From: covert@COVERT.ENET.DEC.COM (John R. Covert 11-Nov-1992 0845)
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.catholic
Subject: Ordination of Women -- Inter Insigniores -- Part 2 of 2
Date: 11 Nov 92 13:44:54 GMT
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU
Apparently-To: catholic@american.edu


		Inter Insigniores...continued


	5. The Ministerial Priesthood in the Light of
	   The Mystery of Christ.


	Having recalled the Church's norm and the basis thereof, it seems
	useful and opportune to illustrate this norm by showing the profound
	fittingness that theological reflection discovers between the proper
	nature of the sacrament of Order, with its specific reference to
	the mystery of Christ, and the fact that only men have been called
	to receive priestly ordination. It is not a question here of bringing
	forward a demonstrative argument, but of clarifying this teaching
	by the analogy of faith.
		The Church's constant teaching, repeated and clarified by
	the Second Vatican Council and again recalled by the 1971 Synod
	of Bishops and by the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
	Faith in its Declaration of 24th. June 1973, declares that the bishop
	or the priest in the exercise of his ministry, does not act in his
	own name, in persona propria: he represents Christ, who acts through
	him: "the priest truly acts in the place of Christ', as St.Cyprian
	already wrote in the third century. It is this ability to represent
	Christ that St.Paul considered as characteristic of his apostolic
	function (2 Cor.5:20; Gal. 4:14). The supreme expression of this
	representation is found in the altogether special form it assumes
	in the celebration  of the Eucharist, which is the source and centre
	of the Church's unity, the sacrificial meal in which the People	of
	God are associated in the sacrifice of Christ: the priest, who alone
	has the power to perform it, then acts not only through the effective
	power conferred on him by Christ, but in persona Christi, taking
	the role of Christ, to the point of being his very image, when he
	pronounces the words of consecration.
		The Christian priesthood is therefore of a sacramental nature:
	the priest is a sign, the supernatural effectiveness of which comes
	from the ordination received, but a sign that must be perceptible
	and which the faithful must be able to recognise with ease.
	The whole sacramental economy is in fact based upon natural signs,
	on symbols imprinted on the human psychology: 'Sacramental signs,'
	says St.Thomas,'represents what they signify by natural resemblance.'
	The same natural resemblance is required for persons as for things:
	when Christ's role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally,
	there would not be this 'natural resemblance' which must exist between
	Christ and his minister if the role of Christ were not taken by
	a man: in such a case it would be difficult to see in the minister
	the image of Christ. For Christ himself was and remains a man.
		Christ is of course the firstborn of all humanity, of women
	as well as men: the unity which he re-established after sin is such
	that there are no more disticntions between Jew and Greek, slave
	and free, male and female, but all are one in Christ Jesus (Gal.3:28).
	Nevetheless, the incarnation of the Word took place according to
	the male sex: this is indeef a question of fact, and this fact,
	while not implying and alleged natural superiority of man over woman,
	cannot be disassociated from the economy of salvation: it is indeed
	in harmony with the entirety of God's plan as God himself has revealed
	it, and of which the mystery of the Covenant is the nucleus.
		For the salvation offered by God to men and women, the union
	with him to which they are called - in short, the Covenant- took
	on, from the Old Testament Prophets onwards, the privileged form
	of a nuptual mystery: for God the Chosen People is seen as his ardently
	loved spouse. Both Jewish and Christian tradition has discovered
	the depth of this intimacy of love by reading and rereading the
	Song of Songs; the divine Bridegroom will remain faithful even when
	the Bride betrays his love, when Israel is unfaithful to God (Hos.1-3;
	Jer.2). When the 'fulness of time'(Gal.4:4) comes, the Word, the
	Son of God, takes on flesh in order to establish and seal the new
	and eternal Covenant in his blood, which will be shed for many so
	that sins may be forgiven. His death will gather together again
	the scattered children of God; from his pierced side will be born
	the Church, as Eve was born from Adam's side. At that time there
	is fully and eternally accomplished the nuptual mystery proclaimed
	and hymned in the Old Testament: Christ is the Bridegroom; the Church
	his Bride, whom he loves because he has gained her by his blood
 	and made her glorious, holy and without blemish, and henceforth
	he is inseparable from her. This nuptual theme, which is developed
	from the Letters of St.Paul onwards (2 Cor.11:2; Eph.5:22-23) to
	the writings of St.John (especially in Jn.3:29; Rev.19:7,9), is
	present also in the Synoptic Gospels: the Bridegroom's friends must
	not fast as long as he is with them (Mk.2:19); the Kingdom of Heaven
	is like a king who gave a feast for his son's weeding (Mt.22:1-14).
	It is through this Sciptural language, all interwoven with symbols,
	and which expresses and affects man and women in their profound
	identity, that there is revealed to us the mystery of God and Christ,
	a mystery which of itself is unfathomable.
		That is why we can never ignore the fact that Christ is
	a man. And therefore, unless one is to disregard the importance
	of this symbolism for the economy of Revelation, it must be admitted
	that, in actions which demand the character of ordination and in
	which Christ himself, the author of the Covenant, the Bridegroom,
	the Head of the Church, is represented, exercising his ministry
	of salvation- which is in the highest degree the case of the Eucharist-
	his role (this is the original sense of the word 'persona')must
	be taken by a man. This does not stem from any personal superiority
	of the latter in the order of values, but only from a difference
	of fact on the level of functions and service.
		Could one say that, since Christ is now in the heavenly
	condition, from now on it is a matter of indifference whether he
	be represented by a man or by a woman, since 'at the resurrection
	men and women do not marry' (Mat.22:30) ? But this text does not
 	mean that the distiction between man and women, insofar as it
	determines the identity proper to the person, is supressed in the
	glorified state; what holds for us also holds for Christ. It is
	indeed evident that in human beings the difference of sex exercises
	an important influence, much deeper than, for example, ethnic
	differences: the latter do not affect the human person as inimately
	as the difference of sex, which is directly ordained both for the
	communion of persons and for the generation of human beings. In
	Biblical Revelation this difference is the effect of God's will
	from the beginning: 'male and female he created them' (Gen 1:27).
			However, it will perhaps be further objected that
	the priest, especially when he presides at the liturgical and
	sacramental functions, equally represents the Church: he acts in
	her name with 'the intention of doing what she does'. In this sense,
	the theologians of the Middle Ages said that the minister also acts
	in persona Ecclesiae, that is to say, in the name of the whole Church
	and in order to represent her. And in fact, leaving aside the question
	of the participation of the faithful in a liturgical action, it
	is indeed in the name of the whole Church that the action is celebrated
	by the priest: he prays in the name of all, and in the Mass he offers
	the sacrifice of the whole Church. In the new Passover, the Church,
	under visible signs, immolates Christ through the ministry of the
	priest. And so, it is asserted, since the priest also represents
	the Church, would it not be possible to think that this representation
	could be carried out by a woman, according to the symbolism already
	explained ? It is true that the priest represents the Church, which
	is the Body of Christ. But if he does so, it is precisely because
	he first represents Christ himself, who is the Head and the Shepherd
	of the Church. The Second Vatican Council used this phrase to make
	more precise and complete the expression 'in persona Christi'. It
	is in this quality that the priest presides over the Christian assembly
	and celebrates the Eucharistic sacrifice 'in which the whole Church
	offers and is herself wholly offered'.
		If one does justice to these reflections, one will better
	understand how well-founded is the basis of the Church's practice;
	and will conclude that the controveries raised in our days over
	the ordination of women are for all Christians a pressing invitation
	to meditate on the mystery of the Church, to study in greater detail
	the meaning of the episcopate and the priesthood, and to rediscover
	the real and pre-eminent place of the priest in the community of
	the baptized, of which he indeed forms part but from which he is
	distinguished because, in the actions that call for the character
	of ordination, for the community he is - with all the effectiveness
	proper to the sacraments- the image and symbol of Christ himself
	who calls, forgives, and accomplishes the sacrifice of the Covenant.



	6. The Ministerial Priesthood Illustrated by
	   The Mystery of the Church.


	It is opportune to recall that problems of sacramental theology,
	especially when they concern the ministerial priesthood, as is the
	case here, cannot be solved except in the light of Revelation. The
	human sciences, however valuable their contribution in their own
	domain, cannot suffice here, for they cannot grasp the realities
	of faith: the properly supernatural content of these realities is
	beyond their competence.
		Thus one must note the extent to which the Church is a society
	different from other societies, original in her nature and in her
	structures. The pastoral charge in the Church is normally linked
	to the sacrament of Order; it is not a simple government, comparable
	to the modes of authority found in the States. It is not granted
	by people's spontaneous choice: even when it involves designation
	through election, it is the laying on of hands and the prayer of
	the successors of the Apostles which guarantee God's choice; and
	it is the Holy Spirit, given by ordination, who grants participation
	in the ruling power of the Supreme Pastor, Christ (Acts 20:28).
	It is a charge of service and love: 'If you love me, feed my sheep'
	( Jn.21:15-17).
		For this reason one cannot see how it is possible to propose
	the admission of women to the priesthood in virtue of the equality
	of rights of the human person, an equality which holds good also
	for Christians. To this end, use is sometimes made of the text quoted
	above, from the Letter to the Galations (3:28), which says that
	in Christ there is no longer any distinction between men and women.
	But this passage does not concern ministries: it only affirms the
	universal calling to divine filiation, which is the same for all.
	Moreover, and above all, to consider the ministerial priesthood
	as a human right would be to misjudge it's nature completely:
	baptism does not confer any personal title to public ministry within
	the Church. The priesthood is not conferred for the honour or
	advantage of the recipient, but for the service of God and the Church;
	it is the object of a specific and totally gratuitous vocation:
	'You did not choose me, no, I chose you; and I commissioned you...'
	(Jn.15:16; Heb.5:4).
		It is sometimes said and written in books and periodicals
	that some women feel that they have a vocation to the priesthood.
	Such an attraction however noble and understandable, still does
	not suffice for a genuine vocation. In fact a vocation cannot be
	reduced to a mere personal attraction, which can remain purely
	subjective. Since the priesthood is a particular ministry of which
	the Church has recieved the charge and the control, authentication
	by the Church is indispensible here and is a constitutive part of
	the vocation: Christ chose 'those he wanted' (Mk.3:13). On the other
	hand, there is a universal vocation of all the baptized to the exercise
	of the royal priesthood by offering their lives to God and by giving
	witness for his praise.
	   Women who express a desire for the ministerial priesthood are
	doubtless motivated by the desire to serve Christ and the Church.
	And it is not surprising that, at a time when they are becoming
	more aware of the discriminations to which they have been subjected,
	they should desire the ministerial priesthood itself. But it must
	not be forgotten that the priesthood does not form part of the rights
	of the individual, but stems from the economy of the mystery of
	Christ and the Church. The priestly office cannot become the goal
	of social advancement: no merely human progress of society or of
	the individual can of itself give access to it: it is of another
	order.
		It therefore remains for us to meditate more deeply on the
	nature of the real equality of the baptized which is one of the
	great affirmations of Christianity; equality is in no way identity,
	for the Church is a differentiated body, in which each individual
	has his or her role. The roles are distinct, and must not be confused;
	they do not favour the superiority of some vis-a-vis the others,
	nor do they provide an excuse for jealousy; the only better gift,
	which can and must be desired, is love (1 Cor. 12-13). The greatest
	in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints.
		The Church desires that Christian women should become more
	fully aware of the greatness of their mission; today their role
	is of capital importance, both for the renewal and humanization
	of society and for the rediscovery of believers of the true face
	of the Church.


		His Holiness Pope Paul VI, during the audience granted to
	the undersigned Prefect of the Sacred Congregation on 15 October
	1976, approved this Declaration, confirmed it and ordered its
	publication.

	Given in Rome, at the SAcred Congregation for the Doctrine of the
	Faith, on 15 October 1976, the feast of Saint Theresa of Avila.


				Franjo Cardinal Seper

					Prefect.