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...
Two quick comments, as I started watching. First, the director, producer, and narrator is a woman (Brindusa Ioana Nastasa, from the end credits to which I jumped to check), thus a she and not a he.
ReplyDeleteSecond, even though the translation is part of the movie itself (not third party), it occasionally leaves something to be desired - as, for example, when one of the nuns refers to the spiritual life as a struggle using the word 'frumoasa.' Although that literally means 'beautiful,' it is translated as 'pleasant' and I think that misses something (I can see the beauty of the struggle, but, at least for me in my sinfulness, it is certainly not always pleasant).
Fr. Peter
I really liked this documentary. I thought the dialogue captured in the documentary was very spiritually rich while being simple and applicable. I especially liked it when one nun said that if she were born one thousand times she would make the same choice each time and choose the monastic life. What a beautiful testament to the angelic life!
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing it.