It's strange -- truthfully speaking, I could never really argue with friends who would say: why not a woman priest? Aren't there nuns who are holy too. To which I really had no answer beyond that it was part of the Apostolic nature of the Church (which sounded hollow to my ears). But now, when we can actually SEE what such change has wrought, I can do nought but look in awe at the foresight of our ancestors. Yes, there are Holy Women -- in fact in the Catholic and Orthodox Churches we revere Mother Mary
-- but the results of women bishops in the Anglican communion seem dire: leading in a straight path to the rise of Gene Robinson.
The Church's wisdom (and the reasoning that the priest, as alter Christus and the spouse of the Church, must be male) turns out to be practically correct. Kind of like the prohibition on eating pork . . .
I saw EVERY female ordinand in our former (ECUSA) diocese over a period of 28 years, because our parish was the "training parish" for the diocese and all new priests passed through. With a SINGLE exception they were totally incompetent to do the job . . . never mind whether they were faithful or orthodox (the single exception was one of those "chronolaters" that Peter Toon talks about). I don't know whether the sort of woman who wants to be ordained self-selects for incompetence, or whether women just aren't up to this job, but the fact remains that they couldn't handle it.
May I remind you that the bishops voting to confirm Gene Robinson were men? I'm not sure your argument holds up.
It's not just Mother Mary. I've been struck since I've been Catholic how many female saints are respected, reverenced, and revered. There is nothing wrong with being a Sister! There is nothing wrong with being a woman. I simply posit that the factions that see disunity with the whole of Christ's Church, and more importantly, within the Anglican Communion, as less important than their political need to insinuate women into every role in the church, are wrong. Just flat wrong. The monster V. Gene Robinson is simply the current position on the slippery slope. Unfortunately (sigh), I hear too many of my Catholic Brothers and Sisters predicting women priests in the RCC. Sometimes I fear there will be nowhere left for me to go.
However, this whole idea forgets the fact that Catholics are sacramental people. We don't use motor oil to baptize babies...We just don't get the picture mentally that an infant is being washed. We don't use broccoli and root beer to confect the Body of Christ. And we don't use woman to be "in the person of Christ" simply because Jesus was a man. This is not a dig on women's capabilities, but the idea that God works THROUGH the person. We are supposed to call to mind the visible sacramental action is happening in the Spiritual world. How can this be if we see a woman saying "take and eat, this is my Body"??
Regards