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Ordaining women cause for debate
Read the article / show / issue that provoked me to write a letter and my response below that or go straight to my response
Date Posted on this Site
May 15, 2007
Publication
Sudbury Star
Publication Date
May 11, 2007
Published Content
A decision by Sudbury's Marie Bouclin to become one of three ordained women as Roman Catholic priests - a move that will put them outside the teachings of the church - brought stern rebuke in some circles.
In Thursday's Sudbury Star, letters from writers in Canada and the United States criticized the three women because they would not succumb to church teachings.
Bouclin and the other two women will be ordained later this month in a ceremony of the Roman Catholic Womenpriests, a movement that began in 2002, and which has now ordained 14 women priests in the U.S. and one in Canada.
Francois Brassard, a spokesperson for the movement, said it does not "want to cause conflict with the members of the hierarchy; therefore, they will minister in another way - by going to the people instead of having people come to them."
And that is the great dilemma facing the Catholic Church. It is having difficulty finding priests. The result is that it is losing touch with many Catholics.
If that happens, the church will have less relevance in their lives, and they will, perhaps, seek that relevance elsewhere - such as in the Womenpriests movement.
Said Bouclin: "I am only doing this because the Roman Catholic Church needs priests and the Vatican thinks it is more important to have only unmarried men rather than fulfilling its pastoral needs."
Too many people are not receiving communion due to lack of priests, she said.
Ordaining female priests might also foster the message that "oppression and discrimination against women is not the will of God," she said.
Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe, of the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, will not sanction the women's ordination because it does not conform to church teachings, "which is that only lay men can be ordained." Said Plouffe: "It is difficult for me to understand why she would exclude herself from the church."
But church teachings have evolved over the centuries. Perhaps this bold move by these women can stir debate that eventually leads to the ordination of women within the Catholic Church.
Pope Benedict himself has taken the position that faith alone cannot explain the existence of humans. In a newspaper article published in the Edinburgh Scotsman in April, Benedict defended "theistic evolution," which holds that God created life through evolution. Said Benedict: "I would not depend on faith alone to explain the whole picture." Does not that opinion clash with Biblical Genesis? Has the Catholic Church not moved on this and other teachings over the decades and centuries?
These women have sought change within the church, but they got nowhere. They feel excluded in an institution that is dear to them, and they are fighting for inclusion. Their chosen path should not to be mocked or derided - it should be seen as an opportunity.
The Catholic Church has had 2,000 years to shape its doctrines, surely this challenge is no threat. Instead, it should be the catalyst for debate.
Change is inevitable, even in rigid institutions like the Catholic Church. But it comes about because people take bold steps and challenge authority and well-established beliefs.
Bouclin and the others are prepared to face the consequences of their actions, which is exclusion from the church. Their methods can be challenged, but their spirituality and love for their faith should not be questioned.
My Response Letter
It is disappointing that the Sudbury Star would choose to write an editorial supporting women priests in the Catholic Church without even attempting to explain why the Church cannot (yes, cannot) ordain women.
Granted, the reasons, expounded in Pope John Paul II's Ordinatio Sacerdotalis and Inter Insigniores, which was signed by Pope Paul VI, are detailed and not easily adapted to a newspaper editorial.
Nevertheless, any attempt to explain Church teaching, or at least point readers toward the relevant documents, would have been better than a partial quote from the bishop that stated the obvious, that "only lay men can be ordained".
Jason Gennaro
Aurora, ON
Was my response published?
Yes