Women’s ordination to the priesthood has been, and still is, a contentious issue in the Church. Pope Paul VI, quoted by Pope John Paul II in his Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, wrote, “[The Church] holds that it is not admissible to ordain women to the priesthood, for very fundamental reasons. These reasons include: the example recorded in the Sacred Scriptures of Christ choosing his Apostles only from among men; the constant practice of the Church, which has imitated Christ in choosing only men; and her living teaching authority which has consistently held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God’s plan for his Church” (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis 1). Are women really excluded from the priesthood? And if they are included, in what way are they involved?
After reading the Vatican Congregation for the Clergy’s letter On The Occasion Of the World Day of Prayer For The Sanctification Of Priests, I came to realise and appreciate more the mystical role of women within the priesthood of Christ. On the example of the Virgin Mary, who devoutly supported her Son during his saving mission, priests need spiritual mothers who continually support and accompany them by their fervent motherly prayers and sacrifices in order to carry out their pastoral mission commissioned to them by the Good Shepherd.
The aforementioned letter eloquently clarifies women’s mystical role in Christ’s priesthood. “We cannot do without a spiritual motherhood for our priestly life: let us entrust ourselves confidently to the prayer of the whole of Holy Mother Church, to the motherhood of the People, whose pastors we are but to whom are entrusted our custody and holiness; let us ask for this fundamental support... A further form of spiritual motherhood has recently been outlined. It has always silently accompanied the chosen ranks of priests in the course of the Church’s history. It is the concrete entrustment of our ministry to a specific face, to a consecrated soul who has been called by Christ and therefore chooses to offer herself, with the necessary suffering and the inevitable struggles of life, to intercede for our priestly existence, thereby dwelling in Christ’s sweet presence. This motherhood, which embodies Mary’s loving face, should be prayed for because God alone can bring it into being and sustain it. In this regard there are plenty of wonderful examples; only think of St Monica’s beneficial tears for her son Augustine, for whom she wept “more than mothers weep when lamenting their dead children” (St Augustine, Confessions III, 11). Another fascinating example is that of Eliza Vaughan, who gave birth to 13 children and entrusted them to the Lord; six of her eight sons became priests and four of her five daughters became women religious.”
In her letter to her sister Céline, Saint Thérèse of the Child Jesus highlighted the dire need of interceding for priests, especially for those who are lukewarm in front of God. “Let us live for souls, let us be apostles, let us save above all the souls of priests... Let us pray and suffer for them and on the last day Jesus will be grateful” (Saint Thérèse of Lisieux, Letter n. 94). While Pope Saint Pius X said: “Every priestly vocation comes from the heart of God but passes through the heart of a mother”. As a priest, I wholeheartedly encourage all those women who feel called by God to accompany a priest or a number of priests by their incessant intercession in word and deed to embrace this Marian vocation. Dear women, your self-oblation to God within the Mystical Body of Christ, the Church, is crucial in order that the Church and the world be blessed, sustained and saved by the Spirit anointed person and ministry of holy priests.
Fr Mario Attard OFM Cap
San Gwann