Catholic Women Priests???

Question

I'm a 16 years old women. I want to become a catholic priest. I don't want to change my religion to be able to get married and have kids. But i do want to become a priest. It's my calling. I want kids. I want to get married to a man. I DON'T WANNA BE A NUN. Why can't a women be a priest? What is so worng with that? I have read the Bible many times and there is NOTHING that says women can't be priests. Why won't the Catholic High people let me live out my calling? This is what God wants me to do and the pope and catholic teachigns say I can't...why not? they say its cause i'm a women...wll thanks for noticing but whats the difference between women and men...women now can do just about anything men can do BUT be cathoilc priests...WHY NOT????

Jesus choose 12 disiples and yes they were all men BUT that is because back in Jesus' days, no one would listen to women, we were just objects...Do you think women are objects...if so I pray for you and your wife and children and hopefully one day God will open your eyes. And by the way...not all the Bible is true...it was bias of mostly men who lived a long time ago and they're lives were very different then ours now...Don't take everything you read so literally

Answer 1

if your calling is to be a priest, then i would suggest you go else where and not let man tell you not to do what God has called you to do. dont try to please man. surely dont try to please mans religion. there is nothing wrong with getting married and having kids. Paul said its better to marry then to burn. and God said women will be saved during child birth.

EDIT dont let anyone tell you what your calling is. you and the good Lord knows this not man. plus Mary Magdalen was a apostle.

Answer 2

*Is Catholic*

If you were a man, you would not be allowed to be a priest whilst you think that "not all of the Bible is true".

Now for your question.

Because you would be a PRIESTESS, not a priest.

Judaism has no priestesses and Catholicism likewise has no priestesses.

Let me start by saying the following Dogmatic Truths which will never change.
1. Christ did not create female clergy.
2. Christ did not want to create female clergy.
3. The Catholic Church has no power to create female clergy.
4. There never was and there will never be female clergy.

These are not simple rules but are truths, just like gravity is a truth, these are likewise truths.

Not all things are included in scripture, but scripture is clear in pointing out that the priesthood, whether it be that of the patriarch, the Aaronite priests, the Levitical priests, or the priests that follow after Christ, are not open to women.

Now you do not have a calling to be a priestess. A calling must come from God and as we know that God doesn't want women priestesses, you cannot have a calling.

You seem also confused on what you desire. You desire marriage yet want to be a Roman Catholic priestess. Roman Catholic priests cannot be married. So there is confusion on what you want. Also there is nothing in your letter that tells me that you wish to serve the Church. For if you did, you would speak of Christ, the sacraments, the Church, and other such things. Rather you only speak of yourself.

Let me point out something. Women cannot do everything that men can do. Men cannot do everything that women can do. Gender is more that your bits and parts. It is part of your nature. Women cannot be fathers, and a priest must be a father to his community. This is vastly more than just a title. Being father means something.

There is some pretty strong metaphysics that you are probably not ready for as to why specifically women cannot be priests. But I would start here and read this
http://www.catholiceducation.org/articles/apologetics/ap0001.html

Now you say that back in the day women were just objects. Not true. There were plenty of important women and women often held positions of authority, especially religious authority in paganism. In Catholicism women were seen very much as equal to men.

Let me point out some facts.
1. The Church is referred to as SHE not he.
2. Mary is the most important human person and is the role model for all Christians.
3. In the structure of the Church women vastly outnumber men in second tier of authority and organization.

Answer 3

1 Cor.14:33–34
1 Tim.3:1–2
Titus 1:5–6

There are passages, the first two clearly separating the men from the women.

Does it sound unfair? In a human sense, sure.

In the words of the LCMS - "God has given the responsibility to serve as pastors only to certain qualified men.Women are not called to serve in this way because God.."

Women have been given other responsibilities by God. The main (and obvious one) of carrying life for nine months. Does this mean we should all be sitting at home and having babies? Nah. But this should remind us, very strongly, that it isn't what WE want which is important, it is what GOD wants which is.

Best of luck.

Apart from what we might know in ancient writings and from the Bible itself, is it assumption to think that women were only objects. I'm always disgusted that we think of our ancestors as sexist idiots.

Further, if you don't take the Bible seriously (and literally) then what basis do you have for your 'calling'? What on Earth are you going to 'preach' to others? That the bible is a book of lies by men? You'd be much better off being silent then spreading lies about God. Look up what Jesus said about blaspheming the Holy Spirit.

Answer 4

Sorry.

The Roman Catholic church has never allowed women to be priests. There is no requirement in the Bible for priests to only be men. Indeed, Paul commands that Women are to "pray and prophesy with heads covered."

With the current pope, much more conservative than any pope since Vatican II, there is not much hope that women will be able to enter the priesthood.

There had been some possibility for a married man to enter the priesthood (with priest shortage, and availability of such option for Eastern Orthodox male priests to become married roman catholic priests).

It comes down to whether or not this is really your church.

A church which preaches that women cannot lead the congregation, or the diocese, or the church, or do anything else because she has female reproductive organs, seems to me to be a rather sexist religion, and I would not want my CHILDREN to be taught that it is alright to be sexist; and I have never viewed God as being sexist. But that's just me.

Good luck in your search. Follow your calling.

Answer 5

Well first of all you should definitely NOT be a priest, the first and most important thing that a Christian leader should be is obedient and submissive to the God given authority over them.

If you cannot obey the pope and Bishops you cannot be a priest. As the bride of Christ we submit to God, and as a Representative of a church body, we absolutely cannot have leaders who are not submitting their lives to those over them. This is an extremely dangerous thing.

Jesus Himself was submitted to His Father and mother on this earth and obeyed the rules and regulations of all the authorities on this earth as an example for us. The only time that HE disagreed with earthly authority is when it disagreed with God's Laws.

Our pope and Bishops are submitted to each other and to God, not rebellious people who insist on their own way because they thing they are gifted.

The church does not put women down, they are obedient to God! Women have different gifts and strengths than men and that does not make them inferior, just different.

To insist that we must have the same roles as men degrades who women really are. Our callings and roles may be different but they are not lesser. Being a good mother is an amazing talent and takes all of your wisdom, knowledge and strength.

Answer 6

I can't answer for the Catholic Church, but I've found some text for you from Scripture that might be helpful:

1 Timothy 2:11-15
11 Let a woman quietly receive instruction with entire submissiveness.
12 But I do not allow a woman to teach or exercise authority over a man, but to remain quiet.
13 For it was Adam who was first created, and then Eve.
14 And it was not Adam who was deceived, but the woman being quite deceived, fell into transgression.
15 But women shall be preserved through the bearing of children if they continue in faith and love and sanctity with self-restraint.

This does not set up a order of value (like man is more important that woman) but it defines the roles given by God.

Just like the roles of a woman and a man in marriage

Read: Ephesians 5:21-33

Has the thought occurred to you, that "you might want to be something, but God has other plans for your life?"

Serve God in His ways, not yours!

Soli Deo Gloria

Answer 7

Why would God call you to do something that contradicts his word? The Bible says women are not to have authority over men in doctrinal matters. It also says that Elders and Bishops are to be the husband of one wife - how can a woman be the husband of one wife unless they are Lesbians which the Bible says is a sin?

On the other hand, the Bible says nothing about priests having to be single, in fact all of the Apostles except Paul were married men. You should therefore be able to marry a priest and be his partner and helper in ministering to a congregation and the church of Rome is unbiblical in not allowing that.

I believe you that you are truly feeling this calling and you believe it is God calling you, but you have to consider the possibility that the 'calling' is coming from another source - some other spirit - which is why the Bible says to test the spirits to see if they are of God. If they are they won't contradict anything God has previously said and if they tell you something different then they are not from the God of the Bible.

The Bible also says not to trust your feelings because "the heart of man is deceiptful" - feelings can be wrong and lead you astray.

Answer 8

I am going to give you the answer. You may not like it, but it is the orthodox catholic answer. Since early times in the catholic church, a foundational teaching is that women cannot be priests. Biblically, Catholics refer to the fact that Jesus did not pick any women among is twelve apostles- if you want to argue the mary magdalene was a thirteenth apostle, you are not catholic, Catholics can also refer to passages in the old testament that point to women as vessels for evil thought, as weaker willed and downright rulings that they cannot teach (1 Timothy 2:12 ).

Catholics have always insisted that the ordained ministry has its origin in Jesus' own choice of the Twelve [Apostles] and that they are the foundation of the Church. In a recent catholic bulletin, http://www.catholic.com/thisrock/2002/0201sbs.asp
Jason Evert elaborates that " Two thousand years later, no one—including the pope—has the authority to change the designs of the Church that Christ instituted. Specifically, the Church is unable to change the substance of a sacrament. For example, a person cannot be baptized in wine, nor may a substance other than bread be used for the consecration at Mass. If invalid matter is used, then the sacrament does not take place. Likewise, since the priest acts in the person of Christ, the Church has no authority to confer the sacrament on those who are unable to represent the male Jesus Christ."

Even as early as the seond and third centuries, christianity definately had women priests, but as catholic orthodoxy took hold, these heretics were purified, and ever since the establishment of the sacraments of the Church of Rome, Catholic priests have always been male. However, it strikes me as strange that you have no problem with the rule of celibacy which was only established in the eleventh century as a way for the Pope to control the property of his priests, after all, when does the bible infer that Jesus or his apostles were celibate?

Edit. Also i'd like to comment on your edit above. You say that back then women didn't preach, because noone would listen to women in Jesus' day. But as i said above, in fact, there were many christian groups that had women priests, Mary Magdalene herself wrote a gospel, or if she didn't actually write it herself (all gospels we have so far are pseudonymous, in other words written works attributed to famous figures rather then written by the figures themselves), she was certainly treated by many christian groups as a venerated figure and not a prostitute at all. It is only because of Catholicism and the teachings of Paul that Women are denied service into the priesthood.

And for the voter-downers, i challenge you to do your own research and come up with an answer contrary to this one, the truth hurts but don't punish those who care enough to read a book our priest didn't give to us.

Answer 9

Though this may be a sincere desire of yours, it is not your calling. God does not call people to something He has already forbidden. You say you have read the Bible. Then you have no doubt noticed that Christ, though He had many holy women available, including His own mother, selected men to be His first priests. Not twice, not five times, but twelve times out of twelve! This is a direct statement by God Himself regarding His purpose and intent for His priesthood. If Christ had wanted priestesses in His Church, surely He would have made this known by selecting at least one woman out of the original twelve.

This is not a rule of the Church, like the marital state of priests. The marital state of priests is a "discipline" of the Church, a rule. The Church made the rule and the Church could therefore change it. The male priesthood however is not a discipline, but an article of the faith, a doctrinal belief of Catholicism, which cannot be changed by the Church.

Answer 10

Sorry Hon, it'll never happen. If you wanna be a priest, you'll have to join the Episcopalian church and they are having loads of issues right now. Why won't the Catholic church let you - because it's the Catholic church. I'm sure some of that doctrine comes from the book of Timothy. good luck to you.