Jimmy Carter vs. Blessed Virgin Mary Regarding the Male Priest

Canterbury Tales ^ | June 24, 2013 | Taylor Marshall

[NYer]

President Carter seems very concerned about the Catholic doctrine of the male priesthood. Speaking at the Carter Center's "Mobilizing Faith for Women" the former President answered some questions about women and religion. Let's look at his words against the Catholic Church and then I'll provide three systematic responses:

"And I think the great religions have set the example for that, by ordaining, in effect, that women are not equal to men in the eyes of God. This has been done and still is done by the Catholic Church ever since the third century, when the Catholic Church ordained that a woman cannot be a priest for instance but a man can. A woman can be a nurse or a teacher but she can’t be a priest. This is wrong, I think. 

And again, President Carter says: "And then after about the third century when men took over control of the Catholic Church, then they began to ordain that women had to play an inferior position, not be a priest."

Now I can understand where President Carter is coming from. First, he and his wife are Baptists. As Baptists they do not believe in a sacerdotal doctrine of the priesthood. 

Unlike the Baptists, the Catholic Church believes that the priesthood is not merely a ministerial function or office. Rather, when a man is ordained a priest, he is configured to Christ in a special way. His soul changes. We call this the indelible seal or character of Holy Orders. This is why there have never been women priests in the Catholic Church - not in the third, second, or first century. Never.

1. Jimmy Carter, Let's Take a Look at the Mystery of the Transubstantiation

Not only does the priest's soul undergo a metaphysical change, but the priest loans his own body and voice to Christ when he recites in the Holy Mass "This is my body." This act transubstantiates bread into the true Body of Christ.

Let's pause here. This is my body. Human bodies come in two versions: male and female. God designed it this way. Both sexes image God because, as the Church teaches, both sexes are ensouled and rational. See Genesis for details.

However, when the priest says, "This is my body," he is acting in persona Christi (in the person of Christ). Now then Christ is male. He was circumcised. The body that He offered on the cross was male. For this reason, only men can be priests because the Catholic Church mystically identifies the male Body of Christ with each and every male priest. The sacramental signification requires a man to stand in for the God-Man Jesus Christ at the altar.

2. Jimmy Carter and Clericalism

Secondly, President Carter unknowingly slips into clericalism. Clericalism is the insidious belief that clergy are de facto holier and more important than everyone else. As a Baptist, he likely sees his pastor as a CEO and/or a gifted public speaker. These functions parallel those of secular companies. Hence, to exclude women is, in his mind, sexist.

But the Catholic Church does not see priests as CEOs or primarily as preachers/teachers. Rather, priests are chiefly "fathers." Their relationship to other people is not transactional, it's paternal. Only a dad can be a dad. Again, it's a male thing. The Aramaic word for "father" is Abba meaning "giver of love."

3. Jimmy Carter, please meet the Blessed Virgin Mary

Here's the third and final thought:

I'd like to point out that the Catholic Church explicitly teaches that the greatest human person ever created is the Blessed Virgin Mary.

Mary is not only a woman, she is the Woman. The Catholic Church also teaches that she is higher than all Catholic priests, even higher than the twelve apostles. In fact, she is higher than every single angel. 

The priesthood, even the papacy, is not the highest "job" in the Catholic Church. In fact, the Catholic Church features many beautiful female saints in the canon of the Mass. I would even argue that the Catholic Church celebrates femininity more than any other religion and certainly more than any other Christian denomination. 

At the end of the day, the Catholic Church teaches that it is holiness and intimacy with Christ that is most important, not being a priest. As a former Episcopal priest, I could go on to be a married Catholic priest. But I chose not to do so. Why? Because I realized that my personal "yes" to God is enough. Nothing more is needed of me. 

I love priests. I kiss the hand of every priest I meet. I truly love priests because without them there is no Holy Eucharist and no supernatural life in the world. However, as my former spiritual director Father Ron Gillis (who died just last week) taught me, "At the front of most Catholic churches are not side altars dedicated to Peter and Paul, but to Joseph and Mary - a reminder that the priesthood supports the Church and not the other way around." 

That's a beautiful and simple lesson for all of us.

May Father Ron Gillis rest in peace. It's too bad that he could not have shared that insight with President Jimmy Carter.

Fr Ron Gillis, rest in peace. Please say a Hail Mary for the repose of his soul.

[Mrs. Don-o]

I wouldn't think so. Do you think the statuary in Washington DC makes one think Washington and Lincoln are gods? Are we forbidden ritualized actions, like the ceremonies involving the American flag? Raising it, lowering it, placing in on a fallen soldier's coffin? Putting a wreath on he Tomb of the Unknown SOldier? (And where in the Bibnle does it say we can do that?) Are we idolators if we render any degree of recognition to persons lower than the Almighty, persons which we do --- to a lower degree --- honor?

I don't have a hard time at all distinguishing between honor for my husband ---for instance --- or honor for Abraham, Moses, Mary --- and the far greater, infinitely greater act which is adoration of God.

[Heart-Rest]

"He is NOT a Southern Baptist. He left us years ago after meddling in our beliefs. Do not know what group he belongs to now."

He went back to the Goober Peas  -   (Rumor has it that he has returned to his nutty roots, where they erected this statue in his honor. Click on picture for some musical accompaniment.)

[Heart-Rest]

"I appreciate the author describing Catholic doctrine, and immediately have to ask 'Where is all of that in Scripture?'"

Well, if you truly want to know the Biblical basis for the things Dr. Taylor Marshall is talking about in this article, you're going to need more than a short, simple article like this to do justice to your question, so I would suggest as a starting point you read these books (as well as any books by Dr. Scott Hahn you can get your hands on).

Where is That in the Bible?   --    By Patrick Madrid

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The Biblical Basis for the Catholic Faith    --   By John Salza

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A Biblical Defense of Catholicism    --    By Dave Armstrong

[MamaB]

I am 69 and have never had boiled peanuts. We even grew them when I was young. A friend of mine was going through Plains,GA and stopped at a small store. Jimmy was in there and my friend said he was a nice fellow. Who knows? You are funny!

[ArrogantBustard]

I just didn’t complete the phrase, that’s all. In spoken conversation, I rarely do.

[avenir]

One can find no less than The Lord Jesus consistently referring to Scripture as authoritative. One can also find Satan, twisting it (to his and his hearers’ destruction).

The Spirit-breathed Word is how you know what communion is and is not; who Mary is and is not; who saints and priests are and are not; what the church is and is not.

[avenir]

Thank you for the references, but Scripture is sufficient for instruction. The apostle Paul said so. So did Peter (”as newborn babes crave the sincere milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation”).

[Heart-Rest]

"Thank you for the references, but Scripture is sufficient for instruction. The apostle Paul said so. So did Peter (”as newborn babes crave the sincere milk of the word, that by it you may grow in respect to salvation”)."

So with your logic, I should not be listening at all to your own words here about these matters, since your own words in your first post in this thread, and your own words in the first half of your post here are not contained in "Scripture", but are your own words.

Likewise (according to your logic), I should never listen to any preachers "expounding on the Word", since their own words are also not contained in Scripture.

Do you see how illogical that kind of reasoning is? If you really, truly think it is wrong to add any words to Scripture, then why did you add your own words to the Scripture, right here in these two posts you made using your own words?

[avenir]

You got all that from the few words I posted? Note that the words were true: Jesus, Paul, Peter, et. al testified to the authority of Scripture. Reading, mulling over, savoring the Spirit-breathed Word is how one can “test the spirits, to see if they are from God” (I John). That’s something YOU, believer, are supposed to do. This discipline cannot be subcontracted.

I admit that my first post was a jab. There are many Catholic doctrines that are simply made up (and repeated ad infinitum on this forum). There is ZERO evidence for them in Scripture.

But Protestants that live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones! LOL. I’ve seen the same in various churches I’ve been in. And in my own life!

“But we worldly men have miserable, mad, mistaking eyes!”—Shakespeare