ordination of women in the catholic church

VATICAN CITY, MAY 30, 2008 (Zenit.org).- The Vatican's doctrinal congregation has decisively decreed that the ordination of women is invalid.The general decree "On the Delict of Attempted Sacred Ordination of a Woman" was published today on the front page of L'Osservatore Romano, the Vatican newspaper. It states that the decree "comes into force immediately."

The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states in the brief text that it is acting to protect "the nature and validity of the sacrament of holy orders."

The texts affirms that "he who shall have attempted to confer holy orders on a woman, as well as the woman who may have attempted to receive Holy Orders, incurs in a 'latae sententiae' excommunication," that is, an automatic excommunication.
The decree is signed by the dicastery's prefect, Cardinal William Levada, and the secretary of the Vatican congregation, Archbishop Angelo Amato. Read this news on the following website:
http://www.zenit.org/

I follow the teaching and example of Jesus Christ.

WWJD? What would Jesus do?

The Catholic Church currently teaches:

The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry.

The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.

For more information see the Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 1577: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt2s ect2chpt3.htm#1577

With love in Christ.

2008-05-31 11:58:21 by gondas_thombre

www.cta-usa.org || Sarasota -- Earlier this month (Feb 2010) the Roman Catholic Women Priests held the first ordination of women Priests and ...

What do you think about the exclusion of woman from preisthood in the Catholic church. The excuse is that Jesus only chose men as apostles. However, how many of you believe that Mary Magdalene was also his apostle, but was left out as being identfied as such by a male dominated culture.

see newstory link
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080530/ap_o n_re_eu/vatican_women_priests
The ordination of woman may very well be much like the guru's cat:

When the guru sat down to
worship each evening,
The ashram cat would get in the way
and distract the worshippers.
So he ordered that the cat be tied
during evening worship.

After the guru died, the cat continued
to be tied during evening worship.
And when the cat expired, another cat
was brought to the ashram
so that it could be duly tied
during evening worship.

Centuries later, learned treatises were
written by the guru’s scholarly disciples
on the liturgical significance
of tying up a cat
while worship is performed.

Anthony de Mello, “The Guru’s Cat,”
The Song of the Bird,
Doubleday: New York, 1982, p. 63

It's an old boys network up there in the Curia, and they see no advantage in changing it. Jesus never even mentioned "priests", and he clearly didn't subscribe to the dominant cultural bias against women. The surviving historical (and biblical) record indicates that women had a great deal of influence in the early Church. There were deaconesses and possibly even women bishops. But once it was legalized, the men took control and have never given it up since.

2008-05-30 12:14:35 by DMG

Price: $39.95

Roman Catholic supporters of Barack Obama undergo intimidation by church leaders because of their candidate’s pro-choice views. Father Roy Bourgeois faces excommunication for co-presiding over the ordination of a woman as priest. Author Angela Bonavoglia connects the dots within a deeply misogynistic tendency of the church hierarchy that members are resisting—from the pews and from the pulpit.

Curious about what you think about this article.

http://www.womensmediacenter.com/ex/1119 08.html

I was not raised a Catholic, so perhaps I am not the best authority on this. But I did read the Bible, and the New Testament with particular interest. What I noticed was this. When Jesus was betrayed, it was by one of his own apostles, a man named Judas. When Jesus was denied, it was by one of his own apostles, a man named Simon, whom Jesus had nicknamed the Stone or Rock (Peter, in other words). When the former friends of Jesus ran away and hid themselves out of fear, those friends were all men, the other apostles. Who came and stood at the foot of the cross? That was a woman, in the company of other women. That was Mary Magdalene, whose epithet may mean the Tower (the tower of faith, according to one Biblical scholar).

After the death of Jesus, and after the Sabbath, someone went to his tomb to see to the final funeral preparations which had been interrupted by the onset of the Sabbath (the coming of sunset on Friday night, by Jewish tradition). That was not a man. That was a woman again, in the company of other women. That was Mary Magdalene again. But the stone which covered the entrance to the tomb was rolled away. And the tomb was empty. This woman began to weep. Then she saw someone whom she took to be the gardener, as this rock-cut tomb was in a garden. The gardener called her by name and told her to stop crying. Then she recognized this man and knew he was not the gardener after all. This was a sublime miracle, as this was the risen Christ.

So, who was the first to see Jesus risen from the dead? Was it a man? No, it was not. It was Mary Magdalene. And how did the apostles come to know that Jesus had risen? Did they come to help with the funeral preparations? Did they come to pay their respects to the dead? No, they did not. They only came after Mary Magdalene sought them out and told them of her miraculous vision and that Jesus had risen. Then -- only then -- did they go to the tomb to see for themselves because they were sure that a mere woman could not possibly know or see such a thing.

But they saw the same thing, the empty tomb, the grave clothes lying there, no body. And then the risen Jesus appeared to them, too. So, for this reason, in the Orthodox churches, which are every bit as old and as traditional as the Catholic church, Mary Magdalene is known as the Apostle to the Apostles. She was never libeled or slandered by being identified with the unnamed prostitute, as she was in the Catholilc tradition. And Orthodox priests have always been allowed to marry, though they were forced to remain celibate in the Catholic tradition.

In both traditions, women were not allowed to become priests, but in a third tradition that is equally venerable, the Gnostic tradition, women were priests (or, more accurately, priestesses) and members of the church hierarchy, from the beginning. But under Roman persecution, this branch of the early church was pretty much wiped out. We now have many of the writings from this branch, discovered in Egypt at a place called Naj Hammadi. Some of these gospels, such as one attributed to Mary Magdalene herself, a gospel of Philip, and many others, often show Mary as being a special friend to Jesus, one in whom Jesus placed unusually high esteem, but one whom Peter and some of the other apostles did not approve of.

It was the Roman emperor Constantine who raised the status of the Christian church to a state religion. No doubt this was part of the reason that the hierarchy became decidedly male. In order to make it more palatable to Roman authorities, it had to be more in line with Roman mores, Roman values. They were a decidedly patriarchal people, as was their empire. Many early forms of Christianity were ruthlessly persecuted and their followers executed. This was well before the division of Catholicism and Orthodoxy though. And remember, there is also an Ethiopian Christian church and a Coptic Christian church in Egypt also, each of which has a slightly different take on things. These all predate the Protestant Reformation by many centuries.

So there have always been many currents within Christianity, many disagreements. This is one major reason that Muhammad did not become a Christian, in fact. He heard many stories from the Bible, told by Jews and by Christians. But he was disturbed by all the sectarian hatred expressed by Jews and Christians, all these divisions. So he sought a new way, and in so doing founded Islam.

But personally I do not believe that God himself is nearly as quick to condemn half of his human creation for being female rather than male as the male half sometimes seems to be. I think the point of Genesis was to say that the God of the ancient Hebrews was in charge of all the universe as opposed to the other types of lesser gods worshipped by all the other people around them. Look at the ancient Greeks, for example. Zeus put so-and-so up in the sky as this constellation. Poseidon cre

2008-11-19 08:42:55 by Flyinghorse

Price: $30.00

Before answering this question, please consider it carefully. I do not ask for answers from merely a societal point-of-view (in which feminism is largely accepted), but from a religious understanding.

Please note that I ask about the *priesthood*. This means the Roman Catholic Church, the Orthodox Churches, and the Anglican Church (they all have priests). There is a significant theology behind the priesthood. Both the Roman and Orthodox Churches do NOT accept it as theologically possible. The Anglican Church has allowed it due to majority vote by synods. Many Protestant evangelical churches reject the ordination of female ministers.

If you have no in-depth knowledge about this subject (only a gut-reaction), please think twice before answering this question. I am requesting some well-thought out arguments for or against.

{SCHNEB - what do you think?}
{florea_claudia2u: In answer to your question, I am not a member of the Church of Rome}

Well, when you are talking about the priesthood, I am not a good source since I am non-denominational. As for pastors, no, I think the Bible makes it clear for a man to do the teaching. However, women have a very important role in counseling other women.
Women have the greatest of the jobs because Jesus said that let he who is to be the greatest, be the servant.
I was led to Christ by a very Godly woman named Myra. Being a woman does not limit you in who you can share with or bring to the Lord. However, in leadership, it should be a the male that takes charge.

2006-02-18 12:49:54 by Chrysostom

Oct. 20) -- The number of married Catholic priests could grow sharply as the result of the Vatican's epochal decision to welcome thousands of disaffected Anglicans and Episcopalians into the Catholic church.


At press conferences in Rome and London on Tuesday, Vatican officials announced that the church would set up a special canonical structure that will ease the conversion of members of the Anglican Communion without them having to give up what the Vatican called "the distinctive Anglican spiritual and liturgical patrimony." That means not only a body of prayers and hymns, but also a tradition of married priests and bishops.


The move comes after years of discord within the Anglican Communion, which unites 77 million Anglicans and Episcopalians under the loose authority of the Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams. The church has been racked by schisms over the ordination of women and its stance toward homosexuality.

http://news.aol.com/article/vatican-crea tes-new-structure-to-ease/728295

Yes, I did hear. Though there is some confusion.

They would be joining the Catholic Church, but they would be considered their own Order within Catholicism.

For example:

Opus Dei. They are Catholic and fall under the authority of the Pope, but they are their own Order within Catholicism. They have some differences in how their Mass is said and how they live, they are more strict than the Latin Rite (which is the most common).

Byzantine. They are also Catholic and fall under the authority of the Pope, but have some different practices that are not found in the Latin Rite.

This is what the Traditional Anglican Communion is looking to do. They will be under the authority of the Pope, but they would be a different Order within Catholicism. Their practices will be accepted as long as they are not against Catholic teaching.

Married priests will not be allowed to become bishops either, but there are some Orders within Catholicism that allow married priests already. So that is nothing new.

I think it's wonderful and I hope it will help bring all Christians back to the One True Church.

2009-10-21 00:19:00 by Melissa L