Talk:John Wijngaards

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Ministry for Women

[A] In the lede we find this :-

"Pope John Paul II’s decrees Ordinatio Sacerdotalis and Ad Tuendam Fidem <which> forbid further discussion of the women priests’ issue in the Catholic Church"

(1) Ordinatio Sacerdotalis ("OS") is not a "decree", it is an Apostolic Letter. No more is Ad Tuendam Fidem ("ATF") a decree; it is an Apostolic Letter motu proprio by which amendments were made to Canon Law, and ATF doesn't even mention OS or the topic of women's ordination.

(2) In so far as "forbid further discussion of the women priests’ issue" implies (as it clearly does) that either or both of those Letters contains or constitutes a "gagging order" relative to this particular "issue", it is incorrect and misleading. Nothing in those documents in terms prohibits "further discussion". What OS does is confirm that the Church's teaching on the impossibility of ordaining women to the priesthood is "definitive" without (yet) any determination that it has been divinely revealed. What ATF does is provide, as a matter of Canon Law, that those who reject definitive propositions "set themselves against the teaching of the Catholic Church" (Code of Canon Law, can. 750 §2). That's it. No gagging order, no prohibition of discussion.

I suggest the following form of words is both more precise and avoids the risk of misleading people into thinking a unique gagging order has been imposed on this particular topic:-

"Pope Paul II's Apostolic Letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis <which> has the effect of removing women's ordination to the priesthood from the class of theological topics open to debate within the Catholic Church."

Something more needs to be said before I proceed to making the needful edit, but for now I await comments on the points I have made above. Ridiculus mus (talk) 11:22, 8 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]