Spiritual Sex Change

In setting up for the family reunion, I had occassion to speak with the parish priest about the hall we were using. Conversation soon moved from the subject of the parish hall to John Paul the Great's theology of the body and his use of Christopher West's popularization of the same for marriage prep classes. Of course, Balthasar had to be discussed as well . . . unfortunately (for them), I had several people waiting in the car for me at the time. The conversation continued . . . Because of our proximity to Canada here, of course we also talked about the recent same sex marriage act in Canada and the so called "ordination" of women on the St. Lawrence Sea Way. It seemed to us that JP the Great's anthropology is an effective answer to this confused way of thinking which seems to assume that sex differences do not matter.

After leaving the rectory, the thought came to me that the misguided attempt of women to be ordained as Catholic priests is analogous to the physical sex change operations undergone by some tortued souls. In a sex change operation, the physical appearance is changed, but the sexual dimension of the soul remains untouched. Likewise, when ordination is attempted by women, the accidental exterior acts seem to be the same as for men but the soul remains untouched. That is except for the fact that a woman damages herself when she attempts to reject her feminine constitution and act like a man, as JP the Great says in Mulieris dignitatem. But back to the issue of priests and masculinity.

You see, priests are spiritual fathers. They obtain their spiritual fatherhood from the fact that they are ordained as priests in the Person of the one High Priest, Christ. Christ's priesthood is a mediation of God's fatherly love to His children -- His Church. God relates to humanity as masculine to feminine. This is perhaps best understood in the sense that God is the first to offer love; the human person must actively receive this love and then return it. Jesus is a male because His masculine soul is necessary to provide this love of initiative. That is why only males, who in holy orders are sacramentally configured to the person of Christ, can be ordained as priests. Only a male soul relates masculinly to other persons and so only a male soul can be configured to Christ as a priest. In a recent post I mentioned Peter Kreeft's superb article on this subject. I would again strongly recommend reading it if you have not already.

This is a difficult teaching for some because they mistakenly view the Church and the hierarchy through a secular lens. In other words, they view the hierarchy as positions of power to be sought rather than as fathers of a family who are put there by Christ to serve Him and His family. Again, as with most dissent it goes back to a lack of trust. But this trust is misplaced when we think that because humans are sinful and fallible, that we can trust only ourselves. The trust we call faith is ultimately in Christ and His promise to protect and guide His Church through the Holy Spirit. The truth the Church teaches makes perfect sense but until the issue of trust is resolved, hearts will remain closed to the movement of the Holy Spirit to accept this beautiful truth.