{"id":2559,"date":"2013-01-02T17:09:18","date_gmt":"2013-01-02T22:09:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/badcatholic\/?p=2559"},"modified":"2013-01-05T14:58:45","modified_gmt":"2013-01-05T19:58:45","slug":"2559","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/badcatholic\/2013\/01\/2559.html","title":{"rendered":"Why The Catholic Priesthood Is Composed of Dudes"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

This might be the greatest video ever to happen to the Catholic Church. If I had tried to stick my tongue out at the kids who think a female priest isn\u2019t a contradiction in terms, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to muster up the genius required to make a thing quite so demeaning to the cause.<\/p>\n<\/iframe>\nLove it or hate it, the Catholic Church is the largest unified religion in the world. She claims 1\/6 of humanity as her children. Her teachings have endured and rebelled against entropy for 2000 years. She, through her development of the university, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/badcatholic\/2012\/04\/religion-religioff.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\">the scientific method<\/a>, and through the writings of her Saints, is responsible for the\u00a0philosophical\u00a0and religious tradition on which Western Civilization is founded, which she draws from to make claims. I mention this because (a) it makes me absurdly proud and (b) because I need people to understand me when I say the following:<\/p>\nIf, in the course of human events, a cringe-inducing karaoke of an already over-played pop song is your primary response to the\u00a0philosophical\u00a0tradition of the Holy Catholic Church, you\u2019ve negated yourself long, long before you\u2019ve been rebutted.<\/p>\nNow, I understand why there\u2019s a cry for the female priesthood. After all, a quick glance at things seems to indicate <a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/80\/2013\/01\/FemaleCatholicPriest.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-2563 alignleft\" title=\"FemaleCatholicPriest\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/80\/2013\/01\/FemaleCatholicPriest.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"333\" height=\"290\"><\/a>an apparent injustice, for women are equal in dignity to men, far more capable, far better-looking, and yet cannot be priests. But quick glances are misleading, and reality always requires us to peel away our preconceived notions and expose ourselves to the truth, however painful.<\/p>\nWhat follows is my explanation of why, precisely, the Catholic priesthood is a male priesthood. I speak without expertise, but as a pupil. Allow my defense to be C.S. Lewis\u2019, that \u201cthe fellow-pupil can help more than the master because he knows less. The difficulty we want him to explain is one he has recently met. The expert met it so long ago that he has forgotten.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\">A Brief and Certainly Not Extensive Defense of the Male Priesthood With References to Scripture and Sacred Tradition and Pop Music Wait Not That One.<\/h3>\n\u00a0<\/p>\nIn salvation history, one thing is obvious: God wants to marry the Church. He constantly expresses himself as a bridegroom coming for his bride, as a lover leaping the hills to be with us \u2014 moronic sinners \u2014 forever and ever: \u201cAs a young man marries a young woman, so will your Builder marry you; as a\u00a0bridegroom rejoices over his\u00a0bride, so will your God rejoice over you.\u201d (Isaiah 62:5)<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/80\/2013\/01\/Cristo-e-Maria-Sposi.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-2564\" title=\"Cristo-e-Maria-Sposi\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/80\/2013\/01\/Cristo-e-Maria-Sposi.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"360\" height=\"483\"><\/a><\/p>\nGod\u2019s people, the Jewish people, are his bride: \u201cGo and proclaim in the hearing of Jerusalem: \u201cThis is what the LORD says: \u201c\u2018I remember the devotion of your youth, how as a\u00a0bride\u00a0you loved me and followed me through the wilderness, through a land not sown.\u201d (Jeremiah 2:2)<\/p>\nNow it is the teaching of the Gospel, and thus the teaching of the Catholic Church, that the bridegroom the Jewish people awaited, and thus the bridegroom we all await, is Jesus Christ. We ache to be taken up into eternity, to experience the fullness of truth, beauty, and life, and it is Christ who, becoming man, takes us by the hand and <a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Song%20of%20Songs+1&version=NIV\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">says<\/a>, \u201cHow beautiful\u00a0you are, my darling!\u00a0Oh, how beautiful!\u00a0Your eyes are doves.\u201d<\/p>\nThis is obvious in Scripture. Jesus Christ refers to himself as the bridegroom:<\/p>\n<blockquote>Then John\u2019s\u00a0disciples came and asked him, \u201cHow is it that we and the Pharisees fast often,but your disciples do not fast?\u201d Jesus answered,\u00a0\u201cHow can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them?\u00a0The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast. (Matthew 9:14)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nThis is the prophecy of John the Baptist, who responds to those indignant that Jesus Christ was baptizing:<\/p>\n<blockquote>A person can receive only what is given them from heaven.\u00a0You yourselves can testify that I said, \u2018I am not the Messiah but am sent ahead of him.\u2019\u00a0The bride belongs to the bridegroom.\u00a0The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom\u2019s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.\u00a0He must become greater; I must become less. (John 3:27)<\/p><\/blockquote>\nAnd just to make the whole thing painstakingly obvious, the very last book of the Bible \u2014 the glorious trip-fest that is Revelation \u2014 ends the whole story of the universe by describing Heaven. And what is Heaven? Heaven is a wedding feast between the Lamb of God \u2014 Jesus Christ \u2014 and the New Jerusalem \u2014 The Church.\u00a0\u201cI saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a\u00a0bride\u00a0beautifully dressed for her husband.\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Revelation+21:1-3&version=NIV\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Revelation 21:1-3<\/a>)<\/p>\nNow besides immersing us with the hope that our longing hearts will find\u00a0fulfillment when time and space disintegrate and we face eternity, the fact that the story of the Cosmos is a wedding proposal effectively renders contradictory the idea of a female Catholic priesthood.<\/p>\nFor according to the Catholic Church (and if those wanting female priests want female Catholic<\/em> priests, this certainly matters), the priest exists in persona Christi<\/em>, that is, in the role of Christ to his Church. As the encyclical <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/holy_father\/pius_xi\/encyclicals\/documents\/hf_p-xi_enc_19351220_ad-catholici-sacerdotii_en.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ad Catholici Sacerdotii<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>points out:<\/p>\n<blockquote>The priest, as is said with good reason, is indeed \u201canother Christ\u201d; for, in some way, he is himself a continuation of Christ. \u201cAs the Father hath sent Me, I also send you,\u201d is spoken to the priest, and hence the priest, like Christ, continues to give \u201cglory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men of good will.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\u201cAs the Father hath sent Me, I also send you.\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+20&version=NIV\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">John 20:21<\/a>) Christ speaks this to his apostles, who are to become the first priests. If we doubt that Christ was speaking specifically about the priesthood, and not just about the general call for all people to go out and preach the good news, we must read the next part:<\/p>\nAnd with that he breathed on them and said,\u00a0\u201cReceive the Holy Spirit.\u00a0If you forgive anyone\u2019s sins, their sins are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.\u201d (<a href=\"http:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=John+20&version=NIV\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">John 20:22<\/a>)<\/p>\nYour average Christian does not have the power to go to his brother, his girlfriend, or the man he met on the street and forgive his sins<\/em>. It follows that this power given \u2014 for it was given \u2014 was given to a very special group of people. The Church calls them priests.<\/p>\nHow did the Father \u201csend\u201d Christ? We\u2019ve already established that he was sent as the divine bridegroom. Thus the priests, sent as Christ, are also sent as the bridegroom. The priest is a man, as Christ was a man, as a bridegroom is always a man. These realities are neither accidents nor bigotries, but the consistent expression of God\u2019s will for His Holy Church. To have a female priest is less akin to the entirely true statement that \u201cwomen are as good as men\u201d and far more akin to the statement that \u201cwomen have penises\u201d. The role of bridegroom is not something that can be separated from maleness, just as the role of bride cannot be separated from femaleness, and thus the priest \u2014 insofar as he participates in the very role of the Divine Bridegroom, Jesus Christ \u2014 must be male.<\/p>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/80\/2013\/01\/pjpii.jpeg\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-2565\" title=\"pjpii\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/80\/2013\/01\/pjpii.jpeg\" alt=\"\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/a>This is why Blessed Pope John Paul II ended the argument in 1994 with his encyclical <a href=\"http:\/\/www.vatican.va\/holy_father\/john_paul_ii\/apost_letters\/documents\/hf_jp-ii_apl_22051994_ordinatio-sacerdotalis_en.html\" class=\" decorated-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">Ordinato Sacerdotalis<\/a><\/em>, which declared with all the authority of the Church:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\u201cI 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\u2019s faithful.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\nSo there you have it, and I hope it made sense. The further we stray from the idea that man and woman have meaning,\u00a0the more consistently Catholics will have to defend this doctrine, which is based on the beautiful reality of God\u2019s love for all of us. But the argument is over, and no number of well-intentioned YouTube appeals will change the fact, so in bitterness or joy, let us all have a drink to the Catholic priesthood.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"This might be the greatest video ever to happen to the Catholic Church. If I had tried to stick my tongue out at the kids who think a female priest isn\u2019t a contradiction in terms, I wouldn\u2019t have been able to muster up the genius required to make a thing quite so demeaning to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":121,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2559","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n<title>Why The Catholic Priesthood Is Composed of Dudes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This might be the greatest video ever to happen to the Catholic Church. 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