Can Women Become Priests? : A Catholic Feminist Perspective

Can women become priests? The answer to this question depends on whom you ask. For many Protestants, the answer is both yes and no. The only priest is Jesus Christ and all Christian share in the priesthood. As Luther wrote, we are all priests to one another, but there is no special ministry of priesthood that makes one person distinct from others. There are pastors, people who are called to preach and lead worship, but they are not priests. Luther, of course, did not consider women able to be pastors, but his followers (at least the non-Wisconsin or non-Missouri Synod ones) have thought otherwise. But they are not priests. For an Episcopalian who considers him or herself in union with the American and Anglican communions, the answer is yes, although this issue has been a very divisive one within the denomination. At least three dioceses within the American Episcopal Church do not think this question can be answered affirmatively. Indeed, a number of former Episcopal priests have become Roman Catholic priests, largely because of their opposition to women\u27s ordination. But then the Roman Catholic Church does not recognize the priesthood of the Anglican Communion. I will not address here the issue of the Orthodox priesthood, which deserves a separate discussion. These are just a few of the complicating issues surrounding this question

The royal priesthood: essays ecclesiological and ecumenical

Yoder, John Howard. The royal priesthood: essays ecclesiological and ecumenical. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1994

Did Jesus Exclude Women from Priesthood?

This sentence purports to give the principle upon which the fundamental affirmation of the Declaration rests, namely, the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith judges it necessary to recall that the Church , in fidelity to the example of the Lord, does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination 1 (emphasis mine). Section 4 of the Declaration, and specifically the sentence being commented upon here, maintains that the reason why the Church is not only unwilling at this time to ordain women but is now, and will always remain, unable to ordain women to the priesthood is that Jesus acted in some way during his earthly life which divinely established the priesthood as exclusively male. This assertion raises two serious questions, one of theory and one of fact

Behold Your Mother: Wives and Mothers as Partners in Christ\u27s Priestly Mission

This research explores the Catholic Church\u27s teaching on the priesthood of the laity and, specifically, how the lay priesthood of women, as wives and mothers, works in tandem with and complements the ordained priesthood. The concept of lay priesthood is rooted in our baptism - where we are invited into and given the power to participate in Jesus Christ\u27s priesthood through our own prayers and sacrifices, our ministering to others, etc. In this study, the lives of five lay women from the 19th and 20th centuries, who are either canonized saints in the Church or who are on their way to canonization, are examined. This research seeks to demonstrate the connection between the tasks of the ministerial priesthood and the abilities of women in their lay priesthood – in their motherly mediation, prayer and offering sacrifices, and in their giving life physically and spiritually to the Church

Were we foreordained to the priesthood, or was the standard of worthiness foreordained? Alma 13 reconsidered

Alma 13:3–4 is often interpreted as Book of Mormon confirmation of the doctrine that all those who are ordained to the Priesthood on the earth were foreordained to receive that Priesthood in the pre-existence as a result of their exceeding faith and good works. That interpretation is inconsistent with the 1978 revelation on Priesthood. A contextual reading of the account of Alma2’s ministry to the people of Ammonihah also suggests that Alma2 was not telling the men of Ammonihah that they (or anyone else) had been foreordained to receive the Priesthood. Rather, Alma2 was teaching that what we now call worthiness was ordained as the standard for ordination to the Priesthood before the foundations of this earth were laid. If the people of Ammonihah demonstrated their worthiness by repenting of their sins, they could qualify to receive the ordinances of the Melchizedek Priesthood and enter into the rest of the Lord as many of the ancients had done. The manner in which men were ordained to the Priesthood and in which its ordinances were administered was intended to show the people how they should look to Christ for redemption

In ordained ministry there is neither male nor female? : the personality profile of male and female Anglican clergy engaged in multi-parish rural ministry

Robbins, Francis, and Rutledge (1997) documented the personality profile of Church of England clergymen and clergywomen prior to the ordination of the first women to the priesthood in 1994, drawing on Eysenck's three-dimensional model of personality. They found that the personality profiles of clergymen and clergywomen were indistinguishable. The present paper reports a comparable study conducted in 2004 among 182 clergywomen and 540 clergymen serving in similar parochial posts in order to examine whether the ordination of women to the priesthood had impacted the overall personality profile of Anglican clergy. The data suggest that little change had taken place between the two cohorts of clergy studied. Once again clergywomen and clergymen appeared to be formed in the same image

The Role of the Church in the Causation, Treatment and Prevention of the Crisis in the Priesthood

Concluding with ten practical recommendations, Dr. Baars\u27 article offers to those interested in, and with responsibility for, formation of priests both a basis for a future program and extensive background into the nature of the crisis in the priesthood

An Examination of the Passages in the New Testament which Speak of the Royal Priesthood of Believers

It is the purpose of this thesis to examine the passages of the New Testament which speak of the Royal Priesthood of Believers. Actually, there are only five instances where the Christian priesthood is specifically mentioned. They are I Peter 2:5; I Peter 2:9; Revelation. 1:6; Revelation 5:10; and Revelation 20:6. All other references to priests or priesthood are either to the priestly office of Christ or to Jewish and pagan priests