I am not a Catholic--never claimed to be--so I am certainly not trying to
make the modern Catholic Church implode by accepting the ordination of
women. However, I think Dennis Martin is off the mark when he claims that
the Catholic Church cannot change its position on an issue central to the
faith if it has held that position for a long time. As someone who has
written quite a bit on the theology behind the practice of prayer for the
dead, I can tell you that the Church's position on that subject--presumably
a fairly central one to the faith--has undergone considerable modification
over time. And as a feminist scholar, who has looked at much of the early
Christian and medieval writings on gender and ordination, I can also tell
you that there was no single authoritative position on this subject before
modern times, since most theologians didn't think it needed discussing. I
haven't read what John Paul II has to say, so I won't comment on that, but
I will say that it cannot be coming out of a very long tradition of
writings on the subject, since a real "tradition" (as opposed to a few
comments here and there) doesn't exist.
To the Christians out there: Hope you have a very Merry Christmas!
To the non-Christians: Happy Solstice!
To Richard Landes: heard you on the radio the other night. Where will you
be at midnight on Dec. 31?
Megan
Megan McLaughlin
Associate Professor of History and Women's Studies
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
309 Gregory Hall, 810 S. Wright St.
Urbana, IL 61801 U.S.A.
Phone: 217-244-2084
Fax: 217-333-2297
E-mail: [log in to unmask]
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