Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: MNHCC@cunyvm.bitnet Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: ambitious women may approach the altar now ... Message-ID: Date: 15 Jun 91 05:53:48 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: City University of New York/ University Computer Center Lines: 32 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu Hi, Brian, I don't know, nor do I particularly care, how St. Augustine would be classified by ethnographers. However, when you said that the Catholic Church never ordained black men as priests you should be prepared to show that the North African Catholics, such as St. Augustine, were not black. Furthermore, I went beyond St. Augustine and pointed out the the Church in North Africa went at least as far south as Ethiopia. I also addressed the long period with no black priests. After Islam conquered North Africa and the Ethiopian Church fell into Monophysitism there were, no black Catholics available to be ordained until missionaries went to the new European colonies in sub-Saharan Africa many centuries later. The fact that there were never any American Indian priests until after missionaries came to the New World does not mean that there was a Church law that American Indians could not be ordained. However, to return to the point, the Church in Europe had women available to be ordained if they could have been ordained. Some women played very prominent roles in the life of the Church, such as St. Catherine of Siena, but none were ever considered for ordination. Finding out how prevalent priestesses were in the pagan religions of the regions where the Church spread out after it moved beyond Jerusalem will require some research, which will require finding the time to do it. (How does one apply for inflationary increases in the number of hours per day?) When I have time I will look into it. Marty Helgesen [One of our faculty members is convinced that NASA's primary motivation in space exploration is the hope of finding a planet with a 25 hour day. --clh]