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...
Who is the bishop and his archbishop and where is this in Tanzania?
ReplyDeleteBishop Agathonikos of Arusha and Central Tanzania and Dimitrios of Irinoupolis, I believe. The village is Mombe.
DeleteCertainly a place where you want to take extra care with the censor
ReplyDeleteWhat language are they using,,,,I hope not Greek,,,it should be on the native language,,,,,why are the bishops Greek and not tanzanian?
ReplyDeleteI’m all for native language and clergy but those things take time from a logistics and spiritual standpoint. You need translators to do a massive amount of work, and do it without making serious errors, not a small endeavor for any linguist, look at all the problems we’ve had with English over the centuries. And you can’t just pick out a random native inhabitant and make them a bishop. There needs to be spiritual development and major catechism, it might take a couple generations before you have worthy candidates.
DeleteThat being said they may have already done all of that in this case, I can’t pretend I know the details of this region. Just reflecting off of the challenges my missionary friends (clergy) have faced in other countries, where for example they can’t find suitable candidates yet, because the men view extra-marital affairs as standard cultural practice. A lot to work on depending on the culture/situation.
no excuse for greek cultural dominance, is it? I will bet many speak english
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