Female Clergy

[keyodie]

So, I just found out today that females aren't allowed to be priests in the Catholic church (I don't know about others). I guess I really should've noticed before, since I had never seen or heard of a female priest.

So, if you agree with this rule, why? If you don't, why not?

Also, here's an article about a priest in Albany, GA that is about to be excommunicated for supporting females becoming priests:
www.wtop.com/?nid=104&sid=1518142

I don't know, but excommunication? That sounds very harsh to me, especially since it is taught that they cannot enter heaven if they are excommunicated. But I dunno, I'd be interested in what anyone else has to say about it.

[ladytera]

I've heard this rule before. It is scripturally based, but as far as I know, the Catholics are the only ones who follow it. They are also the only ones who do not allow priests to marry as far as I know. Episcopalians are similar in many of their rites and rituals to the Catholics, but their priests can marry. I don't know if they can be women. Personally, I can't say whether I agree or disagree with the rule. As I said, it is based on a part of scripture, but I'm not entirely familiar with the doctrine or its foundation. Each church has the right to determine its own rules, and at this time, the Catholic church has this one. I can't disagree with their right to have the rule, nor their right to excommunicate a priest for going against the wishes of the church as a whole, even if I disagree with the rule itself.

On a broader note, God works in mysterious ways. It may be that it is time for this particular rule to be over turned, and this priest is the instrument. Or it may be time for this rule to be understood and explained better, and this priest may be the catalyst for that. You never know. Either way, it sounds to me that the gentleman in question has strong convictions on the subject, that he feels come from his relationship and study of God, and that he is at peace with whatever the outcome may be.

As to why I don't personally agree with the rule, I don't think that God told women they aren't allowed to speak in public. There are some interesting passages that discuss covering a woman's hair in public so as not to distract from the teaching of God with her own assets. There are some other ones as well. I find that kind of funny, in a way, that God was concerned about nice looking women distracting men from the message, but not so much about good looking men distracting from the message. I wonder if that says something about how our minds were designed to work? But seriously, each Christian has their own relationship with God, and he calls us each individually to do what he wants us to do. I think it's a bit presumptuous for any person to say that God would not call a woman to be a teacher of his word. So, I don't particularly agree with the rule. But, then again, that's one of the many reasons I'm not Catholic, and being as it's a free world, I don't have to agree with it, I'd just have to respect it if I wanted to be Catholic, and be willing to accept the consequences if I chose to break it.

[Gil]

*reappears from the dead*

XD

Anyway, I'm not sure how I feel about this. I'm not Catholic, so it doesn't really pertain to me, but I do have some friends who are Catholic and feel VERY strongly about this.

There are some passages of scripture that could be used to support this "rule" or whatever, but at the same time, they could easily be talking about something completely different/they could have been taken out of context. I suppose it's just how different churches interpret certain pieces of scripture.

"women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak, but must be in submission, as the Law says." - 1 Corin. 14:34

Many people think that this was more of a cultural thing/specific instance where women in the church of Corinth were being loud and obnoxious and disrespectful in the church, and so Paul was scolding them for it. Also, in the time when this was written, women might not have been as educated as men (I'm not sure on this, though, so don't quote me on it).

So yeah. That is what I know Personally, I don't really think the "no-woman-clergy" rule is scripturally based, so I guess I don't agree with it...

Wow, I need to relearn how to express myself articulately haha. Wow. OK, off to do homework now...back later.

[keyodie]

Yaaay Gil you're alive! xD

And I agree with you both when you say you don't agree with females not being clergy. I don't really see a reason for why not.

And as for the quote from the Bible, I was hoping you could answer a couple of my explanations... Isn't the Bible written by man anyway? What exactly makes something said by man represent the word of God?