Posted on 07/16/2018 4:40:16 PM PDT by RightGeek
Consecrated virgins say they are disappointed by Vatican’s new guidance
Christian women who have pledged lifelong virginity as “brides of Christ” have expressed shock at a Vatican document that suggests literal virginity is not a prerequisite for their consecration.
The Vatican’s new instruction on consecrated virginity, Ecclesiae Sponsae Imago, was published earlier this month after requests from bishops who reported an increasing number of women being called to the vocation.
There are an estimated 5,000 consecrated virgins in at least 42 countries, with the largest numbers in France, Italy and Argentina.
Consecrated virgins are unmarried women who offer their physical virginity as a gift to Christ, and devote time to penance, works of mercy and prayer. Unlike nuns, they do not live in enclosed communities or wear special clothing. Most have jobs, and they provide for their own needs.
The 39-page Vatican document offers detailed guidance on the vocation, including advising up to two years’ preparation before consecration.
It says consecrated virgins “are dedicated to the Lord Jesus in virginity … They experience the spiritual fertility of an intimate relationship with him”.
But the clause that has surprised some says actual virginity is not essential for a woman to become a consecrated virgin.
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(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...
Guess this means that Madonna can get consecrated...Her left nostril is still a virgin...
Guess this means that Madonna can get consecrated...Her left nostril is still a virgin...
Exactly...God's concern is with the heart, not the vagina...
I can just imagine the campaign posters:
Stormy for Mother Superior
Because
What difference, at this point, does it make anyway.
Thanks for your comments.
Sounds like they’re more or less already doing what I suggested. That’s fine with me.
As you say, I don’t know why he addresses some of these things. Is he just old and confused?
Not Catholic, but historically did not widows often become nuns? Do not nuns hold a service in which they believe that they marry Christ?
All true Christians are a member of the bride of Christ. In Him we are collectively considered “Virginal”.
>> Arguably this is correct because Jesus had no problem with prostitutes and adulteresses who repented of their sins.
You silly Millennials mistaking seduction for sacrifice...
Let's let God do the categorizing thing, shall we? He does a much better job of it.
It's a function of intelligence to be able to distinguish ~intelligible~ categories. A - B - C. 1 - 2 - 3. Animal - vegetable -mineral. If God didn't want us to be categorizers, He wouldn't have given us brains.
1Judge not, that ye be not judged. [2] For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you again.
You are judging to the letter of the Law but not the Spirit of the Law. IF God judges them to be pure as virgins, who are you to disagree with Him? Though your sins be as scarlet, He will cleanse to the uttermost. Adam and Eve had brains but they erred. The Pharisee religious leaders had brains, they categorized the adulteress to be stoned, but Jesus ruled otherwise. Technically they were correct but their hardened hearts gave no room for leniency or mercy. Do you want mercy at the Judgement Seat?
I must have missed something.
You got a problem with that?
That’s a big ax. Wonder what he’s compensating for...
But not a Consecrated Virgin or a Consecrated Widow or a Consecrated Man (unless shes a virgin or a widow or a man.) She'd be --- ta-daa!--- a Consecrated Woman.
Oscar Wilde:
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