AN OPEN LETTER TO THE APOSTOLIC DELEGATE
AN OPEN LETTER TO THE APOSTOLIC DELEGATE Most Reverend Jean Jadot, D.D. Apostolic Delegate 3339 Massachusetts Ave., N.W. Washington, D.C. 20008 Your Excellency: Christ's Peace! We, the...
...Rector DONALD L. GELPI, S.J...
...Vist...
...of Systematic Theology EDWARD M. O'FLAHERTY, SJ...
...Asst...
...Prof...
...I'll make it, make it, maybe, put it in a poem...
...Prof...
...It is simply not evident to us that fidelity to the example of Jesus, who incorporated the human race into a unity within himself, would demand that women be excluded because of their sex from the sacramental and governing functions within the Church forever and on principle...
...3. The notion of tradition used in the Declaration is that of the inflexible transmission of past practices, regardless of the cultures out of which they came and the needs to which they responded...
...But the thrust of the Declaration is not in terms of organic and historical developments, but in terms of dogmatic impossibility...
...Any evidence should be overwhelming which makes discrimination an imperative...
...Public disagreement and frankness of response can often be taken in other cultures or read by unfriendly eyes as schism or as insult or as disobedience to lawful authority...
...The Declaration fails to acknowledge that it is disagreeing with the Pontifical Biblical Commission and to provide adequate grounds for so doing...
...Adj...
...Asst...
...Prof...
...Precisely the opposite is the case...
...Professor of Old Testament ANDREW J. DUFNER, S.J...
...This was the judgment of the Pontifical Biblical Commission and one with which we agree...
...Perhaps this letter can give hope to some who feel here a deep injustice, indicating that one can disagree without either leaving the Church or without a destructive bitterness and mutual recrimination...
...of Sacred Scripture THOMAS N. HART, S.J...
...for Acad...
...There is no question that some have taken serious scandal from this Declaration, that so decisive a document could be issued whose consultation was so minimal and whose argumentation appears so weak...
...of Systematic Theology DAVID STAGAMAN, S.J...
...Prof...
...To say that we have nevet~ ordained women in the past and therefore, cannot do so now, is to ignore the fact that the issue has never arisen in precisely these contemporary terms and within the new realization of women's place in the world...
...It is our conviction that this Declaration, because of the faulty nature of its argumentation and FELIX STEFANILE DAWN Dawn: .the Word saying .itself once more, like a sign on an awning...
...The other three citations are basically irrelevant...
...Adj...
...Sincerely yours in Christ, JOSEPH A. TETLOW, S.J...
...Dean JOHN COLEMAN, S.J...
...We do not see how women's ordination would derogate from this...
...The others do not...
...Prof...
...Despite this recognition, however, the Declaration retards that movement and commits the people of God to abiding and exclusive government by men...
...The growing discernment and incorporation of the Spirit of Christ into our structures, is all that we finally hope for through this letter...
...of Systematic Theology RODERICK A. F. MACKENZIE, S.J...
...Dissent becomes a moral imperative, and at this moment of morality there are no spectators...
...Commonweal: 205 conclusions, could impose a grave injustice on Catholic women and undermine the position of the Successor of Peter within the United States, continuing what has become a serious dissipation of his authority...
...The foundations of its arguments are laid in Sacred Scripture, the Fathers of the Church, the unaltered tradition of the past two thousand years, and the nature of the sacramental sign...
...Relations SANDRA M. SCHNEIDERS, IHM Asst...
...In its decision, the Roman Congregation may well be repeating in its own form and through its insufficient sensitivity to the issues involved, such condemnations as those of the Chinese Rites, of the Copernican understanding of the solar system, and of the early emerging biblical movement at the turn of the century...
...If the most important and persuasive patristic passages have been referred to by the Declaration, then the patristic a~'gument is too weak to be of any importance...
...of Religion & Society CHRIS BENNETr, S.S.S...
...Prof...
...Vist...
...Rather it is our judgment that the conclusion of the Declaration is not sustained by the evidence and the arguments alleged in its support, and that it could sanction within the Church a practice of serious injustice...
...The profound issue of justice does not arise because one woman has been denied presbyteral orders...
...We dissent not because we disassociate ourselves in any way from the Catholic Church or from the Roman Pontiff, but because we feel ourselves very much united with both...
...We are certainly not confronted with the "unanimous consent of the Fathers" which is generally required for the establishment of a theological position...
...l April 1977:206...
...Asst...
...An important pre-note: The whole purpose of our writing will be vitiated beyond repair if the nature of our dissent is misunderstood...
...Both the development of doctrine and the vitality of any tradition indicate that what is "handed on" must be translated into the contemporary idiom and respond to the discerned presence of the Spirit of Christ, bringing the evolving Church into a closer fidelity to the Gospel...
...FRANK A. MOLONY, S.J...
...3. The Declaration left open the ordination of women to the diaconate and we ask that it be instituted now as soon as possible, giving sacramental and public sanction for ministries which many women have been authorized to perform already within the Church and which they are performing so successfully, we believe that expanding the Church's experience here would illuminate successfully the evolving discernment about the Church's decisions and actions in the future...
...Assoc...
...It is our judgment that none of these, either individually or collectively, can bear the weight assigned...
...In sending this as an "Open Letter," Your Excellency, we follow a practice of general discussion which is as old as our nation...
...1. The scriptural evidence does not allow for any settlement of the question once and for all on the possible accession of women to the presbyterate...
...of New Testament Studies & Spirituality LEWIS M. COX, S.J...
...It is for this reason that we send to you an expression of dissent and of appeal...
...2. Of the initial five patristic authorities cited, only one (Epiphanius) clearly and directly supports the prohibition of women's ordination, while one other (Tertullian) offers a basis for argument that this should be the case...
...We believe that we may well be on a similar path again, and the effect of aligning priesthood with masculinity may identify the Church as regressive for millions of human beings in the future...
...2. That in the future, any document which is to bear so directly upon the lives and self-understanding of so many members of the Church be submitted as a matter of policy to the Bishops, theological faculties throughout the world, and to appropriate representative bodies of those seriously affected...
...On the contrary, the presence of women as priests, as well as men, could be an abiding sign to the faithful that all Christians "have put on Christ Jesus" and in this identification lies their hope for salvation...
...The Declaration offers neither encouragement nor leadership to the growing movement for the rightful evolution of women within the Church...
...Theol...
...Here we simply summarize the conclusions of our work...
...of Pastoral Theology WILLIAM J. FULCO, S.J...
...of Historical/ Systematic Theology HARRY T. CORCORAN, S.J...
...Prof...
...Prof...
...Prof...
...Once such a scene has been set, it would denigrate the Church to pretend in public that there is no serious contrary opinion or to deny this dissent the public voice granted to the alternative evaluation...
...The issue of justice is engaged when an entire class of Catholics is antecedently excluded on principle even from the possibility that Christ might call them to this ministry, so that simply because they are women it is impossible to admit them to this service of word and of sacrament...
...Prof...
...Asst...
...There are times when those whose lives are consecrated to the assimilation and explanation of .the Word of God, cannot remain silent when that Word is attenuated seriously by indifference or by error or by insensitivity or by ignorance...
...Prof...
...Assist...
...It is simply a matter of fact that the exclusion of women from priestly ordination in our day does not reinforce "the image of Christ" for a growing number of people, but rather symbolizes sexual discrimination within the Church...
...The emerging consciousness of women's rights is a major moral development of our times, and one which the Declaration positively acknowledged...
...but no one would admit the truth of the basis for his argument today...
...The limits of a letter do not allow us to present our extended investigations of the use of each of these loci theoIogici...
...Assoc...
...This is the reason that we write to you, Your Excellency...
...ROBERT H. DAILEY, S.J...
...of System...
...The Declaration itself is a public document...
...We recognize that these three measures will not end the discussion of women's ordination to the priesthood, but they will allow it to continue organically and gracefully within the developing self-understanding of the Church...
...AN OPEN LETTER TO THE APOSTOLIC DELEGATE Most Reverend Jean Jadot, D.D...
...What is more, the Declaration sometimes uses biblical data with a questionable exegetical method1 April 1977:204 ology and with presuppositions that allow the contextual meaning of certain passages to be compromised...
...ii.72) It is love which has brought us to speak...
...Roman Congregations have made serious mistakes in the past whose harm to the Church we continue to experience centuries afterwards...
...Dir...
...of Field Education JAMES L. EMPEREUR, S.J...
...Prof...
...The exclusion of any group of Christians from a life or from a function to which they feel a call is so serious an action by the Church, it should be supported as an obvious demand of the Gospel...
...of Systematic Theology JOHN H. WRIGHT, S.J...
...Inf...
...There is a legitimate concern of the Declaration that "the image of Christ" be perceived by the faithful in the priest...
...Prof...
...Of the second series of patristic authorities alleged, only one (Constitutiones Apostolicae) offers some support for the statement for which it is cited...
...Prof...
...wish to discuss the recent Declaration of the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith regarding the ordination of women to priesthood which asserts: "The Church, in fidelity to the example of the Lord, does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination...
...Asst...
...We are not attempting here an extended investigation of the entire question of women's ordination, nor is it our purpose here to present a comprehensive argument that women should be admitted to the ministerial priesthood...
...It was a woman--Beatrice, Dante's symbol for theologymwho put so well the spirit in which we write: "Amor mi mosse, the mi fa padare...
...Asst...
...It is the loyal opposition of those who feel that their very identification is leading them into a situation in which they seem to acquiesce in what is evil...
...President MICHAEL J. BUCKLEY, S.J...
...I stand by my window as by an easel, and the hours shape themselves--somebody's pipe, a scampering squirrel, clouds as white as laundry on a line, and the sparrows starting to live it up, to evening, I .think...
...This Declaration does not contain such evidence...
...of Systematic Theol...
...Instructor in Field Ed...
...4. The sacramental sign necessary to act in persona Christi is to be located within the human person rather than within masculine or feminine sexuality...
...There is a sanity about allowing for cultural growth, and the Church must both lead and proceed in terms of the development of consciousness throughout the entire world...
...Finally, then, please understand the profound love for the Church and for the Vicar of Christ that has led to this dissent and to its open expression...
...of Moral Theology MICHAEL L. COOK, S.J...
...of Spirituality THOMAS L. SCHUBECK, S.J...
...Secondly, we make our reflections public to support in their pain those who have read in this Declaration a decision that women will always occupy a secondary role within the Church...
...Assoc...
...The Dissent: It is with this understanding that we ask Your Excellency to convey to the Holy Father and to the Doctrinal Congregation our disappointment and disagreement with the determination of this Congregation regarding the ordination of women...
...These letters with their comments indicate two things: (1) that evalation is not out of order, and (2) that this evaluation is public...
...Asst...
...Prof...
...The question then becomes one of conscience...
...of Sacred Scripture JOSEPH M. POWERS, S.J...
...Adjunct Asst...
...of Religion & Society ERNEST R. MARTINEZ, S.J...
...Only after this widespread consultation should something so serious be given authoritative sanction by one of the Roman Congregations...
...The letters of praise which it has elicited from many bishops and Catholic groups have been printed in Osservatore Romano, in diocesan newspapers, and in the secular press...
...Spirituality PHILIPP SCHMITZ, S.J...
...Prof...
...Not to act is its own modality of entrance into the deed mas emphatically as is approval or prosecution...
...The Declaration correctly maintains that no single person can lay claim to ordination as a personal right...
...We, the undersigned theologians of the Pontifical Faculty of the Jesuit School of Theology at Berkeley, address this letter .to you as the representative of the Holy Father to the American Church...
...If the Doctrinal Congregation had confined its discussion to the present opportuneness of the ordination of women to the priesthood, alleging the practice of the Oriental Church, the position of women in different cultures, the contemporary attacks on the Holy See from the far right, it would have issued a declaration whose reasonableness would not have been legitimately questioned, although its conclusions might well have been...
...Asst...
...For theologians, dissent is neither a luxury nor a rhetoric...
...Dissent in our culture is the protest of those who belong...
...of Systematic Theol...
...The Appeal which we make to Your Excellency is really threefold: 1. That the concerns and judgments of the members of this Pontifical Faculty of Theology be communicated 'to the Holy Father and to the Doctrinal Congregation...
Vol. 104 • April 1977 • No. 7
