The Church is the Church

When the Catholic Church reinforced today that the ordination of women will continue not to be acceptable by raising the gravity of the offence, it meant to answer the continued pressure from groups not always of the Church, chiefly but not only in the United States of America, for the ordination of women.

It had nothing to do with the pedophile scandals that were made very public in the recent past, and which received prompt and decisive attention from the Vatican, and which continue to be resolved in as constructive and practical a manner as is possible.

However, the media (and those who have a personal agenda against the Catholic Church) choses to focus on the equation of the punishment for the ordination of women to the crime of violation of children.

In any case, if you so choose to focus on this side-effect of the Church's response to the public call for the ordination of women, you must first understand that - unlike civil law - Canon Law does not have a whole lot of prescribable punishments. Once you have grasp of this, you must then understand that the whole issue has to do with the Norms and that these Norms have to do with delicts(offenses)by the clergy such as:

1. Against the faith (Heresy, Schism) [art 2]
2 Against the Sacrament of the Holy Eucharist (desecration etc) [art 3]
3. Agains the Sacrament of Confession (soliciting in the confessional, breaking the sacramental seal of confidence)[art4]
4. Against the Sacrament of Ordination (attempted ordination of women which does not go against a discipline of the church - like priestly celibacy - but against a Sacrament in itself - Holy Order - which the church has no power to change [art 5].
5. Against morals (offences against the 6th commandment commited against a minor below 18 by a cleric, acquisition and distribution of child porn by a cleric) [art 6]

The Church has always been clear about the gravity of attempted ordination of a woman. What new is the raising of the gravity of the offenses in Art 6 to the level of Articles 2-5 which are offenses which strike at the essence of the Church itself. This was done to put an end to the continued pressure for a more "democratic" system of ordaining both men and women.

The point is made frequently throughout History; often with confidence in change. There is a common assumption in modern democracies that the Catholic Church's persistance on an exclusively male priesthood is an anomaly, which endures only because a Polish pope has, in the 1990s, refused to move with the times. This is ignorance, plain and simple.

Historically, female priesthood has been favoured and never more so than in the Classical World. When Christ ordained His first priests, nearly 2,000 years ago, this was so. Virtually all the pagan religions of His day had priestesses, and it would have been unsurprising and natural for Him to elect women for this task. In light of His excellent potential candidates. From the Virgin Mary, His own Mother, who stood with Him even as He suffered on the cross, to Mary Magdalene or the women of Bethany, Jesus Christ did not have to go far to choose a priestess if he wanted one. Instead, He chose only men, and He remained immovable on this. From those twelve men that he trained a direct line of apostolic succession has given the Catholic Church the bishops and priests it has today.

In the Church's previous official statement on this matter, Pope John Paul II, using his full authority as the successor of Peter, states categorically that the Church cannot (not will not, but cannot)ordain women, now or ever. The Catechism of the Catholic Church sets it out clearly, quoting the decree Inter insigniores:

Only a baptized man receives sacred ordination. The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry. The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord Himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.

We must always remember the Catholic Church is NOT a democracy and never can be. It has a holy duty to defend and divulge its Faith, as it was handed by God. If you don't accept this, you shouldn't even be concerned with what the Church does with its laws, rules and regulations. I can understand Catholics debating the issue, what I cannot abide is all the non-Catholics complaining about what the Church chooses to do with Canon Law.

The Catholic Church must construe its internal regiments as it sees fit. Whether you want to belong to the Catholic Church and share Its views is your own to decide.