Should women be ordained catholic priests?

Question

Again with the falling numbers of men not entering into the Roman Catholic priesthood (which I am a Catholic) shouldn't women be given the opportunity to become a Roman Catholic priest? I have seen it in other churches like the Anglican Church where women have been ordained priests and the numbers in the Anglican church has risen I don't any differnece if a woman is ordained a priest in the Catholic church or not.

Answer 1

They can attend church.

They can be baptised and participate in all other rituals.

The church accepts their donations.

So I don't see why not?

It's along the lines of taxation without representation.

Answer 2

Nope. Simply because there is a shortage of people interested in something does not mean we should lower standards. If there were a shortage of doctors, would you prefer someone who had failed their MCAT to be your doctor simply because there were not enough?


The rules for ordaining priests are not made up randomly. They come from the Bible and the hierarchy that Jesus himself established, so it is impossible for the RCC to ordain women even if they want to.

Since you are Catholic, it would be a good idea to examine the theology of why women can not become priests. I used to feel the same way as you but once I learned the real reasons behind and got past the fake 'rights' arguments i was hearing, I understood it.

As a side note, ever since the Anglican Church has ordained women ,they have had numerous problems and due to the current debate over same sex marriage, there is a large possibility that the Anglican Church is going to split in two.

Answer 3

Luckily it is not for any of us to decide (especially because I'm not Catholic). This is between God and the Pope, who the Catholics believe represents God on Earth. Additionally, according to my understanding, there are certain responsibilities and roles for the man and women as designated by God; the ability to be a priest is not necessarily a blessing to men that puts them above women, but a responsibility, one that could be a blessing or a burden (although hopefully more a blessing).

Many women also see the blessing of giving live/having children as a burden or unfair, but it is a technically (at least in many faiths, including I believe Catholicism) woman's calling or what they have been ordained to do; the act of motherhood is closer to being Godlike than any calling a man could ever have. Men will never have the opportunity to have this bond with God, to give life. To enter the priesthood may take or allow for men to be a little closer to God, but I don't believe as close as a women can get, at least if they choose and recognize their calling.

As an end note: this is just my understanding and view and may not be completely accurate. If the Catholic church is the church ordained by God on this Earth it will not cease to exist and shouldn't require changing with the winds of the current climate in the world (God does not bow or bend according to man or its desires, but provides everlasting truths).

Lastly, I do think the church should allow priests to be married. The doctrine makes no sense seing how it was so important in the scriptures that man be with woman and have children. This would also likely solve most of the abuse problems.

Answer 4

Jesus called only men to be his Apostles. The catholic Church carries on this tradition in ordaining men to the priesthood.

As a Catholic, you know that women hold key ministerial positions in most churches. At my church, the only men employed by the parish are the priest, deacons, and the maintenance man. The head of ALL the ministries are women.

Answer 5

I don't think so.

The Church is the "bride of Christ". Therefore you are asking a woman to take a bride.

I don't think the numbers in the Anglican Church have risen because women are ordained ministers - I think it is because of their more liberal views on a great many things that the Catholic Church doesn't subscribe to.

Answer 6

Should they be ordained as Catholic priests? ... YES.
Will that 'happen' soon? ... I doubt it, BUT...
Did you know that there are some 'married priests' in the Roman Catholic Church in the U.S. today? There are, even though it's still 'technically a celibate priesthood.' If an Episcopal priest (who are allowed to marry, but who have been ordained according to the 'Apostolic procession') wants to become a Catholic, and asks if he can be a priest, it is 'allowed' ... and I have the feeling that is the same way that women will first become 'ordained' as priests in the Catholic church ... what if it was a woman priest who wanted to 'convert' to Catholicism, and who 'asked' to retain her priesthood?' We already have both male and females 'extraordinary ministers' who help the priests give the Eucharist ... so, it's still 'a long way off' in the church of the 'wide world' but that may happen 'sooner' in the U.S. because of that 'crossover of the priesthood' from the Episcopal Church.
But part of your 'explanation' is wrong. At least in my section of the country, the Catholics are GROWING RAPIDLY ... it used to be maybe 5 people who were 'baptized and confirmed' as adults at the 'midnight' Easter service ... these days, it's in excess of 90 ... and if you 'add in' the ones who were already baptized and were 'confirmed' at a regular Sunday mass, the number is closer to 2-400 JUST AT EASTER ... and that is just in our 'small' diocese ... and the other dioceses in this part of the world have the same or more 'joining' the Catholic church fully ...
Since you said Anglican and not Episcopal, you may live in the U.K. ... so you may have the 'women priests' a bit later than us in the U.S. ... but I'm beginning to think it may happen IN MY LIFETIME ... and I'm now 56, so that is in (at most) 45-50 years.

Answer 7

No, they shouldn´t . It´s not possible for a woman to be a priest. God, in his infinite wisdom gave women and men different roles. This is clear when you see that a man can not get pregnant. It is a woman´s role to have a child in her womb during nine months and then give birth to him/her.
The same applies to priesthood:it´s not possible to have priestesses because that´s not part of the female role. When Christ came to the world he chose twelve male apostles. There were ,of course, some women who followed him, but He only ordained his apostles priests .
You can read the Bible, there isn´t any mention of a priestess

Answer 8

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/pt2sect2chpt3.htm#1577

With love in Christ.

Answer 9

Pope John Paul II *Infallibly* (for all time) indicated that women should not be ordained Priests. (1)

Catholic author, Christopher West explaines in this way (2):

"# 5. Why can’t women be priests (roman catholic)?

For many women, the fact that the Catholic Church reserves priestly ordination to men stirs a caldron of intense emotion fired by the “historical consciousness” of women’s oppression. Only in recent years, it seems, has the Church been willing to acknowledge and ask for forgiveness for the fact that, as John Paul II expressed in his “Letter to Women,” … “objective blame [for this oppression], especially in particular historical contexts, has belonged to not just a few members of the Church. May this regret,” he continues, “be transformed, on the part of the whole Church, into a renewed commitment of fidelity to the Gospel vision.”

This gospel vision is precisely what we’ve been discussing throughout this book: the great “nuptial mystery” of Christ’s union with the Church symbolized from the beginning by our creation as male and female. Fidelity to this vision calls us to uphold woman’s dignity at every turn and to resist the ways in which gender roles have been exaggerated to favor men. But it also calls us to resist the other extreme that views men and women as interchangeable.

As mentioned previously, equality between the sexes that reveals the great “nuptial mystery.” It’s the fundamental difference of the sexes that quite literally brings life to the world.

A culture that levels this difference is a culture committing suicide, a culture of death. Professor Stanislaw Grygiel, VP of JPII Institute for Studies on Marriage and Family, aptly described the danger of a “unisex” would in the quote that begins the previous chapter. As a preface to that statement, he said that to understand “the miracle of sexual difference … is the beginning of a path in which we discover the ultimate and fundamental difference for human beings: the difference between God and [humanity]. To blur sexual difference is to blur the great nuptial mystery: the call to life-giving communion between man and woman, and between God and humanity.

Men and women have different callings in the life-giving communion. It’s the bridegroom who gives the seed, and the bride who conceives life within her. One role isn’t better than the other. Both are equally dignified and indispensable.

We must receive the calling we’ve been given as a gift from God if we are ever to be at peace with ourselves. Should men complain that God hasn’t given them the privilege of being mothers? For a woman to want to be an ordained priest is similarly misguided.

We call priests ‘father’ for a reason. Priests efficaciously symbolize Christ’s giving up his body for his Bride so that she can conceive life “in the Holy Spirit.” Only men can do this. As JPII reminds us: “It is the Eucharist that above all expresses the redemptive act of Christ the Bridegroom towards the Church, the Bride.” This is clear and unambiguous when the sacramental ministry of the Eucharist, in which the priest acts ‘in the person of Christ,’ is performed by a man.

If the ministry of the Eucharist were performed by a woman, the symbolism would become that of bride to bride. There would be no possibility of effecting nuptial union, and thus no possibility of effecting nuptial union, and thus no possibility of new life coming to the Church. Here we see again how intimately united the marital embrace is with the Eucharist. JPII sums it up this way: “The Eucharist is … the sacrament of the Bridegroom and of the Bride”."

Answer 10

No.

This would be, again, trying to usurp God's commands and fix what we see as a problem with human band-aids. God knows the needs of the Church. The way to increase vocations is for the faithful to follow the laws of God and his Church...not to try to bend and remake them in an effort to fix it with our flawed logic.

As the Church becomes more secular we see these problems arising. The answer isn't to invite more worldliness in...but less. We need to see a return to deep commitment in our faith, in reception of the sacraments, in our desire to fulfill God's laws and word concerning life and family. This will bring more men to the priesthood, this will ignite the fire within.

Answer 11

The one thing you may not have considered is that the men who are Priests in the Catholic Church now, have fallen away from the doctrine of Christ. All they need is more of them, whether its men or women, to pull more folks away from the Word. I am sick and tired of them putting on a memorized Mass each week. The people are starving for the truth of Gods Word, and there they sit, in a pew for thirty years learning the same thing over and over and over again: Salvation - Baptism - ten commandments. They never get passed it.
They fed those people the same milk every week, and the result is that the people are starving to death for the meat of the message in Gods Word that sustains and grows a person into a useful vessel for the use of thier God.
Whats the difference who holds the "Mass".
Its all repeated nonsense anyway.
They should be ashamed of themselves.
What did Christ tell Peter?
Do you love me? Then feed my sheep
Do you love me? Then feed my lambs
Do you love me? Then feed my sheep

THREE TIMES FOR EMPHASIS.
And what do they feed them? Milk for Baby Christians who never grow.