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edited by Robert J. Heyer, Paulist Press 1974
Republished on our website with the necessary
permissions.
Contents
Foreword
p. vii
Male Clericalism and the Dread
of Women
Rosemary Radford Ruether
p. 1
An Examination of the Ordination
of Women to the Priesthood in Terms of the Symbolism of the Eucharist
Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse
p. 15
Anatomy and Ministry: Shall Women
Be Priests?
Emily C. Hewitt
p. 39
Ministry in the Church
Gregory Baum
p. 57
Ordination: A Questionable Goal
for Women
Ann Kelley and Anne Walsh
p. 67
A New Look at Orders: Ministry for
the Many
Thomas F. O'Meara
p. 75
Celibacy as a
Feminist Issue
Clara Maria Henning
p. 87
Foreword
The question of the ordination of women to the priesthood has moved to
the forefront of theological controversy in recent years, prompting a rash of
books and magazine essays. The issue stems not only from the renewed interest
of the Catholic Church in the nature of its priesthood, but also, and perhaps
primarily, from the efforts of women to achieve and a new and deeper
understanding of their nature and its potential and of the various myths that
have relegated them to a subsidiary position in the human race.
One of the most critical theaters for this development of feminine
consciousness lies within the realm of religion. Betty Friedan, whose book The
Feminine Mystique sparked the women's liberation movement, recently explained
that this struggle necessitates a confrontation with the organized churches
because these are so largely responsible for the poor self-image of their
female members. Women are burdened not only by overt discrimination by men but
also by a profound attitudinal discrimination in themselves. And the denial of
the priesthood to women exemplifies the whole gamut of theological and cultural
myths taught to women by their pastors to justify a second-class, auxiliary
status in the Church.
What are the theological and sociological consequences of the dictum of
the Catholic Church which limits the ordained priesthood to males, and celibate
males at that? Seven authors confront the most vital component of the question
in these pages.
Rosemary Radford Ruether leads off by stating flatly that the notion
that only a male can represent Christ is theologically suspect. It was Jesus'
human nature, not his male sexuality that the early Fathers were at pains to
defend. To make maleness essential to the incarnation would in traditional
orthodoxy have excluded women not only from ordination but also from salvation-
As the theologians maintained "that which is not assumed (by the human nature
of Christ) is not saved." Mrs. Ruether
argues that the psychological root of the cleric's antipathy to women in
the ministry stems from the dualism which places male/spirit/transcendence over
against female body/creature. What is good is male; what is evil is female!
Ruth Tiffany Barnhouse, a psychiatrist and an Episcopalian, looks at the
ordination of women in terms òf the symbolism of the Eucharist. The
greatest opposition to women priests, she notes, exists in those churches which
place the greatest stress on the ritual mystery of the Eucharist. Yet the bread
and wine offered in the sacrifice represent humanity which includes both men
and women. Every man and woman has some of the traits considered characteristic
of the other sex, Dr. Barnhouse observes. Admitting women to full partnership
in the priesthood would permit a union of the masculine and feminine
principles.
Emily C. Hewitt, an ordained deacon in the Episcopal Church, believes
the all-male priesthood is undergirded by the notion that equates maleness with
creativity, with the priest offering the Mass exercising creative powers
similar to those of God. She points out that Israel repudiated the idea of
sexuality in God: Yahweh is neither he nor she; as creator and Lord, he
embraces and transcends both sexes. She also argues that the sex, race and
ancestry of Jesus and his twelve apostles were intended to fulfill the
messianic prophecy under the old covenant, not to determine the nature of
ministry in the Church of the new covenant.
Gregory Baum points out that our present hierarchical priesthood was not
original. Theologians now believe that the gradual historical development that
led to the monarchial episcopate was tested by the evangelical norms of
Christian leadership and accepted by the Christian community as due to the
guidance of the Holy Spirit. But, the Canadian theologian says, the theologians
are bound to hold, on the selfsame principle, that this development could
continue. There is need to test whether the present hierarchical ministry is
too closely with an oppressive and worldly structure of authority and whether
the priesthood has, in fact, become a caste. Since people are becoming aware of
the extent of the oppression of women down through the ages, Father Baum
suggests that the Church ought to reveal through its ordained leadership that
men and women are destined to be equal.
Ann Kelley and Anne Walsh, Catholic university chaplains, oppose the
ordination of women precisely because the priesthood is a power caste and an
entry into a power structure that opens the way to privilege. They say that
ordination is a questionable goal for women because it will interfere with
their traditional ministry of service and also that this office is not
necessary for ministry.
Thomas F. O'Meara, O.P., takes the opposite route by suggesting that the
Church should diversify its criteria for ordination and should ordain members
of the Christian community for many forms of service, including those which
women have been performing for centuries but without any public commissioning
or status. Ministry, the Dominican theologian observes, is not identical with
lifestyle, and ordination should not be limited to celibate males.
Clara Marie Henning, a canonist, argues for both a married priesthood
and women priests because, she explains, the sections of canon law which wall
off priests from almost all contacts with women in the effort to preserve
mandatory celibacy create a mentality which makes it impossible for clerics to
see any positive value in such ordination.
The question is: Should women be ordained as ministers in the Church?
This immediately implies many questions. What have been the results of many
centuries of male priesthood? What is authentic ministry in the Church? What is
the Spirit revealing in our day for the needs of the Church? Reflective reading
of these pages will certainly stimulate your thinking and praying concerning
women's ordination.
Robert J.Heyer
Contents of “Women and
Orders”
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