23. Another Christ

An Argument Against Priestesses

"The priest, even at the altar should not be identified with the historical Jesus."

Such a statement is outside Catholic orthodoxy. Alongside the Protestant reformers, those who hold such a position object to an identification of the priest with Christ, and with Christ and the Church. Catholic teaching has always been deeply incarnational. We should not hunt for conflicting dualisms. The Church is sinful in that her members are sometimes less than what or rather who they are called to be. The Church is holy because so joined is she to her groom that the presence of her lover fills every space, every fiber of her being. The Church as Fr. Schillebeeckx would offer is indeed the sacrament of Christ. All of this is at the heart of what it means to be regenerated as new Christs in the community of the Mystical Body. Fr. Stravinskas writes: ". . . we must remember that the role of a priest in the liturgy is to stand in the person of Christ (the icon of the Father), not as part of the people but as their head. In the liturgy we witness a union between the bride (the Church) and the groom (Christ). The spousal union is made visible and sacramental through a male priesthood -- and only through a male priesthood" (The Catholic Answer Book, p. 37).

"The consecration words are repeated as part of the Last Supper narrative, a past event; as such they are uttered "in the person of Christ" but in the sense of otherness, not by way of identity."

The final point is made that the simplest refutation of the Church's stance, initially laid out in the Declaration on the Question of the Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood, rests in the signification of the words of consecration. The point is made, but it does not hold up. One might argue that the individual who wrote these sentences needs desperately to reread his Jungmann. Once again, his stress against identification of Christ to the priest and upon the act as simply a narration of a past event resemble reformation attacks against holy orders and the Mass. The priest is identified with the person of Christ most simply because by his ordination, when he utters those sacred words of Christ in the Divine Liturgy, it is not simply the recalling of a past event, but it evokes it as present. Suddenly, Christ is specially among us and that Last Supper which is forever blended with Calvary is in our midst. Christ is brought to us and we are transported to Christ undergoing his Paschal Mystery. The death of Christ which was enacted once and for all for all mankind, in a sacramental fashion, breaks the bonds of time and space and Christ is made present to us. "This is my body. This is my blood." The identification is complete. This alone should be enough to humble any man who aspires to priesthood. It is one of the most perfect ways in which one can say, "It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me." The only difference from the first time and now is that it is an unbloody sacrifice and that we are offering ourselves to be transformed. We were first there in that the cumulative sins of all humanity murdered Christ. Now, guided by our priest, we are also on the other side of that cross. He gives us his flesh and blood to show that we are not orphans. He is still here. He is present to us in many ways: in our community as his Church, in the Word proclaimed, in the Eucharist, and yes, in an important way in our priest as he invites Christ to stand at our altar table of sacrifice. The celebrant becomes both priest and victim. In baptism we were all raised to share in Christ's dignity as Priest, Prophet, and King. In ordained priesthood, a person is called to bring Christ to the community in the sacramental life of the Church. It is a special call to humble service, a decreasing so that Christ might increase. The only thing which might make it a vocation of one in opposition to the other, Christ, is the tragic reality of sin, and even that is limited in order to safeguard the sacraments for believing recipients. Christ may not always be reflected well but the efficacy of the sacred mysteries do not hinge upon the personal sanctity of the priest. Of course, the greatest of sacrileges is still a priest confecting the sacraments while in a state of serious sin. This being the case, the so-called intrinsic argument against ordaining women does not so readily collapse. But, where does this reasoning take us? It should be noted that the kind of priesthood for which the dissenter argues might allow for the ordination of women; however, SUCH ORDINATIONS WOULD NOT BE VALID AND CERTAINLY NOT CATHOLIC GIVEN THE PRESENT UNDERSTANDINGS. A new church would have to be started. The problem would be that Christ would have no real part in it and would certainly not be its founder.