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Article: Gender & priesthood: the Orthodox keep talking.(Column)
- Article from:
- Commonweal
- Article date:
- January 26, 1996
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1996 Commonweal Foundation. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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After the recent Roman declaration that Catholics must regard it as infallible, a matter of the "deposit of faith," that only men can be priests, a Catholic friend asked if my Orthodox parish had gained any new members. I told him that although we may never see women priests in Orthodoxy, we would at least not call it an infallible truth.
This was meant lightly on both sides, but the Roman declaration will have very serious consequences, none of them intended by Rome. It will lead some people to leave the Catholic church; it will discourage many who stay; it will hearten people who already agree. None of these are the truly important consequences. No doubt it ...