From: JIM@AMERICAN.EDU (Jim McIntosh)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Subject: Re: Ordination of Women -- Inter Insigniores -- Part 1 of 2
Date: 12 Nov 92 16:17:48 GMT
Organization: The American University
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
              11 Nov 1992 05:42:29 PST from <covert@COVERT.ENET.DEC.COM>

Did anyone catch the McNeil/Leher Newshour on PBS last night? They had a
good piece on the ordination of women in the RCC to go along with the
decision yesterday by the Church of England. It seemed balanced and fair.

My thanks to John R. Covert for posting the "Declaration of the Sacred
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the question of admission
of women to the ministerial priesthood (1976)". It was most helpful in
understanding why the RCC hierarchy (outside of a few enlightened
bishops) does not approve of the idea of ordaining women to the
priesthood.

I actually found the document to have hope for those of us who would want
our Church to act in a more just way. I had expected something along the
lines that some people had posted here ("Women have the wrong matter and
character" and so forth) but instead found an admission that

>           In the final analysis it is the Church through the voice
>   of the Magisterium, that, in these various domains, decides what
>   can change and what must remain immutable. When she judges she cannot
>   accept certain changes, it is because she knows she is bound by
>   Christ's manner of acting. Her attitude, despite appearances, is
>   therefore not one of archaism but of fidelity: it can be truly
>   understood only in this light. The Church makes pronouncements in
>   virtue of the Lord's promise and the presence of the Holy Spirit,
>   in order to proclaim better the mystery of Christ and to safeguard
>   and manifest the whole of its rich content.

These words give me hope. The Church decides what can change. She
currently thinks that she cannot change this, but perhaps after
reflection, prayer and theological discussions she will find that she
feels differently.

In other words our discussions here, our telling our bishops what the
Holy Spirit is saying to us, our lobbying for change, our protests at
ordinations, and so forth may, in fact, prompt the Church to change.
Change is not impossible. Woman do not have the wrong matter or
character. The Church has the power to change this, but is currently
deciding not to for the reasons stated in the Declaration.

It means we have work to do. If we want change, the points listed in the
Declaration must be refuted or explained in other ways, or new arguments
must be presented. But there is hope for justice.

Jim McIntosh (jim@american.edu)
The American University
Washington DC 20016-8019 USA

PS- This brings to mind something else. Someone sent me e-mail a while
    back asking if I'd be willing to have Catholic documents available
    here so people could get copies. Something like the Declaration John
    posted seems like something that would be valuable to have online. If
    we made documents avaiable here they would be available via e-mail
    through the Listserv or via anonymous ftp.

    Would people consider this to be a valuable resource? Do people have
    documents they would like to share?

    The only consideration is copyright. We are very strict about
    copyright protections. All documents would either have to have the
    copyright owner's permission to be made available electronically or
    be in the public domain.