Redemptorist Publications & The Bones They Couldn't Crush...!

Sorry, Laurence... Couldn't resist that opportunity... Now, enough frivolity.

It appears that Redemptorist Publications have little understanding of the new media. Once something is "out there" on the internet, there is little point screaming blue murder about copyright infringement just because one doesn't like a blogger's review... (I'm pretty sure that, if Bones had given a glowing endorsement of the pamphlet produced by Redemptorist Publications, not a single objection to his quotes would have been made!)

You see, Catholic bloggers are mostly orthodox. The reason that they blog is that they want to proclaim the Truth, in all its beauty, to share it with others.

People of a less orthodox bent can't really blog to the same extent - they have few opinions, because, after all, for them, "my truth" may be very different from "your truth" and one wouldn't want to hurt anyone's feelings by expressing the belief that "my truth" is correct, and "your truth" is not. That might be seen as being judgemental and unfeeling.

Orthodox Catholics, on the other hand, have got the certainty of the Faith behind their statements. 2000 years' worth of certainty, give or take a year or two, guaranteed by Christ himself, just as long as one is in Communion with the successor to St. Peter. And, no matter how much the baby-boomers scream about the spirit of Vatican II opening the windows and doors of the Church to allow discussion, anyone with half a brain cell, who troubles themselves to read the actual documents of Vatican II, will be able to see that there are certain definitive Truths held by the Church, which have been held since the beginning.

One of those Truths is that the ministerial priesthood is not open to women.

Not in the past. Not now. Not ever.

This teaching has been declared as part of the deposit of Faith, and, as such, must be given complete assent by the faithful. Complete assent means that it is not open to discussion. This is not because the discussion is being suppressed, it is simply because the matter cannot be changed. Can not. Not will not. The Church has declared that she does not have the authority to change this teaching.

The sun rises in the East.* This is not open to discussion. I'm not attempting to quash discussion of the matter, it just isn't possible to discuss something which is immutable. I might wish, were I of a philosophical persuasion, (I'm not, but I'll concede the point) to speculate as to the reasons why the sun rises in the East, but there would be no discussion, as such, because it simply isn't open to change. And no amount of money spent on bus adverts will have the slightest effect on this basic fact.

The Catholic Women's Ordination group, CWO, have failed to grasp this. This is basically because they see the ministerial priesthood as being little more than a way to exercise power within the Church, and a matter of equality. If this was all that the priesthood was about, then, yes, women should be able to be ordained. But it is not. And it has precious little to do with the feeling that one is called to be a priest... many men feel that they have a priestly vocation, but this has to be tested and affirmed by the Church. Many are called, but few are chosen, to coin a phrase.

If you want to read a clear piece on Pope John Paul II's teaching on the matter, you can read a far better post over at Bridges and Tangents by Fr. Stephen Wang (twitch of the mantilla to Fr. Tim Finigan) and for an even deeper analysis of why the CWO's arguments are so flawed, check out this excellent post by Fr. Philip Neri Powell (more mantilla-twitching, this time in the direction of Vincenzo.)

Anyway, à rétourner à notre mouton... knowingly to dissent from the definitive teachings of the Catholic Church is to declare oneself a heretic. CWO has, by declaring its intention to fight for the ordination of women, effectively done that very thing.

So we are left with several questions of vital importance. Why does a Catholic publishing house produce a leaflet which gives a link to CWO while claiming to be a spiritual guide for the Papal Visit to the UK? Why does the leaflet encourage the discussion of women's ordination in groups? Who is Lucy Russell, and why was she asked to write for the pamphlet when she appears, on the surface, to be so ill-equipped to defend the teaching of the Church?

I totally agree with Fr. Ray Blake in suggesting that emails should be sent to the Secretary General of the Redemptorists, Fr. Joseph P. Dorcey C.Ss.R., asking some of these questions. I also wrote a review of the pamphlet, warning others that this publication, because of its promotion of a heretical group, could not in truth call itself Catholic... somehow I suspect that the review will not find its way onto the website... I shall let you know!


* Yes, I know. After all, I'm a Science teacher. I do realise that the Sun only appears to rise. Nevertheless, it only appears to rise in the East, so stop being so pedantic. Or I'll put you in detention...