An anonymous poster posits in my last thread:
It's about conscience -- Sister Louise's, not the Archbishop's.
Sister Louise wasn't silenced because she was teaching about women's ordination, she was silenced because she believes in women's ordination.
For the rest of us in ministry, it's a good thing that the Archbishop isn't psychic as well as oppressive.
I have a few thoughts:
First, if there is a disagreement on a dogmatic position in the Church, and yes, an all male, heirarchical priesthood, is a dogmatic position of the Church, it is going to play out in other ways as well. In this specific example, it would effect one's thoughts and positions on the Eucharist, as the ministerial priesthood is intimately connected with the Eucharist, celebration and species. If you pull out the belief in the priesthood, the concept of sacrifice will quickly be ushered out as well. So, even if she was not teaching on this subject per se, it would affect her views in other areas, which would make them suspect as well.
This is going to be a reduction to the absurd, but it will (hopefully) prove the point. Say a basketball coach doesn't 'believe' in the 3 point line, but holds the rest of the rules. It is going to change how she/he coaches, approaches the game, draws up plays, etc. With the reult that, likely, he's going to lose, for the other team can score 1.5 times more points every time down the court. Granted, not infallible doctrine here, but it plays out across other aspects of the faith.
At the deeper level, as pointed out by Carl Olson and me, is the question of authority. Anyone who teaches in the name of the Church teaches with the authority of the local bishop, not on their own authority. (Bishop D'Arcy of Fort Wayne, South Bend has recently made this same point in regards to the Notre Dame Scandal.)
The Archbishop has to stand before God and account for his care of souls in his diocese. (Have you prayed for him yet today????) I think this is a much bigger weight the one (malformed) conscience.
Finally, I would argue that those who are glad that 'the Archbishop isn't psychic' may want to question their role in teaching what he (and the Church) teach.
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3 comments:
Excellent points, Father.
I am proud that she was silenced. As a woman, and a Catholic. There is NO way her disagreement/dis unity was not spilling over into her teachings. Women and Men are different. We have different but equal roles in life and in the Church. If one believes that the Church is the Bride of Christ.. then you obviously have to have MALE only priests. Women need stop bemoaning what they " can't be" and start working on improving our own role in how we can serve the Church. I suggest every woman read " The Privilege of Being a Woman" By Alice Von Hildenbran. Kudo's to our Arch Bishop.. and Frankly I was pleasantly surprised. I have not always been a fan of Arch Bishop P. Maybe prayers have paid off.
I wish D'Arcy and Pilarczyk would actually take it a step further and stop the idiots who teach error right under their noses at local universities (hint Xavier). But I guess years of heretical teaching at these places isn't a pressing issue.
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