The latent Tradition that implied women can be ordained to the
priesthood
The latent Tradition, throughout the centuries, that
implied the possibility of women being ordained to the priesthood
The Church has always believed that its true Tradition is not fully
expressed in external statements or practices. Tradition also contains
“the gospel which our Lord did not write, but taught by word of mouth and
implanted in people’s hearts, and part of which the evangelists later
wrote down, while much was simply entrusted to the hearts of the faithful”
(Joseph Ratzinger, ‘On the Interpretation of the Tridentine Decree on
Tradition’, in Revelation and Tradition, by K. Rahner and J.
Ratzinger, Burns & Oates, London 1966, pp. 50-68.) This Tradition is known
as ‘the Gospel in the Heart’.
It is my contention that, throughout the centuries, Catholics have
known, in their heart of hearts and in the marrow of their bones, that women
are equal before God and that there cannot be a fundamental objection to the
ordination of women to the priesthood. This inner conviction was the
‘sensus fidelium’, the Christian sense of faith, the mind of
the Church: Ecclesiae Catholicae sensus, or sometimes consensus
Ecclesiae, remembering that in these last expressions ‘Church’
stands for the whole community of believers.
It is important here to note about Latent Tradition:
- Such an inner truth may not be explicitly recognised for a long time.
Cardinal Newman called it the reality and permanence of inward knowledge, as
distinct from explicit confession. “The absence, or partial absence, or
incompleteness of dogmatic statements is no proof of the absence of impressions
or implicit judgments, in the mind of the Church. Even centuries might pass
without the formal expression of a truth, which had been all along the secret
life of millions of faithful souls.”
- The inner truth goes through the typical development of a living
seed. “Tradition is living because it is carried by living
minds—minds living in time. These minds meet with problems or acquire
resources, in time, which lead them to endow Tradition, or the truth it
contains, with the reactions and characteristics of a living thing: adaptation,
reaction, growth and fruitfulness. Tradition is living because it resides in
minds that live by it, in a history which comprises activity, problems, doubts,
opposition, new contributions, and questions that need answering” (Johann
Möhler).
- Tradition is the Church’s growing awareness. Its role in the
Church is similar to that played by awareness in a person’s life:
comprehension and memory, gauge of identity, instinct of what is fitting,
witness and expression of personality. This awareness, however, is special,
because the awareness comes from Christ. It holds data it has received as a
deposit.
Read more about this in Latent
Tradition!
As we examine the history of the Church -- our history as Christ's
believing community --, we discover, underneath the cultural opposition against
women priests, a constant awareness that ran counter to the officially
sanctioned social and cultural ideas. This awareness of women's capability of
Holy Orders has manifested itself in a number of ways:
- Throughout the centuries the faithful have had
a devotion to Mary as priest. They
intuitively saw, with their ‘Catholic sense’, that Mary shared in
Jesus' priesthood more than anyone else. Implicitly it contained the strong,
but usually unspoken conviction, that Mary, though a woman, could easily have
been ordained a priest, as much as any man. At times this conviction is
expressed explicitly. See here a full
overview of documents on Mary Priest on this web site.
- There have been isolated cases of women having been ordained priests,
especially in the South of Italy. ‘As an historian of Christian antiquity,
I need to emphasize that the tradition of the first five to six centuries has
not been so unanimous in condemning the female priesthood as is usually
held’ (George Otranto; read Otranto's article with
introduction by Dr. Mary Ann Rossi or (in shorter form)
Otranto's lecture).
- For many centuries St Mary
Magdalen was venerated as a woman saint who had preached (something
presumed to be the sole privilege of priests) and who had even taught the
apostles the correct doctrine when they went astray.
- All sacraments are administered in the name of Christ. But women
administer both the sacrament of baptism and marriage.
- Throughout the centuries outstanding women have testified to their
awareness of their equality in Christ, implying also a full share in Christ's
sacramental priesthood.
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