On Mondays, I answer questions frequently asked by those considering a return to the Catholic Church. How do I know this stuff? I was away for more than 30 years myself, and am the co-author of When They Come Home: Ways to Welcome Returning Catholics, a book for pastors and parish leaders interested in this ministry.
Why can’t women be priests?
Pope (now Saint) John Paul II laid out the rationale in an April 1994 apostolic letter that all the faithful are called to follow:
- While Jesus’s larger following included women, he selected only men for his inner circle, the Apostles. This was not a culture-related
decision of the time; Jesus repeatedly challenged authorities, and healed and interacted with women, but did not include them in this role, not even his own mother. - The Church from the earliest times has not ordained women.
- Women have had and continue to have significant roles in our Church as martyrs, single women, and mothers.
John Paul II called on all the faithful to follow his letter, and the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has said this is an infallible teaching. You’ll find robust debate on the Internet and perhaps in your own parish and diocese about whether women should be ordained and whether the teaching against female ordination meets the Church’s own rules on infallibility.
You’ll find reports in the news and on the Internet of women who say they have received the sacrament of holy orders through apostolic succession. However, since Church law prohibits the ordination of women, the sacrament was not appropriately celebrated. Further, the participants have been called to recant or be subject to excommunication.
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