Now that I have released the Vatican document into the public domain two things stand out in my mind this evening.
First, it is good to have it out there. From the first moment it came to me I knew that I was not going to sign it. But it has been sitting there for the last three months or so. Now it is gone, my decision has been finally made certain and clear, and there is a sense of relief and satisfaction about that.
1. The Reservation of Priesthood to Men Alone
The following paragraph is taken from the Apostolic Letter, Ordinatio Sacerdotalis of Pope John Paul II (1994).
4. Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal Tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church’s judgment that women are not to be admitted
to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force.
