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...
That was a terrible article. The author basically says that Christian fashion shows only differ from ISIS beheading Copts in degree, not in kind. It relies on the tried and true progressive concept of "othering" as if the secular world is an innocent bystander in this separatism. The fact is that gatekeepers of the larger culture tend to be hostile to those who would practice their craft in an explicitly Christian manner. This is evident in everything from the anecdotes that Rod Dreher has been collecting about academia to the Sad Puppies campaigns in Sci-Fi literature.
ReplyDeleteIt's telling that the author skips right over modesty as a goal of Christian fashion and jumps straight to social justice concerns about the environment and wages. Those are worthy goals, but Christians shouldn't have to limit their expression of Christian values that are acceptable to leftists. Christian events don't have to violate the command to be salt and light. The invitation to come and see is still there for anyone who is interested.