NON ORDINATION OF WOMEN IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IS NOT DISCRIMINATION

By Fr. Casmir Odundo

Globally in many Christian denominations, there has been an ongoing debate on whether women should be ordained or not.  Recently some mainstream protestant denominations have allowed women to be pastors and even Bishops.

Just last week, on 12th September 2021, Mrs. Rose Okeno was installed as Anglican Church of Kenya (ACK) Bishop of Butere in Western Kenya. Her “ordination” made her the second Kenyan woman and perhaps second woman in East Africa in the Anglican Church to hold such an office. Previously, in September last year Mrs. Emily Awino made history as she was elected the first woman assistant Bishop of the diocese of Bondo, in Kenya.

Despite these trends, the “consecration” of women as Bishops even in the Anglican Church as a whole is still controversial. In 2018 many Anglican Churches including ACK signed the Global Anglican Future Conference Moratorium, which decided to halt the consecration of women as Bishops till such a time there was going to be consensus on the matter. This Moratorium has since not been honoured by some countries.

In the Catholic Church...

On the other hand, the Catholic Church has remained consistent with its teaching: a universal and unbroken tradition, that it cannot ordain women to the ministerial priesthood. In his Apostolic Exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium (The Joy of the Gospel) while appreciating the unique gifts of women and acknowledging that the  involvement of all Catholics is needed in pastoral work, Pope Francis  went on to state that, “The reservation of the priesthood to males, as a sign of Christ the spouse who gives himself in the Eucharist, is not a question open to discussion.”  (Evangelii Gaudium n. 104)

The Catholic Church distinguishes between two kinds of priesthoods: Common priesthood and ministerial priesthood. Common priesthood is for all the baptised, men and women, who all have a universal call to holiness and a universal call to apostolate. On the other hand, ministerial priesthood, (Deacons, Priests and Bishops) is reserved to baptised men only. 

Why only men (Viri) can be validly ordained priests

The reason for this is threefold. Firstly, Jesus Christ, the Son of God became flesh (incarnation) not as a sexless humanity but as a male and since a priest ought to serve as an image of Christ, his maleness is essential to that role. Secondly, while Jesus was a courageous and open teacher and had many followers, both men and women, (today's gospel passage Friday 24th Week of Ordinary Time Lk 8:1-13 talks about the men and women who accompanied and served Jesus), despite this, Our Lord chose only 12 men to be his apostles. This fact was reaffirmed by the Apostles and their successors in an unbroken chain of Apostolic succession.

Therefore, the Church has neither power nor any faculty to change that which Christ in his own Divine Wisdom had decreed. This is because, the Priesthood, being  sacrament, is not a human invention, but it was  instituted by Christ. The Church cannot base itself on human expectations but on the revealed Word of God.

It is NOT discrimination!

To say that women cannot be priests in the Catholic Church is not discrimination or gender inequality. Just as to say the fact that only women can give birth is again not discrimination against men. Women are Equal in dignity and in every respect to men. In the book of Genesis we read, “Male and female He created them…” (Gen. 1:27).

However, equality does not mean sameness.   While it is true that for a long time in the history of humanity women have sadly often been marginalized and sometimes discriminated, the issue of non-ordination of women is not part of that discrimination. To think of it the other way, those who are pushing for  the ordination of women may find themselves accused of the same discrimination. This is because they are implicitly saying that a woman has to be like a man to be equal to a man. It is like wanting men to give birth to stress equality with women. Equality, as I have already mentioned, does not mean sameness!  A man does not need to do women’s stuff or to be converted into a woman to be equal to women and vice versa! The point to underline here is that the Church, which was instituted by Christ,  has to remain consistent as regards the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition.

Again, It is not a question about who could be a better priest. Women’s abilities are not in question here. If anything, the Church acknowledges the unique gifts of women. Women have an important place  and irreplaceable role in evangelization.  

 

Indeed, women do not have to be ordained deacons, priests or bishops to do the work of God. A good example is Mary, the mother of Jesus. She was not part of the 12. She was not an Apostle (in the strict sense of the word), not a Bishop, not a priest, not even a deacon but is the greatest saint. Many other women saints like Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Blessed Irene Stefani Nyaatha can be added to this list. 

 

The author is a Catholic Priest from the diocese of Nakuru Kenya, currently a pursuing a Licentiate in Church History at PUSC, Rome.