I read your article (Women Priests?) with interest. I am not a theologian, scripture scholar, or historian, but am reasonably well-educated and well-read. As I have grown older and more experienced and informed, my opinion has changed to the view that God is calling women to the ordained priesthood (and married people, too). What made me most uncomfortable with your article was your emphasis on the gender of Jesus. What you are saying, really, is that the prime qualification for ordination is a penis! I don't relate to that theology. We are all baptized into Christ, and in Him there is neither male nor female. The priest may well represent Christ, but not the gender of his humanity. No matter how you word or phrase it , your thinking makes women less than men. It is inescapable and unavoidable, no matter how stated. And I do not believe this is compatible with the gospel. I firmly belive that in time the Holy Spirit will enlighten the hearts and minds of men (and I do mean Men) and they will see and respond to God's will.
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Dear Dolores,
Thank you for taking the time to write. The immediate question I have is: why do you take offense that one person is less than another? It seems to me that our inequality is one of the most beautiful (and exciting) aspects of our human existence. I am glad there are many people (men and women) who are superior to me. And when my car or body breaks down, I am grateful for someone superior to me in mechanics or medicine. Do you see what I am saying?
Also are you sure that your change of opinion has come as a result of becoming "more experienced and informed"? After all we are talking about a position which is warmly endorsed by our culture. (See, for example, the recent issue of Time with its article about a future woman pope. Or CNN's Millennium Moment which presented women's ordination as one more civil rights issue.)
Fr. Phil Bloom
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Homily on Jesus as Bridegroom
Women and the Priesthood What Early Christian Writers Say
Vocations to Priesthood and Religious Life
Letter from Paul: Question about Bridegroom Image
From Karen: An argument for women priests and an American Catholic Church
If you have any comments, pro or con, I will glady post them.