16. Tradition Can Be Trusted

An Argument Against Priestesses

"The historical tradition one the question of women's ordination is hardly reliable."

Well, while the question of women priests is for the most part a new one for the West, I have mentioned before that what data from history we do possess seems overwhelmingly negative. Fr. Peter Stravinskas says in his book The Catholic Answer, vol. 1: "In the current debate, we should realize that the burden of proof rests on those seeking to change Tradition. This is standard debate procedure, and one not adhered to by many of the partisans of women's ordination. The best argument against the ordination of women is really the simplest, but also the most easily caricatured: it has never been done. No other change resulting from the Second Vatican Council so clearly flies in the face of Tradition; a vernacular liturgy, permanent deacons, and even married priests all find precedent in Tradition" (p. 36).