Women and the Ministerial Priesthood: The Challenge of Synodality

Abstract

This paper touches upon the salient points of the Magisterial teaching on the prohibition of women to the Holy Orders and the theological objections raised against it. The primary objective of the paper is to provide a balanced groundwork for the issue regarding the prohibition of women's ordination.  It attempts to synthesize the arguments for and against the non-ordination of women to the ministerial priesthood. The Magisterium and those who reject women's ordination to the ministerial priesthood employ descending theology (deductive argumentation), arguing from Scripture, the living Tradition, doctrines and sacramental theology, and authority. The documents Inter Insigniores, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, and the CDF Responsum ad Propositum Dubium, among others, are official church documents that ground reasons regarding the non-admission of women to the ministerial priesthood. The dissenters, on the other hand, object and question the theological foundation and the method of interpretation. Employing ascending theology (inductive argumentation), they demonstrate their arguments from Scripture, history, relevant church documents, and contemporary human experience. Thus, the paper tries to lay down these various objections ranging from biblical to hermeneutical critique, questions of methodology, and moral and pastoral implications. Thus, the paper does not propose any moral or theological position but rather offers a synthesis in the spirit of synodality for the sake of young Catholics who may be asking for some clarity about the topic.