Quote:
Originally Posted by angelak2008  Hi All-
I have a long story, but I'll cut straight to my questions  I feel drawn to Catholicism in many ways, but it would be a HUGE departure from the church I grew up in, and even the church I currently attend (Episcopal). Basically, I want to know:
How can I accept the idea of a Pope, someone who is "closer to God" than I am? This is very hard for me to get...
How can I get past the idea that women can't serve as priests, and that priests should be celibate? I don't see why these things must be...
I am: pro-gay rights/marriage, pro-choice...can I still be a Catholic?
And finally, where do I begin to read about the church, and how does one "become" a Catholic?
Thanks for your help. I am SHOCKED to find myself considering this!
Angela |
In the case of the Pope - it isn't really that he is supposed to be "closer to God" especially on a personal level. Rather, the teaching is more that when Christ founded the Church, he left it with a certain political/hierarchical structure. THere are different offices with different functions. The office of the Pope, according to the CC, has certain powers and responsibilities, because God has given them to that office. They are specific, and limited.
In a way you could compare it to a monarch. Since I am Canadian, my head of state is Elizabeth II. Now, before she was queen, she had every right to have whatever personal views she chose, she could do what she liked, etc. But once she became Queen, she took on a kind of second personality. As queen, she isn't a citizen, can't vote, and cannot express political views. Of course she still has them, but she must subsume them into her office.
The Pope is in some ways similar. He is not as an individual closer to God (except in the way one person might be rather than another) but in his office as Pope he has powers that an individual does not have.
As far as women as priests - the first thing I would say is - well, God could certainly stipulate that if he wanted to. Secondly, the Church teaches that sexual differences are a part of the way men and women were made from the beginning, even before the Fall. (Some religions do not teach this which leads them in another direction.) Thirdly, the way the Church understands being a priest is not like being an airline pilot, it is like being a mother. And finally, the strongest and most important arguments about why women can't be priests come from the nature of the priesthood, and the way in which the priest represents Christ. It is also the most seldom seen argument and the most difficult. If you want to look into it, you will have to find a Catholic text on the nature of the priesthood as a place to start.
The Church does not actually teach that priests cannot be married - in fact there have been times when they did accept married men to the priesthood, and it is still done in the Eastern Catholic churches. But normally in the West this is not done, because it is felt that it is better for priests to be unmarried. Not required as a matter of necessity, but practically speaking preferable. It is quite possible as a Catholic to disagree with this, although you would still have to accept that it was the decision of the authorities, for now at least.
As for pro-choice - that is non-negotiable. THe Church does not differentiate between the value of souls, all are considered equally precious. On what grounds could it possibly do so, given that it believes that Christ died for all? WE are called to love like Christ. And the general belief is that the soul is present from conception (which is based on an Aristotelian or Thomistic understanding of form and matter, if you are interested. All things which exist must have a form - that is what makes them what they are. The form of a living thing is a soul. Thus, even a zygote has a soul, though much of it's nature is potential rather than actual at that point.)
THe gay thing - well, it really depends on what you mean by pro-gay and pro gay rights. But the CC does not support gay marriage. I mentioned above that the Church teaches that sexuality, maleness and femaleness, is an innate and god-created part of us. Sometimes it is not expressed in the usual way, as with other biologically based aspects of humanity. But marriage, which was created by God, was made specifically to include a man and a woman. So to marry two people of the same sex is simply seen as impossible. But this is a difficult idea to discuss in our culture because our cultural understanding of marriage is not really that close to the Catholic understanding, (or even in many other religions.)
)
