There are still a number of voices in the Church that believe she should begin to ordain women to the priesthood. I have been thinking about this recently and realized that at the heart of this argument is something much deeper and more troubling for the Church than a misguided understanding of authentic gender equality. Rather, what is at stake here is that to a large degree Catholics have abandoned the belief in infallibility. I'm certain there are a number of contributing causes to this, some having to do with modernity and post-modernity, some having to do with the sex abuse scandal, which among other things has sapped the perception of credibility from the hierarchy of the Church, much of it having to do, I believe, with the fact that we are now on at least our second generation of Catholics suffering from horrifically poor catechesis and just really have not been brought with a solid understanding of the Catholic faith.

Let's begin with the first point, which needs to be understood before all else: that the priesthood is open only to males is absolutely an infallible teaching of the Church. This is unquestionable. I don't know why so many people are unaware of it, but it is definitely the case. After Pope John Paul II's 1994 Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, written to put to rest any questions about women in the priesthood, there were questions raised as to whether or not he was making an infallible declaration or whether he was stating the current Magesterial teaching, in a way that Catholics owe the assent of faith but not necessarily an infallible teaching. In order to address the question, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a responsum ad dubium, which was signed and ordered published by John Paul II. Here I will present the entirety of that text:

October 28, 1995

Dubium: Whether the teaching that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women, which is presented in the Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis to be held definitively, is to be understood as belonging to the deposit of faith.

Responsum: In the affirmative.

This teaching requires definitive assent, since, founded on the written Word of God, and from the beginning constantly preserved and applied in the Tradition of the Church, it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium (cf. Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church Lumen Gentium 25, 2). Thus, in the present circumstances, the Roman Pontiff, exercising his proper office of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32), has handed on this same teaching by a formal declaration, explicitly stating what is to be held always, everywhere, and by all, as belonging to the deposit of the faith.

The Sovereign Pontiff John Paul II, at the Audience granted to the undersigned Cardinal Prefect, approved this Reply, adopted in the ordinary session of this Congregation, and ordered it to be published.

Rome, from the offices of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on the Feast of the Apostles SS. Simon and Jude, October 28, 1995.

Joseph Card. Ratzinger
Prefect

Tarcisio Bertone
Archbishop Emeritus of Vercelli

The wording of the responsum is clear and explicit: the teaching of the male priesthood that was set forth in Ordinatio sacerdotalis requires the definitive assent of faith, and it has been set forth infallibly by the ordinary and universal Magisterium. Note that it is not saying that John Paul II issued an infallible declaration, but rather that what John Paul II explained in his apostolic letter was that which already belonged to the infallible teachings of the Church. In other words, it is not infallible because he taught it, but rather he taught it because it is infallible.

The fact is, though, that its infallibility does not matter so much to many Catholics, because so many Catholics today do not believe in infallibility at all. They do not believe that there can be such a thing as an objective truth and that God would ever use the Church as the prophetic voice through which He reveals this truth. More and more Catholics today regard the Church as conformable to their desires, their vision, their hopes, instead of seeing the Church as that which God gives to us so that we may be conformed to Christ. This is the same problem that afflicts so many areas of the Catholic praxis and belief today. It is the same problem that afflicts our liturgies – we no longer conceive of the liturgy as something that we received, and participate in as received, but rather as something that we fabricate according to our whims.

There is no doubt the forces are against the Church today, and relativism has established itself as a much more comfortable and tolerable dictatorship than any truth claims made by the Church. And again, I don't think it's possible to separate out completely the effect that the sex abuse scandal has had. The timing of it was such that right at a time when Catholics were trained more and more to question authority in general, were starting to reject the authority of the Church in particular, right at that time we experienced and are continuing to learn of a failure of catastrophic proportions by that authority. And while there is no doubt legitimate anger at the Church because of these sins of bishops and priests, I am certain also that many saw the scandal itself as just the excuse they needed to abandon the Church, just the excuse they needed to justify their belief that the Church can't be trusted to teach the truth – I know this because for a long time I used the scandal as exactly that excuse.

The reality is that the Church has always been and always will be made up of sinners, and God does not remove people's free will just because they have been ordained, though certainly there is a special grace that comes with that Sacrament. Despite the freedom of will of all people, however, God does not abandon us to the absolute darkness of the unknown. Even with a Church full of sinners – we are, after all, a hospital for sinners – even so, God will continue to use the Church as the prophetic voice of truth, so that, no matter what, we may know everything God wants us to know for our salvation.

More and more today Catholics prefer to believe that the values that are taught by the world should be the guiding force of the Church, and that in order for the Church to be relevant she needs to embrace these values. But the Church's only relevant value is that she is capable of leading souls towards the truth about God and humanity, and that she may lead souls to salvation. If she needs to forsake that in order to make herself "relevant" in any worldly sense, then her irrelevance will have already been assured.

Today's Lenten reading comes from Thomas Merton's Thoughts in Solitude:

The "turning" of our whole self to God can be achieved only by deep and sincere and simple faith, enlivened by a hope which knows that contact with God is possible, and love which desires above all things to do His will.

Sometimes, meditation is nothing but an unsuccessful struggle to turn ourselves to God, to seek His Face by faith. Any number of things beyond our control may make it morally impossible for one to meditate effectively. In that case, faith and good will are sufficient. If one has made a really sincere and honest effort to turn himself to God and cannot seem to get his wits together at all, then the attempt will have to count as meditation. This means that God, in His mercy, accepts our unsuccessful efforts in the place of real meditation. Sometimes it happens that this interior helplessness is a sign of real progress in the interior life – for it makes us depend more completely and peacefully on the mercy of God.

If we can, by God's grace, turn ourselves entirely to Him, and put aside everything else in order to speak with Him and worship Him, this does not mean that we can always imagine Him or feel His presence. Neither imagination nor feeling are required for a full conversion of our whole being to God. Nor is intense concentration on an "idea" of God especially desirable.

Hard as it is to convey in human language, there is a very real and very recognizable (but almost entirely undefinable) Presence of God, in which we confront Him in prayer knowing Him by Whom we are known, aware of Him Who is aware of us, living Him by Whom we know ourselves to be loved. Present to ourselves in the fullness of our own personality, we are present to Him Who is infinite in His Being, His Otherness, His Self-hood. It is not a vision face to face, but a certain presence of self to Self in which, with the reverent attention of our whole being, we know Him in Whom all things have their being. The "eye" which opens to His presence is in the very center of our humility, in the very heart of our freedom, in the very depths of our spiritual nature. Meditation is the opening of this eye.

I apologize for missing the past few days with Lenten readings. Today's reading comes from St. Teresa of Avila's Meditations on the Song of Songs:

There is another kind of friendship and peace our Lord begins to give some persons who are totally committed to not offending Him in anything, although they don't withdraw so much from the occasions. They have their times for prayer. Our Lord gives them tenderness and tears. Yet, they do not want to give up the enjoyments of this life. They want to live a good and well-ordered life, for they think it is beneficial for them to live here below with tranquility. Life bears with it many changes. They will be doing enough if they continue in the practice of virtue. But if they don't withdraw from the satisfactions and pleasures of the world, they will soon grow lax again in walking the Lord's path; there are great enemies we must defend ourselves against. Such, daughters, is not the friendship the bride desires; neither should you desire it. Turn away from any little occasion, however small, if you want the soul to grow and live securely.

I don't know why I'm saying these things to you unless so that you will understand the dangers that lie in not turning resolutely from all worldly things. For if we do turn from them we will spare ourselves many faults and trials.

For the past few years Lent has been a very interesting experience for me. I always anticipate Lent with such reverent joy. I look forward to the opportunity for that special focus on conversion, on purification, on detachment – I find great hope in the desert. Each year I've come up with a plan, combining the three pillars of fasting, almsgiving and prayer. And lo and behold, each year I fail, and do so in grand fashion. Not only do I almost never remain faithful to my plan, but I end up ironically eating more gluttonously, giving less of myself, and praying less than I typically do in Ordinary Time. I can't figure it out, but it's happened again this year.

Then today I began to reflect on Matthew 16 – really all of Matthew's Gospel, and how it builds up in 16. Peter, having followed Christ for three years, becoming so close to Jesus and indeed being the real leader of the Apostles, makes this tremendous confession of Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God. And Jesus tells Peter that it is on him that He will build the Church, and Peter will be the leader.

What joy that must have brought Peter – the joy of knowing that you are pleasing to the one you love. Yet what immediately follows this scene? The proclamation by Jesus that he must suffer and be killed, to be raised on the third day. When Peter rebukes Jesus – immediately following his great triumph with Christ – Jesus says to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan." What a fall from grace! And from that moment onward, as Jesus begins his true ministry of the Cross, Peter does nothing but fail every step of the way. This leads up to that famous scene at the Last Supper when Jesus tells Peter that thrice he will deny him. Peter can't imagine it (maybe he can but can't come to admit it aloud). And as we know, he does just this. The harder and harder it gets for Christ, the more Peter abandons him and denies his mission.

But I have to think, what a great mercy it was that Jesus predicted this denial. He has already appointed Peter as leader of the Church. By Jesus letting Peter know ahead of time that he knew he would deny him, it was as if he said, "Hey, I knew you would deny me, you would fail, but just as surely as I knew that, trust that I also know that it is not these failures that will define you or your love for me. You will indeed be my greatest servant, my Rock, and you will follow in my very footsteps to martyrdom. I knew you would deny me, but I chose you because I knew it was your faith – your true faith, that would define you." Jesus chose Peter, and in time Peter learned that despite his failings and his struggles, Jesus chose him for a reason.

Jesus too has chosen me to be His priest. I have many years to go before that blessed day, and there will be many more failings along the way. And while I strive to once again pick myself up and renew my Lenten observance, I have to think that through my failings Jesus is able to say, "Remember, I knew you would fail – and I chose you anyway. I chose you to be my priest. Trust in my choice, not in your failings."

So tomorrow I begin anew. I pray that grace will lead me towards greater purity and conformity to Christ. And if I fail again, I will continue to trust in Christ, for it was He who chose me.