Sr. Vassa: There's no ontological impediment to priestesses
Is the male-only priesthood a discipline or essential to the nature of being a priest? Sr. Vassa (again unflinchingly taking up a contentious topic by climbing up the ladder to the highest platform and then jumping into the deep end head first) dives right in and says there is no reason beyond personal preference to not have female clergy. You know, when people ask me about women in priesthood, they say, 'Sister, why can't women be priests?' And I say, 'Women CAN be priests. We don't WANT them to be priests.' Because you see, God can do anything, and the Church, by divine authority, uh, can do anything, but, the Church doesn't want to - and that's a legitimate reason. What I don't like is when we TRY to pretend that there are other reasons for this, because it's legitimate not to want something, and there are reasons not to want this - right? - but, we shouldn't pretent that there's some... reason, that, for example, the maleness...
A friend of mine had taken a masters degree from St. Vlad's in the early 1990's, and she had recorded her classroom lectures including Fr. Thomas's. She loaned me these tapes (this was the mid 1990's) and I would listen to them in the car on the way to and from work. As a neophyte, I recall being slightly aghast when he went into a semi rant about how all the clergy/bishops dress up like (Byzantine) Roman courtier's and how these traditions may or may not be for the Gospel and God's glory today.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, a step in the direction of facing up to these challenges he identifies would be to address in a serious/sustained way at the catechetical level, so that the "liberal" or the "conservative" has at least the opportunity to see these two failure paths. Anyone know if this ever occurs?
Powerfully relevant & refreshing words of wisdom that challenge & inspire!
ReplyDeleteMemory Eternal!