[1] I now answer the vice-Parish Priest of Saint Jerome -- I see that he is even quite young -- who speaks of how much women do for the Church, even for priests themselves.
[2] I can only underline that, in the first Canon, the Roman one, the special prayer for the priests always gives me a strong impression: "Nobis quoque peccatoribus". Well, in this realistic humility of priests, we, as true sinners, pray to the Lord so that He may help us be his servants. In this prayer for the priest, actually only in this one, there are seven women who surround the priest [Saints Felicitas, Perpetua, Agatha, Lucy, Agnes, Cecilia, and Anastasia -- See the Canon]. This actually shows how the faithful women help [us] in our way. Each one certainly has this experience.
[3] And therefore the Church has a great debt of gratitude to women. And you have underlined that, at a charismatic level, women make so much, I would dare say, for the government of the Church, beginning with the sisters, the little sisters of the great Fathers of the Church, as Saint Ambrose, up to the great women of the Middle Ages -- Saint Hildegard, Saint Catherine of Siena, then Saint Teresa of Avila -- and up to Mother Teresa.
[4] I shall say that this charismatic field certainly differs from the ministerial field, in the strict sense of the word, but it is a true and deep participation in the government of the Church. How could the government of the Church be imagined without this contribution, which at times becomes very visible, as when saint Hildegard criticizes the bishops, or when Saint Bridget and Saint Catherine of Siena admonish and obtain the return of the Popes to Rome? It is always a determining factor, without which the Church cannot live.
[5] However, you say: we wish to see women in the government of the Church even more visibly in a ministerial way . Let us say that the issue is this. The priestly ministry of the Lord is, as we know, reserved to men, while at the same time the priestly ministry is government in the deep sense in which, definitely, it is the Sacrament which governs the Church. This is the decisive point. It is not man who does anything, but the priest faithful to his mission governs, in the sense that the Sacrament, that is, through the Sacrament, it is Christ himself who governs, be it through the Eucharist or through the other Sacraments, and Christ thus always presides.
[6] Nonetheless, it is fair to wonder if even in the ministerial service -- notwithstanding the fact that here Sacrament and charism are the only binary in which the Church realises itself -- there may not be offered more space, more positions to women.
Now, you must have read last Thursday in many news outlets that "the Pope wants the Church to open up for women". The Pope made such remarks in the Q&A section of his discussion with the priests of Rome on March 2 (previous comments on it here) -- and the speed in which this very incomplete piece of news was reported makes one remember the role of the press during and immediately after the Second Vatican Council, when reporters and commentators were used by the ultra-progressive wings of the Church to "force events" or to distort them."No more Latin!" "Mass facing the People!" "The Church will allow contraception!". And that was very much how the Church was informed in the 1960s and 1970s.
The words above are the actual words of the Holy Father. Numbers have been included for reference purposes. Now, we see that at the end (n. 6), the Pope reaffirmed the current position of the Church of allowing some positions for women, with the great examples of those great Holy Women who changed the History of the Church, without any heterodox aspiration to Holy Orders-- the most important part, though, was number 5. So important, in fact, that I would not be surprised to see it in an Enchiridion someday...
Many in Western Europe and North America have reduced the Priest's power to almost nothing. He is the "Eucharist-factory" and that is it. Many parishes actually call their priests "Eucharistic ministers", "sacramental leader", or by any similar title, while reserving to women positions of "pastoral minister" or "parish administrator" -- in a clear effort to undermine the governing role which belongs to priests, not because they are men, but because they are priests.
In this "Denzinger" moment, the Pope made clear that the governing power of priests (that is, priests and bishops) is part of the Divine Constitution of the Church. It is an unalienable aspect of the character of priesthood itself and of Church governance: the Sacrament of Orders, which perpetuates the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, determines the way by which the Church is governed.
The words above are the actual words of the Holy Father. Numbers have been included for reference purposes. Now, we see that at the end (n. 6), the Pope reaffirmed the current position of the Church of allowing some positions for women, with the great examples of those great Holy Women who changed the History of the Church, without any heterodox aspiration to Holy Orders-- the most important part, though, was number 5. So important, in fact, that I would not be surprised to see it in an Enchiridion someday...
Many in Western Europe and North America have reduced the Priest's power to almost nothing. He is the "Eucharist-factory" and that is it. Many parishes actually call their priests "Eucharistic ministers", "sacramental leader", or by any similar title, while reserving to women positions of "pastoral minister" or "parish administrator" -- in a clear effort to undermine the governing role which belongs to priests, not because they are men, but because they are priests.
In this "Denzinger" moment, the Pope made clear that the governing power of priests (that is, priests and bishops) is part of the Divine Constitution of the Church. It is an unalienable aspect of the character of priesthood itself and of Church governance: the Sacrament of Orders, which perpetuates the Most Holy Sacrament of the Eucharist, determines the way by which the Church is governed.
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P.S.
Dear friends: with this, I interrupt my regular posts for a couple of weeks for professional reasons. I will be (God willing) back for the decisive week of March 19-25 (a St.Joseph-Annunciation Lenten week...) and will also try to post any urgent news at any time. If you have any comments or questions, contact me (click on my profile in the sidebar). May the Undivided Trinity protect His Church and strengthen her Unity, through the intercessions of the Most Holy Mother of God and her Chaste Spouse.
P.S.
Dear friends: with this, I interrupt my regular posts for a couple of weeks for professional reasons. I will be (God willing) back for the decisive week of March 19-25 (a St.Joseph-Annunciation Lenten week...) and will also try to post any urgent news at any time. If you have any comments or questions, contact me (click on my profile in the sidebar). May the Undivided Trinity protect His Church and strengthen her Unity, through the intercessions of the Most Holy Mother of God and her Chaste Spouse.
