ORDINATION OF WOMEN

 

Pastoral Message aided on KNXT-TV during June 2007

Bishop John T. Steinbock

 

My Dear People of God,

 

Praise God, I ordained Samuel Borbon to the priesthood for service of our Diocese on May 19.  With the ordination I received a few comments about women not being able to be ordained.  Every so often one will hear of persons within the Church seeking to promote the ordination of women to the priesthood.  This has greatly died down with the understanding that men and women are equal but have different roles in life, and are not at odds with one another, but complement one another.  Certainly women in the Church have played an important role in the Church from the time of our Lord Jesus, and throughout the history of the Church, taking leadership roles through all those years.  A list of women saints speaks volumes of the influence of women in the life of the Church, to name but a few:  Our Blessed Mother, St. Barbara, St. Catherine of Siena, a Doctor of the Church, St. Teresa of Avila, also a Doctor of the Church, and our own patron saint St. Therese of the Child Jesus, also declared as a Doctor of the Church, St. Mary of Egypt, St. Margaret of Scotland, St. Elizabeth of Hungary, St. Catherine of Alexandria, St. Clare of Assisi, Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, and on and on we could go.  And, if you look at every parish community in our Diocese, if it were not for the dedication of so many dedicated and faith-filled women, there would be little ministry in any of our parishes.  And how blest we are by the many religious orders of women not only in our Diocese but throughout the world.

 

On Pentecost Sunday of 1994, Pope John Paul II issued an Apostolic Letter called “Ordinatio Sacerdotalis,” “Priestly Ordination”, in order to put this question to rest for persons who accept the teaching of the Church.  After explaining the teaching of the Church on this matter, addressing the teaching of Scripture, the constant Tradition of the Church, and the theological understanding of the Church, of the Incarnation and of priesthood, he states clearly:  “Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (see Luke 22:32), I declare 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.”

 

I say this so that people, often influenced by the modern understanding of the nature of man and woman as explained by ideologies of our time, are not misled by unfounded expectations and hopes which can lead people eventually to reject the very Magisterium of the Church which is the beacon of truth in this world to lead to eternal salvation. 

 

I simply want to thank the thousands of dedicated women throughout our Diocese that are involved in countless ministries and are part of so many councils, committees and boards both on the pastoral as well as the diocesan level.  What a blessing you are for all of us.  God bless you all, very, very much.