August 6, 1998
The Transfiguration of the Lord
H.H. Pope John Paul II
Vatican City
Your Holiness:
We, the undersigned members of the Canon1024 ecumenical forum on the
ordination of women, greet you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.
The Canon1024 internet forum is a grassroots, ecumenical discussion
on the ordination of women.
Respect for your high office
We understand the power of the keys (Mt 16:18) and believe this power
is given to the entire church (Mt 18:18). Some of us, especially the
Roman Catholics in the list, believe that it is given in a singular way
to you as the ultimate authority; though not to you alone, in isolation
from the rest of the church -- in other words, the proper use of the
power of the keys entails discernment of God's will by the entire
church; then, and only then, a final decision is to be made by you
(Cf. Acts 15).
We are concerned that such a church-wide process has not yet matured
with regard to ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church, and
this letter is an appeal for you to permit the process of dialogue and
discernment to continue, not only within the Roman Catholic Church, but
also in dialogue with other churches. Some of these other churches
already have to offer the data of experience as regards women in
ministerial positions. Surely, the Roman Catholic Church would not
claim to already have exhausted divine revelation on this matter?
Until very recently, the Roman Catholic teaching was that women were
defective human beings, inferior to and subject to men. This teaching
now has been revised to recognize the full humanity of women, which we
see as a happy doctrinal development. However, we believe that the
2000 year old practice of excluding women from holy orders has been
based on precisely that view of women which is now understood to be
inadequate. We think it reasonable to assume that, in teaching that
only males can be ordained, the universal ordinary magisterium of Roman
Catholic bishops did not always see women as complete and perfect human
beings.
Furthermore, we think that the concept of women as complete human
beings, yet unfit for ordination, has not been universally taught by
the ordinary magisterium of Roman Catholic bishops currently in office
and in union with you. Nor has it been consciously considered by most
of the faithful, past and present, so as to be part of the "sense of
the faithful." So, with all due respect, our consciences impel us to
seek to better understand this practice of reserving holy orders to
baptized men. Why not also to baptized women? That is, why not to
baptized persons?
Christological reflection
The reflection that follows attempts to answer a very fundamental
christological question: since Jesus is a male, does it follow that
only males can be priests? This question encapsulates all other
questions relative to the ordination of women; for it is in Jesus
Christ, and only in him, that we can seek a better understanding of the
Christ-Church mystery (John 14:6, 15:4).
To this end, we submit to your consideration a reflection on men and
women as partners, equal and of the same nature, in the mystery of
creation; a relationship damaged by the first Adam's disobedience, and
restored by the last Adam's obedience. "First Adam" and "last Adam"
refer not to first male and last male but to first human and to Jesus,
the Eternal Word made flesh; this understanding is supported by 1 Cor
15:45-47, where Paul identifies the first human as Adam (Gen 2:7).
This first living body-person was differentiated into a male and a
female (Gen 2:21-23) who jointly exercised God's assigned sovereignty,
tending the garden and ruling over the animals as a communion of
persons. Both the woman and the man jointly disobeyed God's command
(Gen 3:6), and consequently found themselves alienated from God, from
creation, and from each other.
In the Old Testament, God, working through individual men and women,
and through his chosen people, Israel, seeks to restore creation's
original harmonious order. But it is only in Jesus Christ, the last
Adam, that God achieves this redemptive work, finally destroying all
alienations that divide humans from each other, from creation, and
from God (see, e.g., Gal 3:28; Rom 8:22-23; Eph 2:11-22; Col 2:9-13).
In Christ Jesus, once again men and women, equally and of the same
human nature, as God's redeemed representatives, together share in
creation's administration and governance, and together share the gift
of divine life and the responsibility to reach every human being, by
word and sacrament, with the good news of the New Covenant.
Redemption of the body
The original unity of man and woman, fully restored by the redemption
of Christ, certainly does not cancel differences, but does exclude any
relationship of superiority-inferiority, as well as any relationship of
unilateral submission. After the death and resurrection of Christ, men
and women must submit equally to each other, out of reverence for
Christ.
This communion applies in the family, in society, and especially in
the Church. Any manifestation of male supremacy obscures the mystery
of the Church as a communion of persons in Christ. Since the very
beginning (Gen 2:23), it is our consciousness of being a communion of
persons that makes us truly human at a level deeper than our somatic
structure as male or female.
Restricting church leadership positions to males impoverishes the body
of Christ by excluding the gifts that women can and do bring to all the
ministries of the church, ordained and unordained. Especially in the
churches, it is time to overcome the prejudice of male supremacy; this
comes to us from original sin (Gen 3:16), not from divine revelation
on God's will for the church.
The signs of the times impel us to recognize that Christ the Priest, as
well as Christ the Servant, can reach and nourish his people through
the body of a woman as well as through the body of a man, and this in
ordained as well as unordained ministries.
Life sciences
Our modern understanding of the mutuality between men and women is also
enhanced by advances in the life sciences. Men and women are mutually
complementary but, except for sexual-reproductive purposes, they are
not mutually exclusive. There are masculine qualities in woman, and
there are feminine qualities in man. No human being is exclusively
male or female. At the most fundamental level, we are human persons,
rational beings made of body and soul. Granted, sex cuts very deeply
into the fabric of the human person; nevertheless, it is still a
limitation of the human condition, not the most fundamental stratum of
human personhood.
The most fundamental stratum is our consciousness as a communion of
persons. Our fundamental unity as body-souls does not cancel the
differences, which allow some men and women to commit to each other in
nuptial love, become one flesh, and collaborate in procreation.
Conversely, the differences do not cancel our fundamental unity as
members of the human race and partakers, with Christ, of human nature.
Let us build the body of Christ
Divine Providence has given you the responsibility of serving the
Roman Catholic Church as successor of St. Peter, Bishop of Rome. You
may have excellent reasons for wishing to put an end to all dialogue
and discernment on this issue within the Roman Catholic Church, but we
have so far been unable to grasp these reasons. We are convinced that
none of the churches will be able to avoid this issue, as we approach
the new millennium. We therefore renew our plea for you to permit --
actually, we would hope, for you to encourage -- responsible dialogue
and discernment of God's will.
We are mindful of our Lord's words to Peter, "what you bind on earth
is bound in heaven". But are these words to be used for closing doors
to the Kingdom, or for opening them? Do you not also have the power
to loosen the bonds that limit the growth of the Kingdom? Since the
Roman Catholic Church is not ready to define, as a matter of revealed
truth, that the male-only priesthood is of divine will, is it not
legitimate to plead for a process of prayer, dialogue, and discernment
pursuant to settle this issue, within the Roman Catholic Church and
with other churches, so that we all may be one, that the world may
believe (Cf. John 17)?
Finally, are we to prevent the power of the Holy Spirit from using the
complex issues of human sexuality and women in ordained ministry --
issues which all the churches are facing -- as a unique historical
opportunity for the churches to come together in order to discern God's
will on these issues, and emerge from this encounter more united than
ever before?
With these questions we conclude this letter, in the sure hope that the
Holy Spirit will help you and the Roman Catholic Church -- indeed, all
the Christian churches -- to forge ahead in the journey toward the
fullness of truth (John 6:13) in order to build the body of Christ.
"Come, Holy Spirit, enable the churches to be like Mary-Theotokos, who
trusted in you and consented to be the bearer of Christ to the world,
for the glory of God and our redemption. Amen."
Respectfully yours in Christ,
Maggie Albo
Erna Beck
Nancy Brown
Thomas Butler
Patricia Anne Byron
Claire Debenham
William T. Donnelly
Elaine Eisenstein
Francis Fergus
Marilyn Gardner
Luis Gutierrez
Elfriede Harth
Livia Hekanaho
Ed Janes
J. Christian Jensen
Carl A. Jimenez
Margaret Kavanagh
Alfred L. King
Danny Klopovic
Ann Lammers
Sydney Langdon
Deborah McDurmond
James McKay
Roberta Meehan
Pearl Miller
Roy Murphy
Marilyn Palmero
Isabelle Prondzynski
Hoan Ribera
Bruce Robinson
Theresa Timlin
Rachele Vernon
Cecelia Wasiljov
NB: The above list includes only those Canon1024 forum members who
have explicitly requested that they be signers of this letter.
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