Constant Tradition
Constant Tradition
From INTER INSIGNIORES:
(The hyper-linked comments in italics are by John
Wijngaards)
6. The Catholic Church has never felt that priestly or
episcopal ordination can be validly conferred on women . . . .
[but what about women deacons? Did they not belong to
Holy Orders?!]
7. . . . . Since that period (of the Scholastic doctors)
and up to our own time, it can be said that the question has not been raised
again, for the practice has enjoyed peaceful and universal acceptance [the peace of a concentration camp, I presume?].
8. The Church’s tradition in the matter has thus been
so firm in the course of the centuries that the Magisterium has not felt the
need to intervene in order to formulate a principle which was not attacked, or
to defend a law which was not challenged [Could it be
challenged as long as social and religious prejudices had not been
removed?] . But each time that this tradition had the occasion to
manifest itself, it witnessed to the Church’s desire to conform to the
model left to her by the Lord [Did he leave
‘a model’?]. The same tradition has been faithfully
safeguarded by the Churches of the East [What about
the validly ordained women deacons ministering in the East until 1000
AD?]. Their unanimity on this point is all the more remarkable since in
many other questions their discipline admits of a great diversity. At the
present time these same Churches refuse to associate themselves with requests
directed towards securing the accession of women to priestly ordination [Do
Western Churches, such as the Anglican Communion that do ordain women, not
count?].
23.
This practice of the Church therefore has a normative character
[How can a practice which is not a valid Tradition,
constitute a norm?] : in the fact of conferring priestly ordination
only on men [Was it not for the reason that women were considered
inferior, sinful and
ritually ‘unclean’?], it is a question
of an unbroken tradition throughout the history of the Church [what about the ‘latent’ contrary
Tradition?], universal in the East and in the West, and alert to
repress abuses immediately. This norm, based on Christ’s example, has been
and is still observed because it is considered to conform to God’s plan
for his Church [Does it not perpetuate prejudice
instead?].
For the full text, see: INTER INSIGNIORES.
From the
Commentary by the Sacred
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith on the Declaration Inter
Insigniores:
21. It is an undeniable fact, as the declaration notes,
that the constant tradition of the Catholic Church has excluded women from the
episcopate and the priesthood. So constant has it been that there has been no
need for an intervention by a solemn decision of the magisterium.
For the full text, see: Official Commentary on INTER
INSIGNIORES.
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