Common Priesthood, Uncommon Service
Why Women Shouldn't Seek Ordination

By Maria Rivera

As a child of the post-Vatican II Church, the product of the era of feminism, and a member of a capitalistic society, perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised by women who want to be priests badly enough to buy billboard space to declare their message: “Are you waiting for a sign from God? Here it is: Ordain women.”

Yet, instead of cheering in the name of equality, I was distraught. Rather than driving on like a “liberated” woman, like a consumer used to societal permissiveness and marketing schemes, something inside of me wanted to scream.

How can other women, who claim to be Catholic, so deeply misunderstand the meaning of priesthood? Worse yet, how can they not appreciate their own womanhood as a sufficient gift from God?

Acknowledging Our Gifts
In Baptism all of us, men and women, were anointed priests, prophets, and kings. This priesthood, which we all share, calls us to sacrifice and obedience to the Holy Spirit in the Church. The service, which we accomplish in the Holy Spirit through our common priesthood, has the ultimate goal of glorifying God, fulfilling His eternal plan.

To be Catholic requires the humility of Christ. Service calls all of us to humility. The moment we falter in humility we falter in service. Service is to be done for God, for the coming of His kingdom, not for self-glory, not to advance fashionable agendas or to stake out territories. Women who clamor to become ordained priests do not seem to be embracing the common priesthood that calls all Christians to surrender and self-sacrifice. If they truly sought to serve they wouldn’t pursue the ordained priesthood as if it were a better prize. If they lived, accepted, and rejoiced in our common priesthood of service, they would rejoice in their womanhood, rather than indirectly reject it as a lesser gift.

All good things come from God, and all good things have their place. The ordained priesthood, which is reserved for men, serves its own purpose within the Church without diminishing the common priesthood which we all share, and without lessening womanhood. Furthermore, the pompous feminist argument represented on that billboard misrepresents women and reveals a tragic misunderstanding of Christian discipleship. The ordained priest stands “in persona Christi,” in the person of Christ, to act as mediator on behalf of all the Church. To claim a right to stand in the person of Christ requires great pomposity and a lack of humility, for no one can rightly insist upon that which is a gift (cf. Catechism, no 1578). The call to the ordained priesthood comes directly from God. It is God who chooses how we are to serve. This completes the perfect order of God’s plans. For if it were up to us how we are to serve, what need would we have of His grace?

Join the Club?
Those who seek the ordination of women as a means of modernizing the Church are reducing the Church to the values of our secular society. Many feminists direct their anger at the Church’s hierarchy, which is composed of men: priests, bishops, cardinals, and the Pope. They refer to the hierarchy as a men-only club and interpret this as oppression, while ignoring the service of the Church toward women through 2,000 years. It is amazing to me that they can neither view the Church as God’s design nor appreciate the complementarity of man and woman. Their anger doesn’t seem to take into account who the Church is and what she has done for women. Their bitterness reveals a deep misconception of the value women bring to the Church precisely as women.

For over thousands of years the Church has served women. The Church is the strongest defender of unborn women and oppressed women throughout the world. The Church also shows respect for women in the fervent honor and veneration she bestows upon the Mother of God.
The Church does all this and more because she understands the heart of women. After all, the Church is the Bride of Christ. The heart of a woman, a bride, is to receive and be submissive. This is not a fault or a weakness, as the secular world and feminists would have us believe. The call to be submissive and to influence through quiet actions, to serve with the heart of a woman—be it as daughter, mother, or sister—is not only a challenge, but also an honor. Any woman who values her femininity as a gift from God can distinguish her unique call to serve. This precious vocation does not envy ordained priesthood because, true to her womanhood, she accepts and trusts the order of God.

Radical feminists attempt to taint in women that inborn capacity to trust and surrender by selling the idea that genuine femininity and womanly characteristics are cowardice and weakness, rather than a gift. At the root of the feminist’s equality is the mantra of inequality that quietly chants: “manlier is better.” But those who truly serve and honor the Church can see through this agenda because they deeply understand what the Church teaches: Our equality is based on who we are, not what we do: We are all made in the image of God, and we are all His children.
Women do not need to be ordained priests in order to claim equality or to be of value and service to the Church. The ordained priesthood is not a prerequisite to holiness, which is everyone’s vocation.

As a woman trained in empowerment and accustomed to freedom, equality, and progress, I’ve pondered these issues for years. I have come to distinguish the line between secular values and the eternal values of the Church. I have learned to accept and respect the wisdom of the Church in preserving the teachings of Christ without succumbing to the world. This surrender to the Holy Spirit in the Church has in turn taught me to serve, not to envy; to accept, not to covet; to be grateful for my womanhood and to rejoice in the unique gifts of service men and women bring to the Church.

Maria Rivera writes from Wauwatosa, WI.

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