Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!uunet!wuarchive!usc!rutgers!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H Buehler) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: ambitious women may approach the altar now ... Message-ID: Date: 26 May 91 07:20:40 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 45 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu In article tblake@bingvaxu.cc.binghamton.edu (Thomas Blake) writes: >It is true that there is no exercise of the extraordinary infallible >magisterium on the subject of women's ordination. This does not mean >that the Pope can reverse the present custom at a moment's notice, >however. There is also ordinary infallibility to be considered. It is >a fact that women have *never* been allowed to be ordained in the >Roman Catholic Church. This is of moment in Catholic theology. Whether >it can be changed depends on why the traditional practice is what it is. The RCC (relatively) recently changed long standing tradition to allow the person leading the Mass to speak in the language of the participants. Perhaps they may change long standing tradition to allow the person saying the Mass to be of the same sex as the majority of the participants. This is the sort of thing I was commenting on in the next paragraph. The Mass of the early Church was originally in the vernacular. There's no Divine command that I'm aware of that requires the liturgy to be in a dead language. On the other hand, women have *never* been ordained to the priesthood. See the difference? >I frankly do not think there are any Catholics present who are competent >to defend the idea that women should be ordained. To deal adequately >with the issue requires training far above and beyond anything that a >layman is likely to possess, at the very least. I Corinthians 1:19-20 ... 19 The Scripture says, "I will destroy the wisdom of the wise and set aside the understanding of the scholars." 20 So then, where does that leave the wise? or the scholars? or the skillful debaters of the world? God has shown that this world's wisdom is foolishness! 2 Peter 3:15-16: And account the longsuffering of our Lord, salvation; as also our most dear brother Paul, according to the wisdom given to you: As also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are certain things hard to be understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptires, to their own destruction.