Visit this beautiful and interesting Exhibition of more than 300 Works of Art and historically significant Objects that trace 2000 years of Church Leadership History, and stay for the Light Show at the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal. Bus leaves Ottawa at 9:30 a.m. on Saturday, August 20^th, and returns at 9:30 p.m. Price: $60 - 56 /seater; $62 - 48 /seater, (provided we get a full bus) – includes us, exhibition ticket & headphones. Ticket for the Light Show and a tip for our driver. We will stop at Rigaud for Mass & lunch if we get a priest to travel with us. You may bring a bag lunch if you wish. Supper not included. For place of departure and other information, please call Diane at 830-0593 or Bibianne at 567-0579.

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Probably the best theological explanation I know as to why not women priests is found in a lecture/essay by Peter Kreeft on the subject. Peter Kreeft's lecture on Women and the Priesthood can also be listened to on the internet at: http://www.peterkreeft.com/audio/09_priestesses.htm 

Masculine Priesthood

In his Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis (1994), the Holy Father Pope John Paul II, declared that “the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful.” This definitive statement leaves no “wiggle room” for those who would like to continue debating the question. As the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith made clear in 1995, the statement that the Church has no authority to ordain women as priests is not merely a matter of Church discipline (which can be changed), but belongs to the deposit of faith (which cannot). “This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium (cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium 25, 2). Thus, in the present circumstances, the Roman Pontiff, exercising his proper office of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32), has handed on this same teaching by a formal declaration, explicitly stating what is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of the faith” (Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Concerning the Teaching Contained in Ordinatio Sacerdotalis).

This Apostolic Letter alludes to the reasons given in the Declaration Inter Insignores, by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in 1976. They include, in addition to the testimony of Scripture and Tradition, the example of Christ, who though counter-cultural in many respects, continued Israel’s tradition of a male priesthood in reserving the Office of Apostle to men. That the Apostles did not regard this as a divine oversight is evident from the fact that they themselves ordained only men. And so the Church has continued this Sacred Tradition down to the present.

The question why women can't be ordained priests is often confused with the issue of equality. The Holy Father has made it clear that men and women (as far as their sex is concerned) are equal before God (e.g., Mulieris Dignitatem 6). But equality isn't identity. Men and women have different though complementary functions. Priesthood is a male function, for the reason that a priest is an icon (i.e. sacramental image) of Christ, and Christ is male. The maleness of Christ is an important sign of His relationship to the Church, His Bride. As in nearly all cultures a man takes the initiative in winning a wife, so Christ took the initiative in winning souls and establishing His Church. For this reason, marriage is a “mystery” or sacrament of the Church (Eph 5:32).

Masculine sexual imagery is used to protect a central aspect of God’s revelation that was unknown to other religions. God is separate from His creation yet necessary for its existence. Most religions confusedly mixed God with the world. Mother goddess imagery naturally encouraged that admixture – for women give birth to children out of their very selves. God’s grace is needed for our salvation, although our co-operation is also necessary. We cannot be saved without His help. His grace comes from outside of us through Christ in His Church’s sacraments. Most religions, in terms of beliefs we would associate with “salvation,” thought they obtained it from within themselves by spiritual enlightenment, etc. In both cases there was a failure to comprehend God’s transcendent nature. Masculine imagery helps maintain this truth. A male is needed to impregnate a female. He is separate from her but necessary for new life. Yet once impregnated the new life, which is partially his own, grows in her. He remains separate. So too with God and humanity. God’s active will is necessary for our existence and His grace, given in Christ, for our salvation. God imparts grace to us to make possible supernatural life. We assist the growth of that new life in us. It contains a “part” of Christ so that we are now called children of God. Christ has become sacramentally immanent in us, while the Father remains transcendent. The Church is the Bride in whom that new life is planted. The priest is Christ’s sacramental presence bringing divine life to the members of His Bride.  

St. Paul develops the marital theme in his parallel between a local church and the family. A "bishop" (or "overseer," which applied to both bishops and priests in NT times) is expected to keep his own family in order, "for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he care for God's church?" (1 Tim 3:5) Male headship in the family is an axiom of both Scripture and Tradition, and if the Church is the Household of God, and Christ is Head of the Church, then His headship in the Church can be represented only by men.

However, lest it seem that God has honoured men above women, we should recall that of all created beings, including the hierarchy of Angels, God raised a Woman to the highest place, the Blessed Virgin Mary. Though she was not an Apostle, she was made Queen of the Apostles, Queen of Angels, Queen of the universe, and the Mother of her own Creator.

Fridays 6:00-9:00 PM, beginning August 12th:

"Singles For Christ" (part of the Family Ministries of "Couples For Christ"), will be sponsoring a Christian Life Program (CLP) for single men and women aged 21-40 at St. Theresa's Church hall, 95 Somerset St. West (corner of Cartier). The CLP is an integrated course intended to lead program participants into a renewed understanding of and response to God's call to them as Christian singles. The program has a total of 13 separate sessions, held once a week. Orientation session will be on Friday, August 12th, 6:00 PM. Contact info: Paul Panes, 834-1221 or email at pcpanes@gmail.com or Rediza Guerrero at red_kfc@hotmail.com.

Greetings!

I have just returned from Africa where I was part of a Renewal Ministries' Mission Team headed up by Tom Edwards. For the first few days we ministered in a parish near Nairobi, Kenya (at a parish renewal conference). Then we traveled to the town of Moshi, Tanzania, which is near the base of Mount Kilimanjaro. There we participated in a Catholic Mission Rally for 10 days as well as ministered at special charismatic retreats for priests and sisters of the diocese of Moshi. The crowds that came out to the Rally were awesome! The Spirit of the Lord was really moving in many wondrous ways (i.e. healings, conversions, deliverances...). The Bishop was really glad we came. The hope is that this Rally will contribute to the growth and acceptance of the Renewal in this part of Africa. That is why the retreats for the priests and sisters were so crucial in this regard. They were eager to learn more about the grace of Renewal and how to pastor it and support it. There is an exceptional team of local Tanzanian Renewal leaders who assisted us throughout our journey. Pray for them! Africa faces many challenges (poverty, AIDS, etc.). But the Lord is moving! Praise God!

If you would like to view some photos of my journey visit our Companions' online PictureTrail photo album by clicking: http://www.PictureTrail.com/gid7972337

(entitled "Tanzania 2005").

God Bless - Fr. John Vandenakker