Women in Sacerdotal Ministry: an Introduction to the Problem

There are a lot of implications to the ordination of women to the priesthood. And with the influx of a lot of people from non-liturgical backgrounds into the ACNA it seems that it is good to take a look at some of the issues surrounding it. I know that many people simply have the view that prohibiting females to the priesthood (and consequently the bishopric) is a matter of chauvinism. There is also a tendency to reduce the function of priests to simply “pastors” or “preachers,” as people in most protestant churches think of their leaders. This in turn leads to presuming that those who oppose women priests do so on the basis that women should not speak in Church. I can assure you that those issues are not of my concern. I affirm that women can and ought to be in leadership positions within churches where they qualify. I also believe that the ancient and venerable office of deaconess needs to return to the Church. However, I do not believe that the office of deaconess is a sacerdotal office and should always be a permanent vocation.

The crux of the matter then is not whether women should be in ministry or even be brought into leadership positions within churches. The question is whether they can be called and received into “sacerdotal” ministry. Can a woman represent the groom Jesus Christ at the Eucharistic table to the Bride of Christ his Church? Until one is willing to wrestle with the implications of this, I don’t think we ought to be challenging what 1.1 billion Roman Catholic, 700 million Orthodox, 50 million Anglicans, millions of other Sacramental Protestants and Independent catholic groups consider to be settled theology. Likewise, we should not be willing to casually set aside 1950 years of Christian Tradition, nor what 4000 years of Jewish history has taught us: that only men have been and can be priests.