by Fr. Matthew Kowalski OSB
In official documents, the Catholic Church has referred to Jesus' choice of twelve men to be his apostles as a basis for limiting the ordained priesthood to men only. This raises the question of whether the maleness of the apostles is only a historical accident, or actually part of the revelation of God found in Christ. My investigation strongly suggests that the maleness of the ordained priesthood does in fact represent God's revelation found in Scripture.
Can a woman be a father? What a foolish question! Of course not! A father is by definition of the male sex. This is true 100% of the time, no exceptions. A woman cannot be a father. Which is why a woman cannot be a priest, because a priest must be a father.
Why is a priest a father? Because the Bible tells us so. Here is a variety of very clear examples:
• The sacrifice of Jesus on the cross perfectly fulfilled the Jewish Passover (Hebrews 8-10, 1 Cor. 5).
• The Passover victim must be a first-born male (Exodus 12).
• The father of the family must perform the Passover sacrifice. Widows do not hold their own Passover but join a local family (Exodus 12, Deuteronomy 16).
Therefore both the Passover priest and victim must be of the male sex.
• The Old Testament priesthood was associated with fatherhood (Judges 17:10, 18:19).
• Jesus called God his Father, and Himself God's Son (all four gospels). Jesus is the Passover Lamb, sacrificed to save his people from sin (John 1, 1 Peter 1, Revelation 5, Acts 8).
• The only priesthood that can now exist is the priesthood of Christ (Hebrews 9,10).
• Jesus and the Father are one; Jesus is both priest and victim (John 14, Hebrews 9).
Therefore the priesthood of the Church, if it is to be truly the priesthood of Jesus Christ, must be of the Father and the Son, the priest and the Passover victim.
• When a priest says Mass, he is representing God the Father in offering the Passover sacrifice and God the Son as victim. His physical being represents the maleness in those Holy Names. “The one who has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9).
• The New Testament refers to Christ as groom, and the Church as his bride, identifying Christ's role with the specifically male role of husband and father (Mt 9, Mk 2, Jn 3, 2 Cor. 11, Rev. 19,21,22).
Father and Son are, by definition, male terms. The priesthood has always represented God's priesthood and victimhood, Father and Son. It is why Catholics call their priests “Father.”
• From apostolic times, Christians insisted that only a male preside at liturgies (1 Cor. 14, 1 Timothy 2).
• St. Paul considered “Father” a title given only to the most important teachers (1 Cor. 4).
• An early Church document by St. Ignatius of Antioch, just one generation after the apostles, is mostly about how Bishops should be called Father (Letter to the Magnesians). This date is so early in the Church's history that it is uncertain how many priests there were at this time.
In summation, a woman cannot be a Father. These above facts cannot be disproved, they can only be ignored. And those who ignore them are ignoring truth that comes from Christ.
(The author wishes to acknowledge theologians Manfred Hauke and Scott Hahn. You may email Fr. Kowalski at mkowalsk@compuserve.com.)
