"Infallibility" and Equality in Catholicism
by Christine Schenk csj
I have been asked to respond to an article which appeared in
the New York Times a week ago stating that Cardinal Ratzinger of
the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith had interpreted the
teaching on the non-ordination of women as "infallible."
I have consulted with several theologians and as nearly as I can
understand, this appears to be somewhat of an overstatement. Cardinal
Ratzinger's statement seeks to place the teaching about the non-ordination
of women within the "deposit of faith" rather than as
part of Church discipline which many theologians have maintained.
Fr. Richard McCormick of Notre Dame, speaking on NPR's "All
Things Considered," says many theologians believe that the
Vatican has failed to show any evidence that this teaching on women
in the priesthood has been handed on as part of the deposit of
faith over the centuries. "Many of us believe there has not
been such a teaching because they weren't conscious of gender for
those periods of time the way we are today." The statement
reiterates that the teaching is definitive and part of the ordinary
magisterium. I will leave the arguments about the levels of authority
to others more versed than I in this regard. Suffice it to say
that the "clarification" stunned many respected theologians
insofar as it appeared to be trying to extend an infallibility
claim more broadly than heretofore experienced in the family of
Catholicism. Until now, infallibility was seen to be exercised
only in ecumenical councils, by the Pope formally teaching "ex
cathedra," and by all of the Bishops of the world in union
with the Pope. In all of these.. "the assent of the Church
can never be lacking to such definitions on account of the same
Holy Spirit's influence through which Christ's whole flock is maintained
in the unity of the faith and makes progress in it" (Lumen
Gentium 25).
Some facts:
1. Ratzinger's statement was issued on the eve of the presentation
of 1.8 million signatures from German Catholics asking that ordination
be opened to married people and women, that sexuality be celebrated
as a gift, that the laity participate in the selection of bishops
and that married people be consulted and included in teachings
about sexual morality. The German media interpreted Ratzinger's
statement as a "preemptive strike" to the press conference
announcing the signatures.
2. Over the summer, Austrian Catholics collected over 500,000
signatures attached to the same petition. Austrian Bishops permitted
the petitions to be distributed in their parishes.
3. Also over the summer, Archbishop Maurice Couture of Quebec
promised to take the results of a clergy-laity synod asking to
reopen the question of women's ordination to Rome.
4. In November of 1995, (a month before the Vatican's statement
was issued) a Czechslovakian woman, Ludmilla Javorova confirmed
that she had been ordained to the priesthood in the early 1970s
by Bishop Felix Davidek in the clandestine Czech Catholic Church
during the communist era. She acted as vicar general to the Bishop
and stated that she and several other women were ordained to serve
the needs of imprisoned women, particularly women religious who
had no access to the Mass or the sacraments. Until now Javarov
was reluctant to make her priesthood public because she saw it
as strictly confined to an emergency situation. This decision however
so disturbed her peace of mind that she decided to reveal the details.
She claims to know the names and addresses of other ordained women
who now live in Slovakia. She told the British weekly The Tablet
(11/11/95) that she had explained all the circumstances of her
ordination to Pope John Paul II in a letter, but had not received
a reply.
5. 43% of all parishes worldwide have no priest at all according
to figures found in the 1988 Vatican directory. More women are
functioning in ministerial roles than ever before. In fact according
to CatholicTrends...1,068 of the world's parishes are entrusted
to nuns and 1,614 to lay people (in contrast to 1978 when 464 were
entrusted to nuns and 458 to lay leaders, both men and women.)
6.Three years ago 140 U.S. dioceses (out of a total of 17l) reported
that the ban on women¹s ordination was the issue sparking
the most controversy at local hearings leading up to the planned
women's pastoral. In 1993, 110 U.S. Bishops voted successfully
against the draft pastoral letter containing the ordination ban.
In June of 1995 12 U.S. Bishops, with the tacit support of many
others, objected to the Vatican's publishing of a 1994 statement
against the ordination of women "without any prior discussion
and consultation with our (NCCB) conference." Lastly, Cardinal
Ratzinger communicated the present statement to the head of the
NCCB three hours after the close of their four-day meeting November
13-16, with no advance warning and no opportunity for the Bishops
to discuss it among themselves and provide input or reaction. The
present statement was not sent individually to every bishop, contrary
to the customary procedures for such important matters.
7. In mid October 1995, the Canon Law Society of America issued
the results of a three year study which showed no canonical obstacles
to the ordination of women to the permanent diaconate.
8. At least three polls by Gallup, Time-Life and others have shown
that U.S. Catholics also favor the ordination of women by 61-67%
depending on which poll is being cited. A recent Irish poll also
showed a majority of Catholics in favor of opening ordination.
9. In 1976 the Vatican's own Pontifical Biblical Commission found
nothing in Scripture which would prohibit the ordination of women.
10.On July 10, Pope John Paul issued a letter of apology to women
for sexism in the Church, even while reiterating the teaching about
the non-ordination of women. He also wrote: "As far as personal
rights are concerned, there is an urgent need to achieve real equality
in every area: equal pay for equal work, protection for working
mothers, fairness in career advancements, equality of spouses with
regard to family rights and the recognition of everything that
is part of the rights and dutues of a citizen in a democratic state.....This
is a matter of justice but also of necessity. Women will increasingly
play a part in the solution of the serius problems of the future."
Some conclusions and some questions:
- It appears that the Vatican is being deluged with faithful
Catholic people who, far from having "doubts" about
the teaching on the non-ordination of women, are in fact actively
in favor of ordaining them.
- Could this issue have more to do with Church politics than
with theology? Given the fact that there is a Eucharistic famine
all over the world because of the priest shortage, wouldn't it
make more sense for our leadership to be thinking about who they
can include in the priesthood rather than who they want to leave
out?
- Presuming that Catholics must accept the non-ordination of
women, what will the all male church heirarchy do to actively
implement women's equality (which they are always so careful
to say they support) in the church? Where are the women Cardinals?
How may qualified women participate in the selection of the next
Pope? What dioceses will be open for qualified women to govern,
much as the medieval abbesses functioned as Bishops?
- Vatican officials delight in saying that women are "different
but equal." Unfortunately,only men have defined this kind
of "equality." Women have been forbidden to join the
conversation, and when they do try to offer a different theological
perspective based on recent biblical scholarship, efforts are
made to brand them as heretics. "Equality" seems to
mean that male Catholics are equally entitled to make the rules
and female Catholics are equally entitled to obey them.
- Somehow, I can¹t believe that this was what Jesus had
in mind when he commissioned Magdalen to go and tell her fellow
apostles that He had, indeed, risen from the dead.
Where does this leave us?
We must continue to struggle for women¹s equality in the
family of Cathlicism.
To my brothers-in-Christ, apparently so fearful of change, I
say..Be not afraid! With Paul the apostle, we Catholic women acknowledge
that we too, have the Spirit of God who leads us into all Truth.
And to my sisters-in-Christ I say...Be of good cheer! Jesus is
indeed risen, and that resurrection power to transform sexist structures,
and convert even the hardest of hearts will not fail us!
We must witness to the Jesus of Scripture whose behavior in favor
of women's equality so scandalized the patriarchy of his times
that they sought to smear his reputation and discredit him, much
as the patriarchy of our times seeks to discredit Catholic female
theologians today.
We must witness to the Jesus who was also rejected by the leaders
of his religious tradition yet instead of abandoning it with hatred,
sowed sweet seeds for the transformation of hearts and the salvation
of a people.
We must witness to the Jesus who prayed for his persecutors even
in the midst of crucifixion, "Father, forgive them for they
know not what they do."
In these difficult times, to be faithful Catholic women and men,
we must make this prayer of Jesus our own even as we struggle for
that equality into which we have been baptized: "For there
is no longer Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male and female..for
all are one in Christ Jesus" (Gal. 3:28).
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