LETTER TO THE EDITOR

God did not make a mistake entrusting priesthood to men

Posted

To the editor:

The letter regarding women in the church by Carol Wilcox seemed to suffer from a great misunderstanding about the nature of man and woman as God created us. Ms. Wilcox is eager for women to play a priestly “role.” The Catholic Church did not invent the priesthood but rather received it from God in the masculine person of Jesus Christ. The priest acts “in persona Christi” on the altar as he consecrates the bread and wine. We, the people in the pews, both men and women, are the body of Christ, His bride. It is not reasonable to suggest that Christ made a mistake in entrusting the priesthood to the men he chose to carry on his priestly and sacramental presence in the world.

I am sorry Ms. Wilcox feels she must change the words of the Creed from “men” to “us all.” The dictionary defines “man” as a member of the human race, a person. No discrimination is implied.

Women have an honored place in the beauty of God’s plan for the Church. As Ms. Wilcox says, women like to serve, and they do serve in many crucial ministries. God became incarnate in a woman’s womb. The world cries out for women whose vocations serve the bodies and souls entrusted to our care.

I do not believe God chuckles at the shortage of clergy. Surely, he challenges young men to respond to his call to follow him as other Christ’s who courageously enflesh the theological mystery of Fatherhood.

Cynthia T. Merrill

Bristol