WHY DO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AND ORTHODOX CHURCHES RESERVE ORDINATION TO MEN

WHY DO THE ROMAN CATHOLIC AND ORTHODOX CHURCHES RESERVE ORDINATION TO MEN

Introduction

RELIGIOUS organizations , such as the Protestant and the Catholic , make much ado about ordaining their clergy . A pastor of a congregation must have first studied in a theological seminary for a number of years , and after he graduates then he is presumed ready to enter the clergy class Now comes an elaborate ceremony with much pomp and pageantry . Many dignitaries are on hand to officiate and watch the ceremony . The individual is consecrated or set apart to the

service and worship of his God . As the clergyman advances in his religious rank from priest to bishop or archbishop , it is necessary for him to go through more ceremonies with even greater splendor and display on the part of the ecclesiastical body . Many of the clergy of Christendom are ordained or invested with sacerdotal functions , in great costly cathedrals with lavish display so as to be an elaborate public spectacle . But the founder of true Christianity was ordained with holy spirit from heaven after his being dipped under the waters of the Jordan River by a man with clothing of camel 's hair and a leather girdle around his loins and whose food . was insect locusts and wild honey (Matt . 3 :4

Although a Gallup poll revealed that over two thirds of the Catholic Church members interviewed thought that women should be allowed to become priests , Pope John Paul II has firmly told Catholics to abandon that idea . In a letter to bishops , the pope stated : I declare that the church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the church 's faithful ' The papal letter entitled On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone ' was accompanied by an official statement that added : Since it does not belong to matters freely open to dispute , it always requires the full and unconditional assent of the faithful , and to teach the contrary is equivalent to leading consciences into error Two months earlier , 32 women were ordained as priests in the Church of England , the first women priests in the history of that church Thereupon , some 700 members of the Anglican clergy declared their intention to convert to Roman Catholicism , though only 35 resigned . Some Vatican officials believe that the pope 's letter is partly intended to tell the dissenting Anglican priests that they would be welcome in the Roman Catholic Church

The Issues

`WHAT use are we ' For several years many Catholic priests have been asking themselves that question , and now it is also tormenting many Protestant ministers ' - Le Monde , May 3 , 1973 . For example , in 1971 out of the life in France , 50 percent had been ordained for over ten years . These were no youngsters , unable to keep their vow of celibacy . They were mature men who had plenty of time to reflect before giving up their vocation

In a well-documented report on the priestly ministry...