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FEMALE PRIESTS
It is difficult for many to accept the teaching of the Catholic Church (see Why Obey), which states that a priest must be of the male gender. We must remember that the Magesterium of the Catholic Church is divinely guided and we must obey what is handed down to us by the Authority of the Church. We cannot trust our own ideas and our own thinking because they are not inspired and can become corrupt by suggestions from the evil one.(Q): There are many woman dissenters who speak up for women ordinations, is this permitted in the church?
(A):
[…Bishops, teaching in communion with the Roman Pontiff, are to be respected by all as witnesses to divine and Catholic truth. In matters of faith and morals, the bishops speak in the name of Christ and the faithful are to accept their teaching and adhere to it with a religious assent. This religious submission of mind and will must be shown in a special way to the authentic magisterium of the Roman Pontiff, even when he is not speaking ex cathedra; that is, it must be shown in such a way that his supreme magisterium is acknowledged with reverence, the judgments made by him are sincerely adhered to, according to his manifest mind and will. His mind and will in the matter may be known either from the character of the documents, from his frequent repetition of the same doctrine, or from his manner of speaking. (The Second Vatican Council Lumen Gentium - 25)] We must obey the Pope's ordinary teachings even if we don't agree (see Why Obey). We must follow the teachings that the pope presents to us on the given matter what ever that might be. (Q): Are there any official statements against women's ordination?
(A): Yes, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith states that "The Church, in fidelity to the example of the Lord, does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination" (October 15, 1976 - Declaration of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood). Also, the Pope made the following statement in an apostolic letter entitled Ordinatio Sacerdotialis:"Wherefore, in order that all doubts may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church's divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk. 22:32), I declare 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"
The revised Code of Cannon Law states: Only a baptized male validly receives sacred ordination." If ever a woman would have been qualified to be a priest, it would have been Mary, but Jesus did not ordain her.
EXCERPTS FROM THE APOSTOLIC CONSTITUTIONS
Sec. II - On Deacons and Deaconesses, the rest of the clergy and on Baptism
Let not therefore either a bishop, or a presbyter, or a deacon, or any one else of the sacerdotal catalogue, defile his tongue with calumny, lest he inherit a curse instead of a blessing; and let it also be the bishop's business and care that no lay person utter any curse: for he ought to take care of all,--of the clergy, of the virgins, of the widows, of the laity. For which reason, O bishop, do thou ordain thy fellow-workers, the laborers for life and for righteousness, such deacons as are pleasing to God, such whom thou provest to be worthy among all the people, and such as shall be ready for the necessities of their ministration.
Ordain also a deaconess who is faithful and holy, for the ministrations towards women. For sometimes he cannot send a deacon, who is a man, to the women, on account of unbelievers. Thou shalt therefore send a woman, a deaconess, on account of the imaginations of the bad. For we stand in need of a woman, a deaconess, for many necessities; and first in the baptism of women, the deacon shall anoint only their forehead with the holy oil, and after him the deaconess shall anoint them: (5) for there is no necessity that the women should be seen by the men; but only in the laying on of hands the bishop shall anoint her head, as the priests and kings were formerly anointed, not because those which are now baptized are ordained priests, but as being Christians, or anointed, from Christ the Anointed, "a royal priesthood, and an holy nation, the Church of God, the pillar and ground of the marriage-chamber," (6) who formerly were not a people, but now are beloved and chosen, upon whom is called His new name? as Isaiah the prophet witnesses, saying: "And they shall Call the people by His new name, which the Lord shall name for them."
(8)WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERS OF A DEACON
XIX. Let the deacons be in all things unspotted, as the bishop himself is to be, only more active; in number according to the largeness of the Church, that they may minister to the infirm as workmen that are not ashamed.And let the deaconess be diligent in taking care of the women; but both of them ready to carry messages, to travel about, to minister, and to serve, as spake Isaiah concerning the Lord, saying: "To justify the righteous, who serves many faithfully."
