257 WOMEN HAVE SPECIAL GIFTS AND ABILITIES

YOUCAT Lesson 257

YOUCAT the catechism for Catholic youth

257  Is it demeaning to women that only men may receive the sacrament of Holy Orders?

The rule that only men may receive the sacrament of Holy Orders in no way demeans women.  In God’s sight, man and woman have the same dignity, but they have different duties and charisms.  The Church sees herself as bound by the fact that Jesus chose men exclusively to be present at the Last Supper for the institution of the priesthood.  Pope Jon Paul II declared in 1994 “that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful”.

Statue: …..Mary, a woman to ponder and love.  Mary, our Mother! …..Cathedral of Our Lady Mother of God, Porto Alegre, Brazil.....81.....257

Like no one else in antiquity, Jesus provocatively affirmed the value of women, bestowed his friendship on them, and protected them.  Women were among his followers, and Jesus highly valued their faith.  Moreover, the first witness to the Resurrection was a woman.  That is why Mary Magdalene is called “the apostle of the Apostles”.  Nevertheless, the ordained priesthood (and consequently pastoral ministry) has always been conferred on men.  In male priests the Christian community was supposed to see a representation of Jesus Christ.  Being a priest is a special service that also makes demands on a man in his gender-specific role as male and father.  It is, however, not some form of masculine superiority over women.  As we see in Mary, women play a role in the Church that is no less central than the masculine role, but it is feminine.  Eve became the mother of all the living (Genesis 3:20).  As “mothers of all the living”, women have special gifts and abilities.  Without their sort of teaching, preaching, charity, spirituality, and guidance, the church would be “paralyzed on one side”.  Whenever men in the Church use their priestly ministry as an instrument of power or do not allow opportunities to women, they offend against charity and the Holy Spirit of Jesus.  64

“No one could have been a better priest than (the Blessed Virgin Mary) was.  She could say without hesitation, ‘This is my Body’, because she really did give Jesus her own body.  And yet Mary remained the simple handmaid of the Lord, so that we can always turn to her as our mother.  She is one of us, and we are always united with her.  After the death of her Son, she continued to live on earth so as to strengthen the apostles in their ministry, to be their mother, until the young Church had taken shape.”  Bl. Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997)