Why Women Can't Be Priests

How can a bride marry The Bride

The Ordination of women into the Priesthood seems to be the burning question for this particular century. It has brought much pain and anguish to some Catholic women both laity and religious and also much anger, why is this so when the Church's position has not changed over the centuries?

If women feel they are being unjustly treated or are being disregarded as to their value within The Catholic Church, then contrary to their 'perceived' erroneous opinion that The Church devalues women, in favor of a 'Patriarchal' hierarchy, they are then misinformed. One must then draw the conclusion that outside of the facts the women who feel themselves degraded or devalued is of a personal nature, rather than Church policy!

God did not differentiate between the sexes, He created in ardent Love both man and woman. If one group is thought less than the other then that is a man made concept devoid of love, for God created in each individual irrespective of gender the sacredness of being.

Why then is there such conjecture and controversy over the ordination of women?

We must look at early Church Teachings and Traditions, espoused by the Early Church Fathers. When we read the documents from the Early Church Fathers, we must also read it in its context with due consideration to the society values of that particular era. The writings of many of the Church Fathers may seem harsh or outmoded in our modern democratic society, but even though the language may be of another century, the content of the said documents still stand as truth, both Sacred and Inviolate, in the Tradition and Teachings of The Catholic Church!

The Sacrament of Holy Orders when conferred on the male makes him the spouse of The Bride which is The Catholic Church. It is from this deeply Mystical Union that the Priest bears a Supernatural and Holy love for The Bride and is Faithful to Her Teachings and Traditions; the Priest is in effect as Christ, with Christ and in Christ. Therefore the Priest is obligated to love the Church as Christ Himself Loves Her. Therefore no one may change what Christ Himself instituted when He chose the Twelve Apostles in the Birth of the Judea/Christian Church, therefore no community can take the place of Christ who instructs the Faithful through The Holy Spirit in matters of Church Doctrine, when conferring men into the Priesthood. For it is Christ who calls, consecrates and sends forth Ministers in the Sacrament of Holy Orders.

The Catholic Church is merely following what Christ Himself instituted when He called the twelve Apostles, to follow Him and become fishers of men, even though many women also followed our Lord they were not included in the twelve, from which Christ chose.

But Christ also honored the specific role of women and overturned long entrenched Law imposed by the Pharisees and Saducees, when it pertained to discriminating against women such as the case with the woman caught in the act of adultery. Christ also showed compassion unto scandal, when He healed the woman from her bleeding, and also broke the Law when speaking to the Samaritan woman at the well. For Christ came to fulfill the Law in His Messianic Mission but also to bring a new Law of 'love God and love thy neighbor as thyself', and to free both men and women from the sting of Death!

It was under Divine Inspiration when Peter proclaimed who Jesus was and is, as he said "You are the Christ, the son of the living God"! Upon this prophetic announcement it was Christ who commissioned the Twelve, and Peter as The Rock upon which He would build His Church, and not even the gates of hell would prevail, giving them the Power and Entrustment to bind on earth what will be bound in Heaven and whatever you loose on earth will also be loosed in Heaven! This also came unto Divine enlightenment at the Last Supper when Jesus instituted the bread and wine as His Body and Blood, only the Twelve Apostles were seated with Jesus at the table, even though one of them would betray Him!

So as Christ instituted and ordained the Church, so too must the Pontiff and the Magisterium, stand firm when in matters of Doctrine and Tradition, and not be swayed by different winds. For even when Judas Iscariot killed himself and another was chosen to complete the twelve, it was Matthias under the Inspiration of The Holy Spirit who was called and not any of the women who may have been present.

The role of women within the Catholic fold IS integral and valuable as is shown by Mary's obedient "FIAT" and her Holy obedience to God, in bearing the Son of God which in effect makes Mary, The Mother of God, in which she is the Theotokos! Through her obedience and her free will she becomes with her Son and Savior Jesus Christ Co-Redeemer, but Mary within herself is not the Source of Grace but the recipient of Divine Grace, through which the Holy Spirit distributes Grace through Mary.

Mary the Theotokos at no time describes herself as equal with her Son, nor imposes upon The Divine Prerogative to make her more than what she is, the Handmaid of the Lord, and through her Fiat and obedience she joins her Son in His Salvific Mission to undo the sin of Adam and Eve. It is through the example of Mary that we gain our Dignity of purpose, to become Servants of the Most High God, and to live out the meaning of humble obedience to the One Triune God, in which Mary is our Exemplary and most perfect example, in which all women must follow.

For to sum up, if women were meant to be Priests, then this most August Mission would have been conferred on Mary The Theotokos, but, that is not what Christ instituted, which is not to negate women within the Church, but, to ennoble women in their attitude to Serve God as humbly as did our Perfect example, Mary the Mother of God!

For further information please read:

Vatican Documents:
Inter Insigniores Ordinatio Sacerdotalis

Early Church Fathers:

Irenaeus

Tertullian

Hippolytus

John Chrysostom

Augustine

Peace of Christ to ALL

Copyright © 2005 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.

Same Sex Marriage Passes In Canada

So now Canada has a new law allowing same sex "marriages" nationwide. Canadian leaders and ordinary Canadian citizens have spoken both in favor of and against this law. Yet, for some reason, the mainstream media and the proponents of these abominable laws, paint those who are in opposition to same sex "marriage", as people and organizations who are backward, bigoted, and living in the past. What this laws supporters refuse to acknowledge, is any law passed by man can never change the law of God, no matter how much it is proclaimed right and good by them.

Marriage has been, and always will be, a Sacrament in the Catholic Church. A sacrament is a formal religious act or rite conferring a specific grace on those who receive it; in the Roman Catholic Church there are seven traditional sacramental rites accepted as instituted by Jesus: baptism, confirmation, Holy Eucharist, penance, holy orders, matrimony, and extreme unction.

In his Catholic Dictionary, the late Father John A. Hardon, S.J., wrote this about the Church teaching on marriage:

The state of marriage implies four chief conditions: 1. there must be a union of opposite sexes; it is therefore opposed to all forms of unnatural, homosexual behavior; 2. it is a permanent union until the death of either spouse; 3. it is an exclusive union, so that extramarital acts are a violation of justice; and 4. its permanence and exclusiveness are guaranteed by contract; mere living together, without mutually binding themselves to do so, is concubinage and not marriage.

Further, no matter how many laws are passed in favor of same sex "marriage", those laws are not now, nor will they ever be, recognized nor accepted as valid laws, nor true marriage neither by God's Church nor by God's people. This law, and similar laws in effect in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Spain, are detrimental to the family, and family is important to God and His plan for mankind.

Again and again in Holy Scripture and from the Early Church Fathers, we find that marriage is between a man and a woman, and "the twain shall become one flesh". When man passes laws allowing same sex "marriage", when people participate in same sex "marriage"and when so-called churches endorse same sex "marriage", then they deny God and His law, and place themselves above God, and above God's Law. They are saying, that God does not matter and that God is not necessary nor important, that only they matter and only what they want is important.

In the end, just because morally bankrupt politicians, governments, and supporters of these laws think that making same sex "marriage" legal changes things, let me remind them...it does not change God's Law. Man may change, but, God is everlasting and God never changes. Man expects God to change for man, when time and again we are shown in Holy Scripture and through the teachings of the Church that man who is corrupt and sinful, must live the incorruption and sinlessness that is Christ Jesus, and that it is MAN who must change. Anyone who leads another into believing that these same sex "marriage" laws are just and honorable is denying what God has said, and is endangering and misleading others as well as misleading and endangering themselves.

Joshua 24:15-If it does not please you to serve the LORD, decide today whom you will serve..... As for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Psalms 133:1-Behold. How good it is, how pleasant, where the people dwell as one!

Matthew 5: 17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 Amen, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not the smallest letter or the smallest part of a letter will pass from the law, until all things have taken place. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do so will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever obeys and teaches these commandments will be called greatest in the kingdom of heaven.

Mark 10: 6-10-But from the beginning of creation, 'God made them male and female. For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother (and be joined to his wife), and the two shall become one flesh.' So they are no longer two but one flesh. Therefore what God has joined together, no human being must separate."

How beautiful, then, the marriage of two Christians, two who are one in hope, one in desire, one in the way of life they follow, one in the religion they practice....They are as brother and sister, both servants of the same Master. Nothing divides them, either in flesh or in Spirit. They are in very truth, two in one flesh; and where there is but one flesh there is also but one spirit.... Hearing and seeing this, Christ rejoices. To such as these He gives His peace. Where there are two together, there also He is present, and where He is, there evil is not.(From Tertullian, an Early Church Father, to his wife 202 AD)

“…Do not err, my brethren. Those that corrupt families shall not inherit the kingdom of God. If, then, those who do this as respects the flesh have suffered death, how much more shall this be the case with any one who corrupts by wicked doctrine the faith of God, for which Jesus Christ was crucified!” (Epistle of Saint Ignatius of Antioch to the Ephesians)

Copyright © 2005 Steve Smith. All rights reserved.

Male And Female He Made Them

What's The Deal With Harry Potter?

A private correspondence between the then Cardinal Ratzinger and Gabriele Kuby, a Bavarian-based Roman Catholic sociologist, has brought to light the Popes opinion on the impact of the Harry Potter phenomenon upon our youth. It seems incredible that sales of this book have sky rocketed and that children with the consent of their parents are willing to sleep overnight outside book stores so as to be the first to buy the latest episode in this 'cult' fiction.

The questions we need to ask are these: 1. Are these books dangerous to young minds? 2. Do these books promote wizardry? 3. Do they open our youth to the prospects of searching the occult as if it were a 'cool' idea which may lead them to experiment with powers over and above their maturity or ability to control? 4. In short, is 'Harry Potter' an open door way to making the occult acceptable?

What may appear as harmless can have devastating affects if children are being seduced into alternative 'religions' of the 'new age', or indeed if they begin openly experimenting with the occult i.e.,: Ouija boards, seances, casting spells, voodoo dolls and other forms of the supernatural. If this is so, then it is the responsibility of the parents to protect their children from this form of seduction whether it be in books or films.

The Popes private opinions on various issues is not binding on Catholics, but it still cannot be summarily dismissed as if it were of no consequence. Pope Benedict XVI's opinion should be taken very seriously, and though he was still Cardinal Ratzinger when he made these comments, should we as faithful Catholics disregard it? Should parents investigate what the affects these books may be having on their children? Do they know what affects these books may be having on their children, particularly, the younger children?

When The Church makes a statement or even if it is a private discourse between two people who are well respected in matters of Doctrine, when Cardinal Ratzinger who was then Prefect for the Doctrine of The Faith, and Ms. Kuby find these books to be having an adverse affect on our youth, do we casually dismiss their grounded advice in preference to what the media is espousing, as if the media had somehow become 'credible' over and above Cardinal Ratzinger?

Parents need to take a much harder look at these books which seem to promote sorcery and can lead to openly accepting the occult as valid, for young minds need to be protected against what may prove to be a disastrous influence on their Faith and their beliefs. It would be very disingenuous indeed to think that Publishing companies and Hollywood have the well being of our youth as their primary focus. Therefore it is incumbent upon every parent to investigate this 'cult' of 'Harry Potter' regardless of what the mass media, publishing companies or Hollywood espouses.

As faith filled Catholics do we take note of our erstwhile leaders when they speak out or are we listening to the liberal media, as the 'frenzy' for the latest 'Harry Potter' books hits the stands?

What say you?

Copyright © 2005 Marie Smith. All rights reserved.