North Western Winds ponders this: "Veruca Salt as a priest?"

Recognize the Willy Wanka reference? She was the spoiled little girl whose parents gave her everything. This image symbolizes this situation that the Bard of North Western Winds comments upon. Hat tip to Happy Catholic, whose post encouraged me to link it. He observes the fundamental unreality in which these "ordained" women currently live. They are Priests like he is a RCMP. Why not? He inducted himself in his own backyard. He also makes these observations:

Men are not better or more worthy than women because priests are not better or more worthy than lay people. Men, regardless of whether they have received Holy Orders or not, take communion in the same way as women do, and that, to me, is a more important indicator of equality and dignity than consecration or any other priestly function. Consecration is not dependent on the holiness of the person performing it. If it were, Parishes the world over would be watching their priests critical eyes, lest their Eucharistic well be poisoned. The critical factor in consecration is that the person be in a true line of Apostolic Succession and there is no line of women apostles, nor can one be created by simple human desire.

Different talents mean that we are dependent on one another, like the parts or the cells of the body. This, I think, gets right at the nub of why some moderns are so intoxicated by the idea of equality. If we can only be totally equal, we can be totally independent, not wanting anything from anyone. That's a form of pride, and it might hold a clue to why gender distinctions as a whole were never questioned by Christ. Remember, He summarized the commandments by asking that we "Love one another, as I have loved you." The qualification is very important and adds tremendous weight to the actions that were recorded. One cannot blithely assume that God himself was cowed by the social conventions of the ancient Jews.

He makes an excellent case for the all-male priesthood. He also calls the bluff of most modernists. Equality is only an issue if priests are simply wielders of power in a strictly human institution. The proponants of woman priesthood often betray this Reasonable assumption. Fools, especially Roman Catholic ones, can only laugh at this. It's a wee hard to be the Mystical Body of Christ if one has no divine character whatsoever. Christ, however, is both God and man. Therefore, his Church--his body--has human and divine composition. Priests are not power-brokers. They are servants. They serve the laity, the people of God in the world. The laity are the people to whom Christ has given the commission to evangelize and make disciples of all nations. Priests, working with their Bishops, ensure that the laity are religiously prepared to keep this commission. They do this by supporting us with the Church's sacraments and instructing us with their teaching authority. To resort to a crude metaphor; Deacons, priests and bishops are coaches. The laity are the players.

Woman have different gifts to share with the Body of Christ. This does not denigrate them in any way. I can never be a mother to Frankie. My blushing bride enjoys that privilidge. She will share those maternal intimacies with my son that I can only dream of. He will throw his arms around her and call out "Mommy!" in ways that he'll never repeat on me. That does not make me less important than my blushing bride. She can never be his Father. That role belongs to me alone. She'll never be that model for manhood that I am for my son. Does that make her less significant? Of course not!

The Bard of the North points out that gender matters. The Reasonable people, in love with the idea of re-ordering all of life according to their liking, refuse to admit this. They believe that such acknowledgements of reality will be the slippery slope to the days of women's second-class citizenship. All the recognition of the reality of gender will do, however, is demonstrate how complementary men and women are to one another. That understanding confirms are humanity; it does not diminish it.

My heart goes out to these women. They have been so lead astray by the wishful-thinkers of the Reasonable that they may never come home again. What a tragedy they have willingly undertaken to live! What a loss for the Church and for them!