Position · 1976

Male Priesthood

The teaching that only men can be ordained priests or bishops, because the priest acts in the person of Christ and the church is bound by Christ’s choice of twelve men as apostles.

The practice is ancient. It was set out as an explicit argument when other churches began ordaining women: the Vatican declaration Inter Insigniores (1976) gave the reasons, and Ordinatio Sacerdotalis (1994) declared that the church has no authority to ordain women. Orthodox theologians make a similar case from Holy Tradition and the symbolism of the priest as an icon of Christ.

Unlike Protestant Complementarianism, it says nothing about headship in the home and concerns the sacrament of orders, not women’s teaching or leadership as such. Critics, including some Catholic theologians, argue that the apostles’ maleness reflected their culture and does not bind the church.