41. Capacity for Ordination: Another Difference Between the Sexes

An Argument Against Priestesses

Do you know that there is no single cell in the human body (with the exception of gametes for reproduction) which is not sexually imprinted as either male or female? I will not go into an elementary lecture on the structural differences between the sexes or the differing roles in the marital act. Although a few contest it, there are differences in the characteristics of mind and spirit, too. Women seem to have a heightened receptivity and religious sense. Their powers of intuition and emotion also seem more pronounced over the male's analytical approach to life and ideas. These kinds of distinctions must be considered in any debate regarding women minsters, and even more so, about the possibility of women priests. It is my view that the differences between the sexes and the subordination of women does not imply inferiority and is ultimately the will of the Creator.

I am among the school holding that Pope Pius XI's encyclical on marriage, Casti Connubii, fulfills the requirements for infallibility of the universal ordinary Magisterium. All the world bishops were consulted and it was received everywhere, by the shepherds and laity alike. Dr. William May and Dr. Germain Grisez are also of one mind about this. The encyclical condemned artificial contraception. But, what is more, it corrected the modern view about the "equality of rights" of the spouses. The Holy Father wrote, ". . . there must be a certain inequality . . . which is demanded by the good of the family and the right ordering and unity and stability of home life" (paragraph 77). This "hierarchical" ordering of marriage implied not denigration of women, "for if the man is the head, the woman is the heart" of the family (paragraph 27f). Similarly, Pius XII emphasized that the particular qualities of the sexes had to be given recognition, especially the social leadership of men and the maternal traits of women. The voice of the true Vatican II, not the nebulous and often contradictory "spirit of" remarks that the differences between the sexes be acknowledged and nurtured. In the Declaration on Christian Education, we read, ". . . pay due regard in every educational activity to sexual differences and to the special role which divine Providence allots to each sex in family life and in society" (#8). I digress into all this to stress that the sexes are not the same. Further, the Church and her tradition puts much weight on the marriage analogy in understanding ecclesial identity and its expression in the Mass. Seen in this light, it appears that the ordination of women is counter to female human nature as it arises from the creative providence of God.