I know Sister Nona well and can testify to her outstanding commitment to Christ and His Church. Why do people feel the need to attack those with whom they disagree? I still do not understand this.

As far as I know, with a few exceptions, St. Thomas Aquinas is not recognized as a theological authority within the Eastern Church. St. Gregory is -- and I would much rather adopt his positions.

. . . but I do believe that one can be in favor of the ordination of women and remain a Catholic in good standing, as long as one complies with and accepts the present laws, rulings (or however you want to phrase it) of the Pope and the magisterium.

There is an icon that portrays Christ creating Adam in the Garden, they are presented as identical, so our iconographic tradition would seem to support Fr. John's statement because to produce a type, Adam, one must have the prototype, Christ.

You have it backwards.

According to the Eastern Church Fathers, Christ is the first and Adam the second man. The Fathers state that Adam was made in the image of Christ -- not the other way around.

See Bishop Kallistos Ware, The Orthodox Way for an excellent introduction to this topic. See also Vladimir Lossky, The Mystical Theology of the Orthodox Church.

RSV 1 Corinthians 15:45 Thus it is written, "The first (prōtos) man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. 46 But it is not the spiritual which is first but the physical, and then the spiritual. 47 The first man was from the earth, a man of dust; the second man is from heaven.

Bishop Kallistos, V. Lossky and even the Fathers get trumped by scripture; perhaps more specific references would clear things up.

rcguest:

Actually this position was formally repudiated in 1994 by HH JP2 of blessed memory. He issued a formal statement that clearly binds all Catholics as a matter of faith. The statement clearly states that women cannot be ordained to the priesthood and that Catholics can no longer argue this point and still consider themselves in good standing as far as the Faith is concerned. He even included a statement that this teaching of his was to bind all Catholics in conscience to submission.

We Catholics have lost the idea that when Rome speaks, the case is closed. I believe this started to go by the boards in 1968 when Humanae Vitae was issued and the idea took hold that "conscientious dissent" ought to be allowed if one made the claim of personal conscience. That, too, is a shaky argument because Catholics are to form their conscience in conformity with the Magisterium and its official teaching in all areas.

But we don't have the right to hold positions like this just because we think we can for one reason or another.

In Christ,

BOB

I do not fear for my Church and its decisions. I do fear much of what the "Neo-Con Traditionalist" movement that is afoot spews all over the internet.