Expert: Sal - 2/9/2007

Question
Hi Sal,

Can you tell me what the main arguments are to convince people that the priesthood should be all-male?

Thanks!

Answer
Hello Les:

Nice to hear from you.

JESUS CHOSE ONLY MEN FOR THE PRIESTHOOD
Jesus gave us the example when he chose only men to be his Apostles. He ordained these men the first priests of his Church.  He could have chosen at least one woman to be an Apostle if he had wanted women to be priests in his Church. Some claim that Jesus only chose men because that was the custom of the society. This argument doesn’t hold water because Jesus broke with many customs of his day. Having women as disciples was extremely unusual for the society. Jesus also went against custom concerning divorce and remarriage (Matthew 19:3-9), the obligation to care for one’s parents (Mark 7:9-13), the weekly Sabbath (John 5:10-17; Matthew 12:1-15), dietary restrictions (Mark 7:14-15), etc. The Apostles followed Jesus’ example and ordained only men to the priesthood. “The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible” (Catechism, 1577).

JESUS WAS MALE
The priests act “in persona Christi”, that is in the person of Christ. Inasmuch as the priest images Christ to the faithful, and since Christ was male, it would be inappropriate to have women priests.

BRIDE GROOM AND BRIDE
At Communion the priest represents Christ, the Bride Groom, offering the Wedding Cup to his bride, the church. If the priest were a woman it would image a lesbian marriage to the faithful. This would be an abomination (Romans 1:24-27).

OLD TESTAMENT PRIESTHOOD
Since the priest in the Old Testament prefigured Christ, the priest in the New Testament as the representative of Christ should also be male.  St. Thomas Aquinas noted in his Summa Theologiae, “Christ is the source of all priesthood: the priest of the old law was a figure of Christ, and the priest of the new law acts in the person of Christ.”

AUTHORITY
Women should not teach men in the Church. “I do not permit woman to act as teacher” (2 Timothy 2:12). If women cannot teach men in the Church then she cannot be a priest whose major responsibility is to teach.

MARY
If any woman was going to be a priest Lord would have certainly chosen his mother to be the first. Jesus’ refusal to ordain his mother is strong evidence against having women priests.

GOD’S CHOICE OF PEOPLE
Jesus could have been born into any people at any time. However, he chose to be born into a society that had a male-only priesthood. The concept of female priests was well known throughout the ancient world. The Jews were surrounded by societies that had female priests. Yet God never led the Jews to accept such a practice.

These are the main arguments for an all-male priesthood. Of course, for Catholics we also have the infallible teaching of the Church that gives us absolute assurance in this matter. Praise God!

God Bless You,
Sal