The Ministerial Priesthood Reserved to Men

In the Catholic Church, only men receive the priesthood. This reserve grows clear when one looks at what the priesthood is, who instituted it, and what the priest signifies before the assembly.

The priesthood, a call

The priesthood is a gift, received from on high. No one makes himself a priest: one is called to it, and one receives through ordination what one cannot give oneself: “No one takes this honour upon himself; he is called by God, as Aaron was.” Hebrews 5:4 A man himself cannot claim it as a right; he awaits it as a call. From there, everything is settled in the call of Christ: whom he calls, and the form he willed to give his priesthood.

The choice of the Twelve

Christ instituted the priesthood by choosing twelve men to be his apostles: “He called his disciples, and he chose twelve of them, whom he named apostles.” Luke 6:13 He established them to proclaim the Gospel, to baptise, to forgive sins, and to renew the act of the Last Supper; from them comes, step by step, the priesthood of the Church.

This choice was free. Christ welcomed women in a way his age ignored: women followed and served him, and it was they who first found the empty tomb and saw the Risen One, sent to announce him to the apostles (John 20:11-18). He who entrusted to women the first announcement of the resurrection nonetheless reserved the apostolic charge to the Twelve. His choice therefore carries an intention, free of the customs of the moment.

The priest, sign of Christ the Bridegroom

The deep reason lies in what the priest represents. In the Eucharist, the priest lends his voice and his hands to Christ: pronouncing the words of the Supper, it is in the name of Christ that he acts, and Christ makes himself present through him. The priest is the visible sign of Christ in the midst of the assembly.

Now Christ gave himself as the Bridegroom of the Church. He loves her, gives himself up for her, unites himself to her: “Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the Church and gave himself up for her.” Ephesians 5:25 This nuptial bond states the depth of salvation, the union of God and his people, which Scripture seals as a great mystery: “This mystery is great; I say it with reference to Christ and the Church.” Ephesians 5:32

The priest therefore bears the sign of Christ the Bridegroom before the Church, his Bride. A sign speaks by resembling what it figures: the water of baptism evokes what washes, the bread what nourishes. In the same way, to figure the Bridegroom calls for a man: a woman cannot hold, in the sign, the role of the Bridegroom who is Christ.

What the Church has received

This choice the Church received from Christ and keeps. She acknowledges herself without power to change it, for it touches the form Christ gave to his priesthood. In this, the reserve differs from a custom like the veil, which has varied with the times: this one belongs to what the priesthood is. The Church therefore holds it as stable.

Service and holiness

The priesthood is a service, ordered to the salvation of others. Greatness, in the Gospel, is played out in holiness, without passing through ordination: the highest of creatures, she who bore God and whom all generations call blessed, was a woman, and none surpasses her: “All generations will call me blessed.” Luke 1:48

The priesthood reserved to men thus states Christ the Bridegroom who gives himself for his Church.