Tag: Priesthood

6 min read

Religious Life

Why Celibacy?

Sister Anna Marie McGuan

June 3, 2023 12:06 am June 3, 2023

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6 min read

Recently, I was asked about priestly celibacy by a person interested in becoming Catholic. The practice of priestly celibacy is viewed with suspicion, he explained, because Protestants are unfamiliar with it and it seems unnatural. Besides that, his is a timely question given that some people have pointed to celibacy as having a direct causal link to the abuse crisis in the Church.

Celibacy, or chastity, seems like a stumbling block for people. What is celibacy, exactly? According to the glossary of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, celibacy is “the state or condition of those who have chosen to remain unmarried.”

But why would a man choose that life, or why is this the standard discipline for priests in the Roman (Latin-rite) Catholic Church?

First, the nature of the priesthood has to be understood. Simply put, each man who becomes a priest becomes a minister of Jesus Christ’s own priesthood. Jesus’ priesthood is made visible and present through these ordained ministers. They participate in Jesus’ life and priesthood in a specific way. Therefore, a look at Scripture and how Jesus himself lived is helpful to see the foundations on which priest’s life is modeled.

Jesus did not marry. He also spoke positively about those who remain celibate “for the sake of the kingdom of heaven” (Mt 19:12). Indeed, Jesus chose, from among his followers, certain men to be with him and become “fishers of men” (Mt 4:19; Mk 1:17). His invitation to them was to leave everything behind for the sake of the kingdom of God. Therefore, this practice of total dedication to God in and through Christ goes back to the very beginning of discipleship. Today as well, men are chosen by God to “to consecrate themselves with undivided heart to the Lord” (CCC, No. 1579).

Jesus is not the only person in the Bible, however, to have lived a single life with the intention of being consecrated for God’s purposes. The prophet Jeremiah, for example, appears to have remained celibate. He was called from his youth (see Jer 1:6-7) and never mentions a wife or family like some of the other prophets. Another example, closer to the time of Jesus, is John the Baptist. The last in the long line of biblical prophets, John’s entire life was lived as a sign that pointed to Jesus, even from his time in the womb (Lk 1:41-44). Everything about him pointed to the transcendent realm, including his choice to forego a wife and children. While it is true that celibacy was not a common practice at the time of Christ, it was not unheard of. In fact, there are examples from Qumran, a desert community in existence around the time of Jesus, of a type of celibacy lived in community.

Additionally, priests are not the only celibates in the Catholic Church. The consecrated life in its various forms entails some type of commitment to chastity, either a promise, private vow, public vow or some other sacred bond.

Getting back to the definition of celibacy mentioned above, it related only to the state of being unmarried. Any discussion on celibacy must relate back to chastity, which is the virtue by which a person integrates his or her sexuality in a healthy way appropriate to his or her state in life. The goal of chastity is the wholeness and integrity of the person in his bodily and spiritual being. This is true for married persons as well as celibate persons. However, chastity in the context of consecrated life entails refraining from any behaviors in the realm of sexuality that belong properly to marriage, as well as avoiding any offenses against chastity such as masturbation, pornography or fornication. Religious chastity is also a gift to those called by God to lead a life totally dedicated to him.

Is it “unnatural” to lead a celibate life and, therefore, practice continence within chastity? In one sense, yes, and in another, no. The proper path of sexual expression for most people is that of marriage, in which two persons give each other their bodies as “a sign and pledge of spiritual communion” (CCC, No. 2360). This is a great good, and marriage, while not easy, is the natural path that most people take to live the vocation to love God and neighbor to which we are all called.

There are some, however, as Jesus points out in the Gospels, who renounce marriage and the goods of marriage (holiness together as husband and wife, welcoming and educating children) for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Not only that, the fact that some people do this is a very good thing.

Living out chastity for the sake of the kingdom of heaven means to live one’s life as a sign that points to God all the time. The married state is good and beautiful, and at the same time God is more beautiful and better. He is so good, in fact, that it is legitimate to offer everything to him and live for him alone. A consecrated person, whether priest or religious, witnesses to that by the very way he or she lives. The highest form of love is not the love between husband and love, it is the love of God, charity. This charity can and should inform all other relationships of love. This means that they are rooted in a person’s relationship with God and lead to a further and deeper love of God.

In addition, Jesus tells us that there will be no marriage in heaven. Rather, he says, in “the resurrection they neither marry nor are given in marriage but are like the angels in heaven” (Mt 22:30). For this reason, the consecrated life or the celibate life is an eschatological signpost that points to heaven. Essentially, the message is: Remember where you ultimately want to be headed. Remember your end. Do what it takes to get there.

Returning to an earlier question, living chastity for the kingdom of heaven is not “unnatural” — it is supernatural. It is to live as God’s messenger, all day, every day. Like all vocations, that takes faith, hope and charity. It also takes prayer, asceticism, more prayer and fidelity to the age-old practices that help form the interior spiritual life. Good, holy friendships are also a wonderful aid to chastity, no matter what a person’s vocation is.

The goal in each vocation is to love God with all one’s heart, mind, soul and strength, and to love one’s neighbor like one’s self. To each person, God will give the graces necessary to grow in holiness if and when we cooperate with him.

Sister Anna Marie McGuan, R.S.M., is Director of Christian Formation in the Diocese of Knoxville.

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11 min read

Religious Life

How are Priests Trained?

Father Andrew Clyne

March 30, 2023 5:30 am March 30, 2023

11 min read

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11 min read

Seeing the priest in the pulpit or at the altar on a Sunday, it is only natural and understandable for people to have in their minds, from time to time,…

Seeing the priest in the pulpit or at the altar on a Sunday, it is only natural and understandable for people to have in their minds, from time to time, the question, “How did he get here?” The question may be considered not only in the sense of what is his own unique vocation story, but in the sense of what was the process by which the Church discerned his suitability for ministry, and what did his preparation for ministry entail.

The history of priestly formation in the Catholic Church is long and varied, but a decisive moment in that history came with the Council of Trent (1545-63), especially in its Twenty-Third Session, when the council fathers laid down the framework for the establishment of seminaries as permanent institutions for the training of clerics. While it took some time for the seminary model to take hold, the result remains the essential place of priestly formation to the present day.

Responding to Needs

While the seminary has its historical origins in the Tridentine reforms and the time of the Counter-Reformation, the process of priestly formation has not remained stagnate. What that formation looks like inevitably has been shaped by factors beyond the walls of the seminary, as the priest (at least the diocesan priest) fundamentally is prepared for ministry in the world, and that preparation can be satisfactory only if it best prepares him to face the unique pastoral challenges of his distinct place and time. Therefore, priestly formation always has had to keep abreast of developing pastoral circumstances and has had to adjust to best respond.

That said, the basics of faithful Christian discipleship and holy priesthood remain unvaried. The need for the priest to be prayerful, humble and wise; to be a man of integrity, fidelity and compassion; to be courageous, pure and detached from worldly acclaim; to be selfless and free of all ambition, save doing the will of God — these qualities are as necessary now for the Church’s ministers as they were at the time of her birth. And they will continue to be necessary until the final coming of Christ’s kingdom.

Therefore, the formation of priests always involves, simultaneously, attention to the permanent and the present. This means for those entrusted with priestly formation answering the question of how best to prepare men for priesthood, so that they will possess all the qualities which perennially have defined priesthood well-lived, along with the capacity to minister effectively to people in a specific historical and cultural context, therefore leading them to an encounter with Christ and the sharing in His divine life forever.

Given this enduring need of the Church to be attentive and responsive to ever-evolving pastoral challenges, especially in considering how priests might be best prepared to meet those challenges, it should come as no surprise that priestly formation has received extensive attention by the Church over the last half-century, in the period defined by the Second Vatican Council and its ongoing reception. From the council’s own decree on the training of priests (Optatam Totius) through the pontificate of Pope Francis, there have been constant discussions, studies and reforms, all dedicated to improving the training of priests so that they might better confront the evangelical challenges posed by the modern world and effectively lead the Church in what has been termed the “New Evangelization.”

Within the period stretching from Vatican II to the present, a watershed moment came with the 1990 Synod of Bishops dedicated to the formation of priests in the present day. The fruits of this synodal gathering were manifest in Pope St. John Paul II’s apostolic exhortation Pastores Dabo Vobis (1992), a landmark text which has shaped priestly formation since. Various national episcopal conferences were given the responsibility of devising programs for the effective implementation of Pastores Dabo Vobis’ teaching within their specific national contexts. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops produced the Program for Priestly Formation (PPF) in response, a document which has provided the framework for priestly formation in the United States since its drafting and which is currently in its fifth edition.

Recalling the teaching of Pastores Dabo Vobis, the PPF utilizes the image of “pillars of formation” to organize conceptually the principal focal points of priestly formation. It draws attention to four major pillars. They are (1) human formation, (2) spiritual formation, (3) intellectual formation and (4) pastoral formation. It is on the basis of growth and personal depth in these areas that a candidate is evaluated for his suitability for ministry in the Catholic Church today.

There is a certain danger in dividing these areas of formation, as it could give the impression that they are somehow separable. Of course, this is not true and is not how the PPF conceives of the relationship between the pillars. Rather, they are all interconnected and necessarily impact one another. If one is to grow into a holy and effective minister, there must be continual growth humanly, spiritually, intellectually and pastorally. They are all integrated and form one whole, just as the man being formed for priesthood remains always one person.

Human Formation

In a certain sense, the entire priestly formation process first has to attend to human formation, since everything builds on this. Applicable here is the wisdom of the Scholastic adage: “Grace builds upon nature.” It is not that grace cannot or does not have its effect regardless of a person’s qualities. Nevertheless, the presence of good personal habits and a well-formed character dispose the person to be more receptive to the growth in holiness offered by God’s graced call.

In the words of the PPF, the qualities that are to be sought and fostered within human formation are “freedom, openness, honesty and flexibility, joy and inner peace, generosity and justice, personal maturity and interpersonal skills, commonsense, aptitude for ministry, and ‘growth in moral sensibility and character’” (PPF, 5th ed., No. 85). Moreover, as those committing to a life of celibacy, affective and sexual maturity also is deemed essential.

Spiritual Formation

The importance of spiritual formation for the seminarian and future priest cannot be overstated. As those with the unique vocation to lead the assembled Church in prayer, they must be first men of prayer themselves. As men who dispense the sacraments, they frequently must receive them. And as those called on to provide spiritual counsel to those entrusted to their care, first they must have a deeply personal relationship with the Lord.

The development of the future priest’s intimate relationship with the Lord is at the heart of seminary formation, since the existence of that relationship is crucial for the priest’s holiness and effectiveness in his ministry. To that end, much of a seminary’s resources are dedicated to the cultivation of that type of intimate prayer among seminarians. In addition to the regular celebration of Mass, and the communal praying of the Liturgy of the Hours, seminaries will also offer retreats, spiritual conferences and various workshops. There is often the communal recitation of the Rosary and the encouragement of other devotions. The Holy Hour highly is encouraged. Moreover, there is frequent Eucharistic Adoration and the Sacrament of Reconciliation is made regularly available. Significantly, every seminarian is assigned a spiritual director with whom they meet regularly.

Intellectual Formation

Much of a seminarian’s day-to-day activity falls under the pillar of intellectual formation. In addition to maintaining and growing in the life of prayer, and alongside any other personal, pastoral or seminary responsibilities, the seminarian is a full-time student. This is in large part why the process of priestly formation is so lengthy (typically for a diocesan priest, time in seminary formation will last six to eight years). The priest is a teacher of the Faith, and in order to pass on the Faith and instruct others in it first he must know it himself.

Certainly he does not master the entirety of the tradition. Such mastery of the Catholic theological tradition is not achieved even by the greatest of theological minds — for example, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, John Henry Newman, etc. — not only because of its scope, but more significantly because of the subject of theology — the Triune God. God is mystery, and while the human mind may know things about God (otherwise the study of theology would be pointless) — especially those things which we know of Him by the gift of reason and through His revelation — no human mind ultimately can have a comprehensive knowledge of Him.

Since indeed we can know about God — and His saving and redeeming action in the person of Christ continued on in the work of His Church guided by His Holy Spirit — it is essential for the Church’s ministers to have an adequate knowledge of the Faith. This may be needed now more than ever, given the widespread confusion that exists among both Catholics and non-Catholics with regard to what the Church actually teaches. To this end, a priest’s intellectual formation in seminary involves studies with a focus in both sacred theology and philosophy (theology for obvious reasons, philosophy perhaps less so, at least at first glance).

The study of philosophy by seminarians has many purposes. First, by engaging with philosophical argument, the seminarian learns the skills of good reasoning and, just as importantly, the ability to detect shoddy arguments and bad reasoning. Basically put, philosophical education is supposed to inculcate good intellectual habits.

Second, there is an inherent connection between philosophy and theology. Positively, philosophy and its terminology have proven advantageous in articulating various theological doctrines — for example, person and substance in Trinitarian theology, transubstantiation in sacramental theology, etc. Negatively, so many theological errors have their origins in basic philosophical errors, and so it often is an important theological task to sort out the underlying philosophical mistakes which have produced these negative consequences.

Third, philosophy has a culturally formative power. Many of the particular errors which plague modern culture, and which result in numerous obstacles to the reception of the Gospel in our world today, have their origins in bad philosophy. In order to respond adequately to these challenges, it is important to engage with, take seriously and understand the intellectual roots of a culture which has grown inhospitable to evangelization. This is why a seminarian will study in philosophy not only Aristotle, Plato, Aquinas and the like, but also Jean-Jacques Rousseau, David Hume and Friedrich Nietzsche. Studying such figures is not a luxury, but a necessity. No serious confrontation with modern culture, for the purposes of evangelizing it, can take place without this manner of engagement, done with great seriousness, and not by evasion or the dismantling of straw-man arguments.

In a different but not unrelated context, Blessed John Henry Newman observed in “The Idea of a University” that “it is not the way to learn to swim in troubled waters, never to have gone into them.” Believers find themselves today in troubled waters born of confusion and error. They look to priests to guide them through these waters. They look to priests to show them how to swim. If the priest is to be successful here, first he must know how to do this himself.

Pastoral Formation

Which leads us to the last pillar of formation, the one which functions basically as the capstone, and the one toward which all the other areas of formation are directed — the pastoral. Seminaries exist to provide priests who will be effective pastors to those whom they will encounter in whatever ministerial context they find themselves in. That is why, throughout priestly formation, seminaries are given numerous pastoral opportunities. Examples include visiting the sick and imprisoned, service to the poor (which can take a variety of forms), religious education and catechesis, service in parishes (both during the summertime and the academic year) and, for upper-level seminarians, administering sacraments (baptisms, marriages or funerals outside of Mass may be celebrated by seminarians already ordained to the diaconate).

All this formation — human, spiritual, intellectual and pastoral — is crucial so that the hope of the people who look upon their priest at the altar Sunday after Sunday may be well-founded: that they have been blessed with a shepherd after God’s own heart (see Jer 3:15).

Father Andrew Clyne is a priest of the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

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1 min read

Sacraments

What is a Laicized Priest?

Father Francis Hoffman

March 28, 2023 10:13 am March 28, 2023

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1 min read

Once a priest, always a priest: the Sacrament of Holy Orders imprints an indelible character on the soul of the priest that empowers him to confect the sacraments. However, if…

Once a priest, always a priest: the Sacrament of Holy Orders imprints an indelible character on the soul of the priest that empowers him to confect the sacraments. However, if a priest has been laicized, which is to say, returned to the lay state, he may no longer dress as a priest or function as a priest. He is not allowed to celebrate the sacraments, but he would be allowed to receive the sacraments.

If he were to come across a person in danger of death, he would still have the power to forgive sins through sacramental absolution, and in such a case he would be allowed to do so.

Laicization can be either voluntary as a favor, or involuntary as a punishment. In either case, the man is no longer allowed to carry out the sacramental duties of an ordained cleric with that one exception: in danger of death he can hear a person’s confession (see Canons 976, 986.2, 1335).

Finally, it is possible for a laicized priest to be restored to holy orders, but only by express rescript from the pope (see Canon 293).

Rev. Francis Hoffman, J.C.D., Executive Director of Relevant Radio. Follow him on his Facebook page “Father Rocky.”

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1 min read

Sacraments

On Holy Thursday, by what act and/or word did Jesus institute the Sacrament of Holy Orders?

Father Reginald Martin

February 6, 2023 1:52 pm February 6, 2023

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1 min read

Jesus instituted the sacraments of our salvation, but the means by which the Church received them was often indirect. Christ hallowed marriage by working his first miracle at a wedding…

Jesus instituted the sacraments of our salvation, but the means by which the Church received them was often indirect. Christ hallowed marriage by working his first miracle at a wedding — and observing elsewhere (see Mt 19:3) — the union of husband and wife makes them “one flesh.”

The same is true of the institution of holy orders. The synoptic Gospels relate that Jesus, at the Last Supper, took bread and wine and told his disciples to eat and drink, for these were his body and blood, given for the forgiveness of sins: “Do this in remembrance of me” (Lk 22:19, RSV).

These words are the foundation for our belief in Christ’s presence in the Eucharist; the command “do this” establishes the ministry by which Jesus’ command will be carried out over time. Likewise, when St. John tells us Jesus washed the disciples’ feet at the Last Supper, he adds Jesus’ remark, “I have given you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you” (Jn 13:15, RSV).

The Catechism of the Catholic Church quotes Thomas Aquinas, who observed, “It is … Christ Jesus, whose sacred person his minister truly represents” (No. 1548). We may find no objective institution of priesthood, but it must be understood from Jesus’ command that his presence touches future ages.

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6 min read

Vocation

The Difference One Priest Can Make

Michael R. Heinlein

July 27, 2022 8:07 am July 27, 2022

6 min read

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6 min read

The priest who baptized me died recently, and I spent 6 hours in the car to attend his funeral. I had known Father Lloyd Bowden mostly by reputation. He had…

The priest who baptized me died recently, and I spent 6 hours in the car to attend his funeral.

I had known Father Lloyd Bowden mostly by reputation. He had been pastor of my family’s parish for 26 years, and he became something of an institution in the city and within my own family. In many ways a rarity, he was equal parts kind, gentle and thoughtful; the unsung parish priest who truly epitomized what the priesthood really is all about.

Ordained in 1949, Father Bowden was in ministry during many changes within the Church. Though some of it frustrated him and made life more difficult, he persevered with charity, joy and fidelity. He had something of a reputation for being “strict” in those post-Vatican II years where almost anything went in so many parishes. Really, though, his pastoral plan was defined merely by a “hermeneutic of continuity” — a difficult task in his day. While he had his critics, his success as a pastor was found in the dearth of parishioners who took issue with him as a man — and in those who he served faithfully.

Father Bowden prepared my parents for marriage and celebrated their nuptial Mass. When my dad tried to give him an envelope with cash afterward, Father Bowden refused, noting, “I’m just happy to have you as parishioners here.” Still more, he was welcoming, patient and encouraging with my unchurched, Protestant dad during marriage preparation. He proposed, not imposed, the Faith, and he always managed to leave my dad with a good taste in his mouth for Catholicism, in which he eventually found a home – in part, I think, thanks to the foundation of gentleness that Father Bowden laid all those years before. And I’m sure there are legions of similar stories.

Father Bowden especially left an example for priests to follow. In addition to good stewardship, sound governance and right teaching, Father Bowden had about him a certain air of holiness. His life was his work and his work was his life, and he truly emulated how priesthood is a vocation. When he retired, Father Bowden was asked about the many successes of his long tenure. Instead of dwelling on the praise, he deflected any attention from himself and credited only the goodness of the people he served. In retirement, instead of moving into a house of his own, he took up residence with an older couple he had known from the parish where he first served as pastor.

Despite Father Bowden’s evident holiness, only a handful of priests came to send off the first diocesan priest of their diocese. There was no bishop, and there were not as many people as I might have expected. Given his advanced age, some of that is expected. But I rather think it reflected accurately his approach to ministry — something like John the Baptist’s: “He must increase; I must decrease” (Jn 3:30).

Little of Father Bowden’s ministry seemed to be about himself, and he was uncomfortable with any kind of cult of personality sometimes associated with priests. This was the case to the end, as reflected in the low-key plans he made for his funeral. And it was reiterated by those with whom I spoke at the funeral — like the couple whose vows Father Bowden received 61 years ago, or like his one-time religious education director. Father Bowden was the embodiment of the priestly life described in the poem “Thou art a Priest Forever,” composed by the 19th-century Dominican Jean-Baptiste Henri Lacordaire. It happened to be read during funeral’s homily, thus underscoring the point:

“To live in the midst of the world with no desire for its pleasures; to be a member of every family, yet belonging to none; to share all sufferings; to penetrate all secrets, to heal all wounds; to daily go from men to God to offer Him their homage and petitions; to return from God to men to bring them His pardon and hope; to have a heart of fire for charity and a heart of bronze for chastity; to bless and to be blest forever. O God, what a life, and it is yours, O Priest of Jesus Christ!”

By the time Father Bowden retired when I was 7, my family already had moved to a neighboring state. I subsequently had only two or three brief personal interactions with him. And yet, I always felt a strong spiritual closeness to him. For many years I have prayed for him every day. Not necessarily because he was a great priest, which he was, but that because of his priestly “yes” and its connection to my baptism, he brought me into the life of grace.

I guess, in the end, my drive to suburban Chicago was as much for me as it was for Father Bowden. It has been a rough many months for the Church. Not only are there more arguments in ecclesial life surrounding doctrine and governance than many of us remember in our lifetime, but there are also the seemingly unending sex abuse scandals and sordid stories of clericalism’s corrosion of ecclesial life that have rocked each of us to the core. My trip ended up being a pilgrimage of sorts amid the storms — an opportunity to reflect on what really matters in the life of faith and give thanks.

In the car and at the funeral Mass, I thanked God for the priesthood and for the priestly ministry of Father Bowden. I recalled with gratitude his important role in my own life of faith and the incredible gift God bestowed on me through his priestly “yes.” Most apropos of the true nature of a life poured out in priestly service, the last line on the prayer card distributed at his funeral reads, “Thank You, Thank You, Thank You.” And that is what I whispered as I touched Father Bowden’s casket on the way to receive the Lord in holy Communion.

Moreover, though, my thanks turned to intercession when I also thought about how Father Bowden embodied so much of what the Church needs right now. We have had men like him before, we have them now, and we will have men like him again. I’ll keep praying that God will send us more priests like Father Lloyd Bowden. May God reward him.

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic. Follow him on Twitter @HeinleinMichael.

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8 min read

Religious Life

Priestly Ordination Reserved For Men

Michael R. Heinlein

August 15, 2021 7:06 am August 15, 2021

8 min read

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8 min read

Is priestly ordination reserved for men alone in the Catholic Church because of an arcane and unjust historical context? Or is it something more? To best understand the Church’s teaching…

Is priestly ordination reserved for men alone in the Catholic Church because of an arcane and unjust historical context? Or is it something more? To best understand the Church’s teaching on this issue, one must consider both tradition and the iconic nature of the priesthood.

The years following the Second Vatican Council and the Sexual Revolution in the mid- to late-20th century presented a period of confusion regarding what seemed to be an open question of exploring the possibility of ordaining women to the priesthood. This practice was found acceptable by some Christian communities — for example, the Anglican Communion — but unacceptable by other churches — for example, the Orthodox. It is noteworthy that much of what the Catholic Church teaches on the reservation of priesthood to men alone also is embraced by the Orthodox churches.

To help put this matter to rest, the Catholic Church, in 1976, reiterated that the priesthood should be reserved for men alone when the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, at the behest of Pope Blessed Paul VI, issued the declaration Inter Insigniores.

The Will of Christ

Inter Insigniores was written to defend the Church’s position on ordination with both fundamental and theological reasons. The primary fundamental reasons given relate to Christ’s attitude regarding ordained ministry, considering both his example and that of Christian tradition.

Although women were actively involved in the life of Christ during his ministry, Jesus did not appoint women to the apostolic office. “Jesus Christ did not call any women to become part of the Twelve” (No. 2). This is not to say that Jesus was discriminatory toward women, however. As Inter Insigniores points out, “His attitude towards women was quite different from that of his milieu, and he deliberately and courageously broke with it” (No. 2).

Jesus’ break with cultural treatment of women is seen in multiple places throughout the Gospels. It is also seen clearly in the Easter story, in which women were “the first to have the privilege of seeing the risen Lord,” yet were not “the official witnesses to the Resurrection” (No. 2). Following this example, the Church carries on Christ’s will in regard to sacramental orders. “By calling only men to the priestly Order … the Church intends to remain faithful to the type of ordained ministry willed by the Lord Jesus Christ and carefully maintained by the Apostles” (No. 1).

Taking up the themes of Inter Insigniores— namely, that “in fidelity to the example of the Lord” the Church “does not consider herself authorized to admit women to priestly ordination” (Introduction) — Pope St. John Paul II firmly reiterated its teaching in his 1994 apostolic letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis. With this document, Pope John Paul II sought to dispel any lingering doubts regarding the Catholic Church’s teaching on women’s ordination. And so, with great solemnity, he provided unambiguous teaching on the issue: “Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) 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” (No. 4).

It is important to note that this statement by St. John Paul fulfills the conditions for an infallible statement as taught at the First Vatican Council and is clearly phrased in such a manner. By virtue of his ministry as universal shepherd and teacher ex cathedra, the pope has the power to define a matter concerning faith and morals, which are to be held by the universal Church as “infallible.”

Theological Reasons

While both Inter Insigniores and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis present the essential reasons against the ordination of women as pertaining to the mind of Christ and the tradition of the Church, they also refer to various undergirding theological reasons that must be investigated as well.

The theological rationale regarding the priestly ordination of men alone must be seen through what is called the “analogy of faith” (Inter Insignores, No. 5). Theologically speaking, there is one priest, Jesus Christ. Every priest analogously shares in his one priesthood. Included here are a variety of anthropological dimensions of ordained priesthood.

As the priesthood’s primary task is to preside at the Eucharist, it is fitting to explore this issue within a Eucharistic context. This is especially important here because the Eucharist is the heart of the Church — the “source and summit” of the Church’s life, in the words of Vatican II (Lumen Gentium, see No. 11). In the Eucharistic celebration, the priest has an iconic character whereby his representation of Christ expresses his role to act in the person of Christ, in persona Christi. In fact, this is the “supreme expression” of the priest’s representation of Christ (Inter Insigniores, No. 5). In the Eucharistic celebration, which is the “source and center of the Church’s unity,” the priest takes “the role of Christ, to the point of being his very image, when he pronounces the words of consecration” ((Inter Insigniores, also No. 5). Inter Insigniores quotes the theology of St. Thomas Aquinas by noting that the sacraments “represent 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” (Inter Insigniores, No. 5).

As Christ was a man, so, too, must be priests. This clearly echoes the famous phrase coined by the Council of Trent — “as human nature demands.” In order to act in persona Christi, a male priesthood is required.

This aspect of the theological anthropology of the priesthood further is illustrated in the nuptial imagery used throughout the Bible in God’s plan of salvation. Salvation often is described in Scripture as a nuptial mystery existing between God and his chosen people. Christ and his Church, as bridegroom and bride, bring forth the culmination of salvation in the New Testament. And so, “we can never ignore the fact that Christ is a man” (Inter Insigniores, No. 5). Christ himself revealed this important and necessary symbolism, whereby ordained priests represent Christ himself, the Bridegroom and Head of the Church, “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” (No. 5).

The nuptial relationship between Christ and the Church illustrates the importance of the divine plan for nature — that human sexuality matters. And since the priesthood is a calling, and not a right, priesthood’s ministry of service is not superior to others, as all Christians are called to love. Importantly relevant in this discussion is the fact that “the greatest in the kingdom of heaven are not the ministers but the saints” (Inter Insigniores, No. 6).

Further arguments also concern the theological anthropology of the Church, respecting the gifts and talents inherent to men and women by their very nature. The dignity of women, and their indispensable role in the preaching of the Gospel, is stressed by St. John Paul in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (see No. 3). Likewise, concerning the nuptial imagery relative to the Church, the masculinity and femininity of the Church is explored in depth by theologians such as Hans Urs von Balthasar. His works promote the respective roles of men and women in the Church. Inter Insigniores appropriately and concisely expresses what is found in his theology: as men fittingly represent Christ, women suitably represent the Church, for their role is of “capital importance” in the modern age “both for the renewal and humanization of society and for the rediscovery by believers of the true face of the Church” (Inter Insigniores, No. 6).

It’s clear that the Catholic Church has rich and definite reasons as to why women may not be admitted to the priestly order. The reservation of priestly ordination for men alone is built on a firm basis rooted in the will of Christ and the tradition of the Church — namely, that Christ did not apostolically commission women and the Church has never ordained them to priesthood. Likewise, the Church offers strong theological and anthropological reasons for this teaching, particularly that men represent Christ’s priesthood in an iconic way. And, importantly, this teaching of the Church regarding ordination must not be taken without an equally clear teaching regarding the dignity of women and their crucial role in the mission of the Church.

Michael R. Heinlein is editor of Simply Catholic. Follow him on Twitter @HeinleinMichael.

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