Saturday, April 14, 2012

Indy Woman Ordained a Priest?

This is a joke from WTHR. This shows what happens when people separate themselves from the Rock. These women won't be excommunicated by the Church because, according to Church teaching, they DE FACTO excommunicate themselves through this action. In fact, Rome clarified just last year that because of the harm that fake ordinations do to the Body of Christ, one can not even simply confess the sin to a priest, the forgiveness of such a sin must be sought directly from Rome.

These people aren't Catholic, it isn't a real ordination, she wasn't ordained a deacon, this isn't new, it has been going on for millenia. Pray for their conversion!


What does the Church teach on ordaining women? Sister Sara Butler, a respected theologian around the world and a member of the International Theological Commission, has written a fantastic and succinct work on the matter titled, “The Catholic Priesthood and Women.” She goes through the various arguments that have been posited since John Paul II said in 1990 in his letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis that “In order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance….I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful.” The main argument that the Church makes, and that Butler helps clarify as well, is that Christ chose 12 men. Since that is what Christ did, that is what the Church does.

There are many arguments that people love to put up against this, most notably the idea that Christ COULD NOT have chosen women or he would have been dismissed for doing so. The answer to that, in my mind, is that the Christ of the Gospels was a man who, at every turn, upset the established order. He seems to have been going to the synagogue mostly to heal people on the Sabbath, as Chesterton notes, he was a man who threw the furniture of the temple down the front steps when he cast out the money changers, he left no stone unturned in regards to opportunities to break down cultural or religious barriers – and yet he only chose 12 men to be his Apostles.

From this point Butler chronicles the many different reasons posited through the years as to why Christ MAY have chosen only men, and she lays them out beautifully while also meeting the critiques of those arguments cogently.

9 comments:

  1. Yet Christ tells us in John 14.12 "Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes in me will do the works that I do, and will do greater ones than these, because I am going to the Father." and John 16.12-13 “I have much more to tell you, but you cannot bear it now. But when he comes, the Spirit of truth, he will guide you to all truth. He will not speak on his own, but he will speak what he hears, and will declare to you the things that are coming."
    Why do we fear the things of the Holy Spirit? The Spirit came in wind, flame and tongues. He blows away all our fear, ignites new life in the church, and speaks in new ways to old ears. While I respect Sister's thoughtful comments, many, many other theologians have just as valid positions to posit a new way forward.

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    1. And those passages say women should be ordained how...

      Does the Spirit lead people away from the teachings of the Church? Does the Spirit lead Popes into error when they teach that not ordaining women to the priesthood is an infallible part of our Church?

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    2. Dear Anonymous,

      That seems a response confused as to the nature of the Church, the interconnectedness of Holy Scripture, Tradition, and the Magisterium.

      Unpacking Truth cannot, with any hope of consistency, discover items that deny the package in which they were announced. in the case that they can, eternal and objective Truth no longer exists; Truth now becomes whatever I believe it to be.

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  2. Ahh-Haa !!! Got cha !!

    "On the margin" comment is like a football ref throwing a yellow flag for a penalty.

    The Church is a woman. Christ is a man. The Christ is refered to as a "Bridegoom". The Church is the bride.... You can not break off from the church and "change it from the inside" ...I simply does not work that way...and a "former nun" and a "former priest". Why would they be former? I question the intentions of these people. The Blessed JPII has made it clear with his proclamation of priests. You are not leading people to the Lord, You are leading them to sin....Eddie Guanajuato, Indianapolis.

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  3. WHY DOES SHE HAVE TO BE A FORMER NUN?!?!!? :(

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  4. Father Hollowell,

    Just wondering; lets say that a woman "priest" decides she wants to leave the "priesthood" she is in and return to the true church, but can't get to Rome to confess, is there anything else she can do? What if she tells God she is sorry, but dies without getting the forgiveness from Rome, does she go to hell? Or, lets say that she lay dying along side the road and a priest comes up to give her the last rights, can he forgive her in that instance? Just wondering!

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    1. She doesn't actually have to GO to Rome - she just has to petition Rome for reconciliation. This can be done through the mail. A priest or diocesan representative can help any person in this situation get the petition together.

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  5. I found out about this while driving home from an otherwise lovely dinner with my wife. I feel like I have bit gut-stomped. I know excommunication is automatic, I hope that for a statement at the very least from our Apostolic Administrator. The silence is deafening. The state of catechesis is terrible in the United States. If it wouldn't hurt my own beloved parish, I'd just start sending my weekly contributions to EWTN, and Catholic Answers.

    I'm sick to my stomach right now.

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  6. I can see from the reporters point of view he or she may actually think it was a good story: presents both sides of an argument and provokes interest. However, the reporter (hopefully an oversight) by just presenting this abuse in such a matter of a fact way is an outrage to the church and God Himself. The story is made to almost say to the Church "yup its happening and right here in Indy" how about we report on the amazing Priest in Indianapolis for a change. Like Father Hollowell who provides guidance, wisdom and knowledge enriching the lives of people through his blog? Or Father Nagel who has a flourishing youth group at Saint Johns? Or how although under attack constantly the church continues to thrive with holy hours, long confession lines, daily mass attendance and the many rosaries said for our attackers????? We now know which side the media has chosen to be on and we pray for the conversion of the many souls who support it.

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