What old-guard feminists get wrong about Catholics

Dallas News ^ | April 27, 2008 | Kathryn Jean Lopez

[GCC Catholic]

Correction: I don't know where it is. My apologies.

[TraditionalistMommy]

Why do think people have stopped believing in transubstantiation?

[Straight Vermonter]

Sigh...I’ll never be a mother and women will never be priest.

[TraditionalistMommy]

If there is evidence, you should be able to find it pretty easily via Google.

[workerbee]

the majority of those in the parish, as in the rest of the country, side with me

Wow, that's a lot of overgrown sorority chicks in Girl Power t-shirts.

[maryz]

I don't know where it is.

I don't know of any complete compilation of data, but Cheverus posted recently on an article in Catholic World Report lising the American dioceses in order of number of vocations per 100,000 (I think) Catholics. He said it wasn't on the 'net, and the only thing I remember is that Boston was 162 out of 174. (Yes, I'm in Boston.)

If he could identify the back issue, you might be able to get a copy.

[TraditionalistMommy]

What we know now is that the current system does not work.

And you’re right, who knows how many women will want to become priests? Still, if they seek out the priesthood at the same rate men do, we’d have twice as many candidates. That’s a start.

In hours and hours, no one has come up with a reason women shouldn’t be priests here, aside from variations on “it’s just not done!” and “over my dead body!” Not surprising.

[jjm2111]

Because they were never told WHY they should believe in it. Because they don’t know WHY the Church preaches against Artifical Contraception, abortion, and homosexual “marriage”. Same thing with women priests. Just because a bunch of twenty-somethings who have never cracked the Catechism think it’s a good thing doesn’t make it so.

Do you believe in the Real Presence?

[TraditionalistMommy]

Nothing left in your arsenal but lame ad hominem jabs? I’m shocked!

[Campion]

My church is also just down the street, and the majority of those in the parish, as in the rest of the country, side with me.

Anecdote is not data. The majority of self-identified "Catholics" don't even bother to attend Mass. Are they "right," too?

By the way, one of your errors is the assertion that upholders of orthodoxy need to "prove" that attempting to ordain women is "not right".

Sorry, that's backwards. The burden of proof is 100% on you; you need to prove that the deposit of faith permits it and indeed requires it.

You can't. Your arguments amount to:

1. Jesus only ordained men, but -- although he was God in the flesh -- he was just being weak and conforming to his culture (!!!!)
2. It's required to satisfy some abstract concept of "justice", as though a person could demand ordination in fulfillment of some sort of right. It's not a right but a privilege.
3. Not being ordainable makes women "second-class citizens". (Even though you admit that churches are overwhelmingly female already!) This argument is pure clericalism, and stems from "Catholics" who do not understand that their vocation as Catholic laypeople is to bring the world into the church, not to make the church look, act, and feel like the world.
4. The Church is "dying" otherwise. Untrue; orthodox dioceses and orthodox religious orders are flourishing. What you propose amounts to ecclesial euthanasia.

[workerbee]

Why do you keep demanding statistics on seminary enrollment, etc., when they have absolutely no bearing on your position? Even if there was a 1:1 ratio of priest to parishioner you’d still be stomping your feet about this non-issue. And if it truly is such an onerous doctrine, it begs the question, why continue to attend, contribute to, and raise your children in a Catholic parish when so many other enlightened denominations are waiting with open arms? You don’t believe in papal infallibility, so why call yourself a Catholic? (saving face with grandma, or what?)

[workerbee]

Lighten up, you’re no victim. (and who was it that threw around the words “bigot” and “misogynist”, hmmm???)

[TraditionalistMommy]

Did Jesus ordain any amputees as priests? Does that mean amputees shouldn’t be priests?

[eastsider]

In hours and hours, no one has come up with a reason women shouldn’t be priests here ...

We've given you several, but you haven't grasped it yet. Let's try a different iteration.

The priest is the icon of Jesus, who was a man. On a deeper level, the priest is the icon of Christ who comes as the head and bridegroom of the Church, of Christ who comes to pastor and to conceive within the Church the life of grace. The priest is an icon for the whole mystery of Christ’s mediation of God to the people.

[jjm2111]

Stop grasping at straws. Do you believe in the Real Presence?

[TraditionalistMommy]

Oh, don’t worry. I’m light as a feather. And I’d use those words again to describe a few posters here with no reservations. I’m surprised you’d even take offense at them.

All right, kiddos. I REALLY gotta run.

[workerbee]

no one has come up with a reason women shouldn’t be priests here

#10 and #64.

[TraditionalistMommy]

You’re projecting.

And I’m Catholic. What do you think?

[Pyro7480]

Those not in favor of women’s ordination tend to be too old to reproduce.

That just shows how out of touch you are.

From Survey assesses Catholics' beliefs, practices on Mass, sacraments

When asked whether they agreed with the statement, "In deciding what is morally acceptable, I look to Catholic Church teachings and statements made by the pope and bishops to form my conscience," the pre-Vatican II Catholics (28 percent) and millennial Catholics (23 percent) were most strongly in agreement.

[workerbee]

And I’d use those words again to describe a few posters here with no reservations.

Fine by me, just don't turn around and cry "ad hominem attack!!" at a little sarcastic humor.

I’m surprised you’d even take offense at them.

Put words in anyone's mouth, much? Who said I was offended? Geez louise.