CONSIDER TRADITION

...It may even neglect Tradition when it comes to the role of women in the church...

...Commonweal 11 January 29,1999 There is no need to deprecate the value of less central traditions...

...We are all "being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another" (2 Cor...

...The sequence of readings in the Lectionary as well as our liturgical gestures are good examples of such traditions...

...While we reside in an age when the Resurrection is already a reality, at the same time we carry within us the reality of the Crucifixion, and we long for the Second Coming...

...Are we to understand that a woman cannot resemble Christ sufficiently for the faithful to see Christ in her, for her to become a sacrament of Christ...

...This tradition has also been faithfully maintained by the Oriental churches...

...Or was Mary not called to be a priest because she had another call...

...The sacramentality of the priesthood cannot demand a male presence in the same way that the celebration of the Eucharist requires the elements of bread and wine...

...What is it that makes a traditional practice honorable (a fine Southern word), not to mention valid, for a Christian...

...After all, much of the secular and religious activity we take for granted was never done or authorized by Jesus...

...As abhorrent as this sounds today, many well-intentioned white people believed this...

...We know that a woman is no more in a state of subjection by Commonweal 19 January 29,1999 her nature than is a man...

...But we must be sure that what we are continuing is truly revelatory of the mystery of Christ...

...According to the Kroegers, the Christian community was combating certain Gnostic views, among them one which claimed that Eve was created first and then created (or was the author of) Adam...

...To do so would stand in contradiction to what we now understand of the good news of Christ...

...What if the exclusionary tradition of the male priesthood is itself inimical to the gospel Tradition...

...I would like to consider three kinds of tradition, which I would call negative, subsidiary, and Tradition with a capital T. All three are implicated in the current controversy about the refusal of the Roman Catholic church to ordain women to the priesthood...

...Nonetheless, even if the verses are translated in the customary manner, any practice based on them (or on any other Scripture passage) must be read, not in isolation, but in the light of the broader Tradition of the church and of what we know of the good news of Jesus Christ...

...One denomination permitted no musical accompaniment for its robust hymn-singing because the organ is not mentioned in the Bible...

...Hgain, the argument is confusing...

...11:23 NRSV...

...Did it violate cultural norms...

...Nevertheless, whether or not the intention is there, the all-male priesthood and the arguments proposed in its favor do suggest that women are a lesser image of Christ than men...

...Commonweal 20 January 29,1999...

...And yet in another age and among certain groups, this too would have been acceptable...

...What are these other factors...

...011 tradition reminds us that we are never wholly creatures of the present moment...

...Both the thrusting of our roots into what was and the reaching out toward what will be, toward the eschaton, are necessary for us as human beings...

...We are responsible for what we have learned about men and women from modern social and biological sciences, as well as from the Holy Spirit...

...I think of this as a subsidiary tradition, one based on or developed from positive actions or sayings, but not essential to the gospel message...

...It is memory which links us to the past and hope which connects us to the future...

...Although subsidiary traditions may take the form of lovely and meaningful customs, such as seasonal colors for Rose Hoover, R.C., is on the retreat staff of the Cenacle in Metairie, Louisiana...

...Tradition," according to Rahner and Vorgrimler, "ensures the continuance of what has been once begun...

...4:19...

...When I was growing up in the segregated South, the story of Noah's drunkenness in Genesis 9 was cited as justification for the subservient status of people of African descent...

...The questions are important, but for the discussion of ordination in today's church they cannot be decisive...

...But we know better...

...3:18...

...On the other hand, since I am all too aware, again as a Southerner, of the damage wreaked by the misuse of tradition, I have begun to ponder the meaning and nature of tradition and to look critically at its role in the Christian life...

...Surely that is not what is being suggested...

...We are all, women and men, through our participation in Christ's death and Resurrection in the Eucharistic mystery, which unites all the sacraments, and in the mystery of our everyday lives, called to "be conformed to the image of [God's] Son" (Romans 8:29...

...Far from alienating me, an appeal to tradition tends to warm my heart...

...Was Mary not called to be a priest because she was a woman...

...Similarly, certain biblical passages have been used to subordinate women in the church...

...For this reason we, who have been made like to him, who have died with him and risen with him, are taken up into the mysteries of his life, until we reign together with him...

...In a similar fashion, we cannot let the views of the Fathers of the church or of scholasticism or even of theologians early in this century determine how women are to be viewed in the church today...

...The National Conference of Catholic Bishops' Committee on Doctrine takes up this challenge in its observations on the Catholic Theological Society of America document, "Tradition and the Ordination of Women...

...I say surely, because any denial of the power of Christ through his passion, death, and Resurrection to transform a believer into his image is irreconcilable with the Tradition...

...Tradition, in hope, stretches out before us to the consummation of the messianic age, when the wolf shall dwell with the lamb and the reality of Jesus' prayer that all may be one will finally be manifest...

...What do I tell my daughters...

...Celebrating the Eucharist is an obvious example of a practice belonging to the Tradition...

...The same natural resemblance is required for persons as for things: when Christ's role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally, there would not be this "natural resemblance" which must exist between Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by a man: in such a case it would be difficult to see in the minister the image of Christ...

...For Christ himself was and remains a man...

...Our most venerable traditions have reasons behind their longevity, and we should not cast them aside lightly...

...Christ is the destination and ultimate identity of each human being, and all are called to be remade in his image...

...One of the more perverse tendencies of believers has been the use of the Bible to justify prejudice toward groups whom we believe God has chosen not to favor...

...What if the exclusion of women from the priesthood is jeopardizing the handing on of the Tradition...

...she is to keep silent...

...What would be the reaction if one said that a particular race or nationality could not adequately image Christ...

...In the words of Lumen gentium (7), "All the members [of the body of Christ] must be formed in his likeness, until Christ is formed in them {see Gal...

...The iconic nature of the priesthood is primary among those reasons, as Inter insigniores also points out: "Sacramental signs," says Saint Thomas, "represent what they signify by natural resemblance...

...What is more, woman's subjection is not due to social conditions...

...This is an example of what I would call a negative tradition, one based on something not done, rather than on something done...

...Finally, considering what we know today about human beings and about the gospel, it is a tradition that has become a stumbling block to Christ's little ones, a scandal to the world, and a detriment to the handing on of the church's constant Tradition...

...Are they sufficient to safeguard the tradition of the all-male priesthood without endangering the transmission of the Tradition...

...To attempt to change the situation—to go to school together, to sit down at the same table, to worship together, and heaven forbid, to marry each other—would be immoral, counter to the will of God...

...This is a confusing passage...

...But what about today...

...Aquinas also believed that "in women there is not sufficient strength of mind to resist concupiscence...

...Thus women are not called to be lesser images of Christ than are men...

...Catholicism's integrity rests in its tradition with a capital T. The Tradition is, first, always at the heart of the mystery of Christ, and second, generally based on the positive actions of Jesus, rather than omissions, unless those omissions are clearly at the center of the mystery...

...For the restriction of the priesthood to men is primarily a negative tradition, based on an omission, not on Jesus' unambiguous instruction...

...I know how heavily tradition can weigh, how morally blinding it can be...

...Is it really impossible for the church to do something Jesus did not do, especially if the proposed change has not been much of an issue up until recently...

...1 Cor...

...Does it matter whether or not women were at the Last Supper, or whether their role in early Christianity included priesthood...

...If Mary's role was not to be a priest, does that mean that no women are ever called to be priests...

...They have given us powerful ways of expressing grief, comforting those in sorrow, praising God, and praying together as family or community...

...But out of God's great love, the Word became flesh, taking on everything about our human condition, born of a woman inter faeces et urinam (to borrow Augustine's expression)—like us in all things but sin...

...The second type of tradition can be illustrated by the church of my mother's childhood, whose music consisted of psalms, as these were the songs of the Bible...

...My forebears ingested racism with their mothers' milk, though they would not have thought of themselves as racists...

...Some are called to be prophets, some teachers, some evangelists, some healers, some priests...

...When I was in high school, our service club occasionally visited different churches on Sunday mornings...

...the liturgy or singing psalms instead of hymns, they too become dangerous if they displace aspects more central to the mystery of Christ...

...When dealing with a negative tradition we must ask why something was never done...

...They were kind in the way they knew how to be kind...

...In other words, we are going somewhere, and our tradition, while participating in eternal truths, is not and cannot be static...

...No, if Mary was not ordained, it was because she received a more important call, not because she was a woman...

...They must support what the gospel teaches in other areas, such as the injunction to love God and neighbor and the call to union of all Christians in Christ and with Christ...

...Or is something more required...

...Would it have compromised the gospel...

...But what about Mary...

...On the other hand, as the liturgical reforms of Vatican II made clear, not every detail of how the Eucharist is celebrated—even some of our most revered practices—can be claimed as part of the Tradition...

...Now a woman is a subject by her nature, whereas a slave is not...

...Is Inter insigniores saying that having women at the altar would be the equivalent of using pizza instead of bread, or Coke instead of wine...

...However, ancillary practices remain vital and valid only insofar as they are consistent with the Tradition itself...

...Is it the fact that we have always done it that way...

...Memory and tradition assure us that we are not merely contingent beings but part of something larger than ourselves, and that this something does not easily die...

...These observations emphasize that the magisterium's rejection of the appeal to female inferiority means that "other factors" should be stressed...

...In their hearts they believed they were living in the way God had ordained for them—yet what unspeakable damage their convictions about race inflicted on generation unto generation...

...Is it harmful to us or to others, and therefore immoral...

...The Responsum ad dubium, dated October 28,1995, and signed by Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger and Tarcisio Bertone of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, offered a clarification: "This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the church, it has been set forth infallibly by the Commonweal 1 8 January 29,1999 ordinary and universal magisterium...

...Pope John Paul II, in Ordinatio sacerdotalis, writes: the fact that the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of God and Mother of the church, received neither the mission proper to the Apostles nor the ministerial priesthood clearly shows that the nonadmission of women to priestly ordination cannot mean that women are of lesser dignity, nor can it be construed as discrimination against them...

...Origins, July 16,1998...

...In the call to holiness, that is, the call to represent Christ in the world, the church has not traditionally held women to a lower standard than men—on the contrary...

...It is also a subsidiary tradition, not at the heart of the gospel mystery...

...For Adam was formed first, then Eve...

...The constant Tradition of the church is that all, men and women alike, have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God...

...Addressing the question of whether slavery is an impediment to ordination, Thomas wrote in the Summa that "sacramental signs signify by reason of their natural likeness...

...Aquinas's objections can no longer be cited as reasons to refuse ordination to women...

...Or was it simply that no one ever thought of it...

...I am not just worried about the practical problem of a lack of vocations...

...By means of our Christian traditions we live out our shared memories of Jesus and his paschal mystery, as well as of the patriarchs and matriarchs of our pre-Christian and post-Resurrection heritage...

...For I received from the Lord what I also handed on to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took a loaf of bread...

...Most often, perhaps, we live in tension between the two, although at times, in graced moments, we repose in their embrace...

...I cherish the traditions of my ancestors, of my region, and especially of my church...

...If black people were in a position inferior to whites, both socially and economically, this was part of the divine plan, proceeding from the unwary actions of Noah's son Ham...

...One of the most damaging has been 1 Timothy 2:11-15, which reads in part, "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over men...

...Rather, it is to be seen as the faithful observance of a plan to be ascribed to the wisdom of the Lord of the universe...

...However, our life in Christ is based not only on sacred memory, but also on hope—for Christ will come again, the dead will be raised, the reign of God will reach its ultimate fulfillment...

...Our nature is rather to be creatures of the sacred anamnesis, where past, present, and future are brought together into one: "Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again...

...Nor can any other reasons that imply inferiority...

...In / Suffer Not a Woman: Rethinking 1 Timothy 2:11-15 in Light of Ancient Evidence (Baker, 1992), Richard Clark Kroeger and Catherine Clark Kroeger make a convincing case for a different translation of the passage...

...In the Sumtna Theologiae we read that "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...

...The passage forbids the teaching of heretical doctrine, and has no relevance to women's place in the assembly...

...On Pentecost, May 22,1994, Pope John Paul II appealed to tradition in his apostolic letter, Ordinatio sacerdotalis: "Priestly ordination, which hands on the office entrusted by Christ to his Apostles of teaching, sanctifying, and governing the faithful, has in the Catholic church from the beginning always been reserved to men alone...

...And I imagine Jesus responding, "If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around your neck and you were thrown into the sea" (Mark 9:42...

...The same approach should be taken when considering the ordination of women to the priesthood...

...According to the Theological Dictionary of Karl Rahner and Herbert Vorgrimler, it is crucial to distinguish Tradition from "doctrine and discipline that are traditional in the broad sense," but which do not have the "direct authority" of the revelation of God to and through the church...

...Thomas Aquinas was wise in many things, but even he was a product of his times...

...We know that women are not by nature inferior to men (see John Paul II's 1988 apostolic letter, Mulieris dignitatem...

...They would never have joined the Ku Klux Klan or consciously harmed a person of any race...

...We cannot judge Thomas Aquinas...

...Are we being told that the sign-value would be defective because women are of a fundamentally different nature than men, and therefore of Christ...

...Still, if the unvarying tradition of the Catholic church has been to reserve the priesthood to men, the question of whether or not the exclusion of women from the priesthood is an authentic aspect of its Tradition remains...

...Unfortunately, the Vatican seems too often to blur the distinctions between different kinds of traditions (see the examples of what is to be held definitively in the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith's commentary which companions Ad tuendam fidetn...

...They regarded a hierarchy of the races as God's will...

...Such an approach to tradition can be risky...

...But even traditional practices that appear to have no rational explanation need not be abandoned, for religious practice does not require the same sort of rationale as, say, computer networking...

...He never rode in an automobile, wore trousers, made a telephone call, used hosts for Communion, condemned slavery (in so many words, at least as far as we know), or ordained Gentiles to the priesthood (if he can be said to have ordained anyone...

...And one amazing woman was called to be the mother of the Savior...

...Let us accept, at least for the sake of argument, that the constant practice of the church has indeed been an all-male priesthood...

...The Greek, they maintain, may more accurately be translated, "I do not permit woman to teach nor to represent herself as originator of man but she is to be in conformity [with the Scriptures]....For Adam was created first, then Eve...

...I hear a parish leader ask when the topic of ordination comes up...

...One would certainly have doubts about ordaining a creature of such limited endowment...

...And they must not supplant or overshadow the Tradition...

...See the 1976 declaration of the CDF, Inter insigniores, 4.) Hor centuries, the male priesthood seemed to provide an effective means for the transmittal of the message of Christ, and in this sense could be seen as tradition in service of the Tradition...