Women's Ordination in the Catholic tradition

The vision of the Catholic Church is encapsulated in the notion of the Kingdom- a scriptural metaphor for the almighty reign of God over creation; recognised through the qualities of equity (Gen 1:27), active faith (James 2:26), selfless service (John 13:14-15) and giving (Lk 10:30-38), peacefulness (Mt. 5:3-13), compassion and love (John 15:12)
The Church believes that the human person is made “in the image/likeness of God” (Gen. 1:27) and thus retains innate dignity, regardless of “sex, race, colour. Etc.” (Gaudium et Spes) Jesus demonstrates this by refusing to judge a person’s worthiness on the basis of sex. (Lk. 11:27-28)
Building towards the Kingdom occurs in the synthesis of ethical codes such the Ten Commandments (Ex. 20:1-17), and the Beatitudes (Mt. 5:3-13) which espouse material detachment and zeal for justice and peace, as well as adhering to Jesus’ commission to assist the marginalized (Mt. 25:35-36) and free the oppressed. (Lk. 4:18)
Jesus actively, practically demonstrated his teaching in reaching-out to women who were marginalized in ancient Jewish society in the sense of unequal treatment. He defied socio-cultural norms by not only allowing himself to be touched by a woman, such the haemorrhaging woman in Mark’s gospel (it was taboo to be touched by a bleeding woman), but also instructed women in his teaching as seen in the story of his conversation with the Samaritan woman by the well, in John’s Gospel. This was unusual for a rabbi of that time to do and openly challenged societal perceptions of women.
The call to build towads the Kingdom exists as part of the greater challenge of the Church’s vision to “Love one another.” (John 15:12) To love as Jesus loved is to build toward the Kingdom; what Benedict XVI called a new ‘Civilization of Love.’
The Church envisions itself as “One, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.” (Nicene Creed) This implies unity and following apostolic tradition as a significant part of the Church’s vision.
The Church views the laity as the “People of God” and not a mere flock as the pre-Vatican II era seemed to stipulate. The laity holds special significance in that it performs the Church’s saving mission practically.
The Church envisions its own hierarchy as a symbol of service. For example, the Pontiff is called the “Servant of the servants of God.” Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed this in referring to himself as a “humble servant in the Lord’s vineyard.”
The Church envisions women as having a renewing and humanizing role in society, particularly after Vatican II (1962-1965), Inter Insiginiores states on women, that their “role is of capital importance for the renewal and humanization of society and a rediscovery by the believer of the true face of the Church.”
The Church envisions no discrimination as part of an ideal human community. The Vatican document Gaudium et Spes reads that “all forms of discrimination, whether based on sex, race, colour. Etc … should be eradicated and overcome as contrary to God’s intent.”

The contemporary challenge calling for women’s ordination and gender equality is demonstrated by the Lay and Religious petition for Women’s Ordination, addressed to the Australian bishops. This challenge has arisen from an advancing conscience on the sinfulness of discrimination.
The move for gender equality has its societal origins in revolutionary social movements such Women’s Liberation, calling for equal rights, recognition and income for women.
The call for gender equality has challenged historical understandings that have underpinned background Church thought for centuries. The Aristotlean thought of women as “misbegotten males” has influenced prominent theological thinkers including Jerome, Tertullian, Augustine and Aquinas. They adapted the notion and blamed woman as the cause of Original Sin, therefore “the devil’s gateway.” Aquinas even thought of woman as “accidental and deficient” and John of Chrysodym compared woman to a savage beast. These ideas have existed in Church thought for centuries. Christianity arose from the ancient Jewish tradition, of which a certain prayer read, “Praise be to God that I was not born a woman.”
Recognizing these ideas as discriminatory and therefore contrary to Jesus’ teachings and the vision of the Church, certain lay and religious groups have called for greater female input in the Church and for women’s ordination in the Catholic tradition.

The Church’s response can be viewed on two levels – the generic and the specific.
The generic response of the Church relates to gender roles. The Church has opened itself more fully to female involvement, particularly on a Parish level. For example, there are female Readers, Altar Servers and women in other liturgical functions, having input to the life of the Parish. Another example that demonstrates the Church adapting to modern society is the upheaval of restriction placed on nuns. After Vatican II (1962-165), nuns were given greater power of choice to decide the direction of their ministry. These responses indicate the Church’s willingness to open itself more fully to society, particularly to female input through adjusting gender roles within the Catholic tradition.
The specific response of the Church to the contemporary challenge calling for women’s ordination is that, “the Church has no authority to confer priestly ordination on women.” (Pope John Paul II) The reasons for the Church’s stance on this social and moral issue are scripturally and traditionally valid.
The Church contends that is follows apostolic tradition, according to its vision of “One, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.” (Nicene Creed) Women’s ordination is not a part of this tradition, be the early apostles chosen by Jesus were male and these became the leaders of Church communities. According to the official Church, priesthood is a continuation of the apostle’s work, who were male. The Church also states that priesthood is an icon of God who is called ‘Father’ and Jesus who is called ‘he’ (masculine imagery), therefore it is only fitting for a male to fit the role, which the Church maintains is not a right.
To finalize the argument, the Church concludes that a lack of consensus on the issue would cause disunity, which is contrary to the Church’s vision of “One, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.” (Nicene Creed)

The response of the wider Church community, particularly those advocating women’s ordination, has been the development of valid counter-arguments, constituting reasons for women’s ordination.
These reasons include:
• Jesus did have female followers in the Gospel who are listed in name and held roles and responsibility. (Lk. 8:1-3)
• Neither Jesus nor the early apostles ordained anyone, nor did they leave any plans for priesthood. This arose as a later development in the Church as it became institutionalised. Therefore, ordination is not part of apostolic tradition.
• The Church is traditionally referred to as ‘she’- a female priesthood would represent this.
• In all canonical Gospel accounts, women are the first witnesses to the Resurrection, where they are commissioned by Jesus to go forth and ‘tell’ the Good News of the Risen Christ.
• The Risen Christ transcends gender. Theologian Pamela Foulkes remarks that the understanding of Jesus as ‘he’ “confuses the historical Jesus with the Christ, the man resurrected and glorified, transcending all earthly boundaries of race, social status and gender.” This is coupled with St. Paul’s statement that, “There is neither male nor female, for all are one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28)
• In relation to the Church’s vision of adhering to Christ’s teachings of justice (Mt. 5:3-13) and equality as illustrated by the equal creation of both genders (Gen. 1:26-27) and the vision of a society without discrimination by the Gaudium et Spes statement that discrimination “whether based on sex, race, colour. Etc … should be eradicated and overcome as contrary to God’s intent.”
Lay and religious groups supporting women’s ordination cite that a Church preaching the qualities of justice and equity cannot afford to contradict these principles in its formal institutional structure and sacramental functions.

The Church’s contention of having “no authority” to ordain women does in actuality fit within it’s vision of “One, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church.” (Nicene Creed) Due to the lack of consensus on the issue, women’s ordination could cause disunity that is contrary to such a vision.
Lay and religious groups supportive of women’s ordination also form a stance that fits into the Church’s vision of equality (Gen. 1:26-27), justice (Mt. 5:3-13) and standing against all forms of discrimination in contemporary society.