of women-priests in the pagan cults of the Roman empire, the influence of women-prophets in the Montanist movement...
...Coming shortly before the "Ordination Conference" of Detroit, it gave the impression of being directed against this Conference...
...In 1972 the NCCB Committee on Pastoral Research and Practices issued a report entitled "Theological Reflection on the Ordination of Women...
...slaves and castrati...
...Part of such discernment is done by the church of the local community which tests the server...
...Statement to Committee for International Women's Year, April 18, 1975...
...What difference, then, would biological "requirements" make...
...Firstly, Archbishop Bernardin raised the question of justice and the participants in the recent Ordination Conference reframed the issue to claim not so much the right to ordination but the right to have one's vocation tested...
...Compare also Emmanuel Doronzo, O.M.I...
...who cannot live a fully sacramental life because of the shortage of priests...
...3) The statement oversimplifies the case for ordination of women, and, by so doing, it undermines its own validity...
...But this does not blunt the edge and cannot veil the urgency of the basic question of a Christian anthropology...
...It is a question which cannot be dismissed lightly...
...It is in this work, not in the Old Testament, that we find the protocol of the Christian priesthood...
...It is not correct to say that no serious theological obstacle stands in the way of ordaining women to the priesthood, and that the fact that women have not been ordained up to now can be explained simply by culturally conditioned notions of male superiority...
...Bishops' Committee on the Permanent Diaconate and then-twelve theological consultants unanimously agreed that the diaconate should be restored to women...
...THE ORDINATION OF WOMEN A Statement by the President of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin At its Fall meeting in Washington, the Administrative Committee of the National Conference of Bishops authorized Archbishop Joseph L. Bernardin of Cincinnati, President of the National Conference, to make a statement on the subject of Catholic teaching on the ordination of women...
...Until recent times no theologian or canonist seemingly has judged this to be only of ecclesiastical law...
...2, p. 182) in his observations on Canon 968 (the candidate for ordination is a baptized male...
...To say that it is "The Church's teaching" does not help, for teaching can bear on discipline as well as on revelation...
...The scholastic anthropology, with which our theology and our practice of the sacraments are tied, is no longer functional...
...Very understandably, in such an event, the bishops would proceed cautiously and open the question by stressing what is presumably the traditional side of the issue, modifying this view later if subsequent discussion provided convincing theological reason for doing so...
...It would be a mistake, I believe, to reduce the question of the ordination of women to one of injustice, as is done at times...
...Perhaps this episcopal "protesting too much" is the last purple darkness before the dawn of obedience to God's choice of human instruments unhindered by "traditional" requirements...
...Archbishop Bernardin subsequently prepared such a statement, and it was then issued after consultation with the NCCB Executive Committee...
...Certainly, the line of theological reasoning to which the Archbishop's statement appeals-namely, "the Church has never done it, therefore . . ."-is far from being a sufficient ground...
...Justice requires that we supply these people with priests...
...Most participants being sisters, the protest that was formulated at Detroit illustrates a growing polarization between the clerical establishment and a new generation of sisters...
...Undoubtedly, these speakers ought not to have fallen into the trap...
...DOROTHY H. DONNELLY 'Static View' I am disappointed with Archbishop Bemardin's statement because: 1) Awkward timing to issue such a sexist statement during the concluding "rites" of the International UN Year of the Woman, putting the Church squarely on the side of those who do not promote or support equality for women in spite of Pope Paul's words: "an equality before God whose essential foundation is the dignity of the human person, man and woman, in their relationship with God of whom they are the visible image...
...By oversimplifying the opposition, the Archbishop failed to see the magnitude of the question...
...The constant practice and tradition of the Catholic Church has excluded women from the episcopal and priestly office...
...Its force will not be appreciated by those who look for Revelation and theology in Scripture alone, and who do not appreciate Tradition as a source of theology...
...There is a serious theological issue...
...4...
...GEORGE H. TAVARD 'Ambiguous, Unconvincing' The passages of Archbishop Ber-nardin's statement which deal with ordination are disastrous on several counts...
...7:12...
...Both candor and a sense of responsibility impel me at this time to address a question which is in the minds of many people...
...Perhaps, however, the Bernardin statement is not to be read as an attempt to close off the issue, but as a stimulus to careful reflection- and at least one remark in the document would seem to indicate such an intent...
...Indeed, at the conference of the American Nurses' Association held in San Francisco in 1974 many nurses felt that this new surgery was an emotional strain upon the nurse who needed psychological guidance to assist a patient who was admitted, as one sex and discharged as another...
...In commenting on this assertion, the Bishops' Committee went on to say: "(This reason) is of ponderous theological import...
...It has served as a catalyst for serious discussion and action on behalf of women within both the Church and society...
...Women are called today to a greater leadership role in the Church...
...3) He did not speak of how the bishops would address themselves to the necessary dialogue with women so that the "contrary theological development" he mentions could take place...
...When the Holy Father received Mrs...
...As a matter of fact, such argumentation is all too reminiscent of the reasoning that led to the disaster of Humanae Vitae, though the encyclical was more justified in appealing to such an argument...
...On the contrary: in the contemporary effort to promote the advancement of women in* society, the Church has already recognized 'a sign of the times,' and has seen in it a call of the spirit...
...But honesty and concern for the Catholic community, including those of its members who advocate the ordination of women, also require that Church leaders not seem to encourage unreasonable hopes and expectations, even by their silence...
...But the committee's reference to "constant tradition and practice," which is invoked here, remains studiously uncommitted on this crucial point...
...Part should be a scholarly examination of the theological reasons for or against ordaining women for full liturgical ministry-something that has only recently begun...
...judges who have imposed the sentence of death...
...5) The timing of the Archbishop's statement has been positively harmful...
...Therefore I am obliged to restate the Church's teaching that women are not to be ordained to the priesthood...
...Our question must be "Is it just to deprive people of the sacraments and the message of the Gospel because we do not permit these to be ministered through a woman's hands...
...Too much worthwhile has been said on the matter in the past decade, some of it by careful and respected Catholic theologians, to be dismissed in such cavalier fashion...
Vol. 103 • January 1976 • No. 2
