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RESOLUTION
Regarding the Task Force document on “Tradition and the
Ordination of Women”
At its June 5, 1997, meeting the Board of
the Catholic Theological Society of America unanimously decided:
- The Board of the Society receives this paper and thanks the
panel of distinguished theologians who have composed it at the request of the
Board.
- Further, the Board judges this paper to be an example of the
work of Catholic theologians, who in a spirit of cooperation and ecclesial
communion have presented serious difficulties and questions to the
Responsum of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. The Board
intends its work in this area as a “positive contribution to the maturing
of reflection on the deposit of faith”, as described by Pope John Paul
II:
“It is certainly necessary to distinguish the
attitude of theologians who, in a spirit of cooperation and ecclesial
communion, present their difficulties and questions, and thus positively
contribute to the maturing of reflection on the deposit of faith, from the
public stance of opposition to the magisterium, which is described as
‘dissent’; the latter tends to set up a kind of counterrnagisterium,
presenting believers with alternative positions and forms of behavior.”
(“How Authority Is Conceived,” Origins 25 [February 15, 1996], p.
573.
- Further, because of the seriousness of the issues raised and
the place of the Society within the communion of the Church, the Board is
sending a copy of this paper to the Presidents of the Episcopal Conferences of
Canada and the United States. In this the Board is attempting to meet the
responsibilities of Catholic theologians as taught by Article 30 in the
Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith’s “Instruction on the
Ecclesial Vocation of the Theologians”:
“If, despite a loyal effort on the theologian’s
part, the difficulties persist, the theologian has the duty to make known to
the Magisterial authorities the problem raised by the teaching in itself, in
the arguments proposed to justify it, or even in the manner in which it is
presented.”
- The Board endorses the conclusion of the paper, that:
“There are serious doubts regarding the nature of
the authority of this teaching and its grounds in Tradition. There is serious,
widespread disagreement on this question not only among theologians, but also
within the larger community of the Church. Once again, it seems clear,
therefore, that further study, discussion, and prayer regarding this question
by all the members of the Church in accord with their particular gifts and
vocations are necessary if the Church is to be guided by the Spirit in
remaining faithful to the authentic Tradition of the Gospel in our day.
(Lines 295-301, Tradition and the Ordination of Women)
BE IT RESOLVED:
That the Society, assembled at its annual Business Meeting,
after a year-long process of study and revision, endorses the conclusion of the
paper, “Tradition and the Ordination of Women,” that “There are
serious doubts regarding the nature of the authority of this teaching. Namely,
the teaching that the Church’s lack of authority to ordain women to the
priesthood is a truth that has been infallibly taught and requires the
definitive assent of the faithful and its grounds in Tradition. There is
serious, widespread disagreement on this question not only among theologians,
but also within the larger community of the Church. ... [I]t seems clear...that
further study, discussion, and prayer regarding this question by all the
members of the Church in accord with their particular gifts and vocations are
necessary if the Church is to be guided by the Spirit in remaining faithful to
the authentic Tradition of the Gospel in our day.”
The Board recommended to the Chair that a vote of the members
present at the Business Meeting would be taken by secret ballot and recorded.
Of 248 members present, 216 voted “yes”, 22 voted “no,” and
10 abstained.
June 6, 1997
National Catholic Reporter, posted June
1997
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