Women at the Altar?

What the Christian church needs is some priestesses, says the Rev. Cyril C. Richardson, professor of church history at Union Theological Seminary. In the current issue of Christianity & Crisis, Episcopalian Richardson argues that through priestesses "the motherhood of the church can be given unique expression."

The old theological argument against such a thing, says Richardson, is "that women are incapable of Holy Order because they are in a state of subjection by nature. According to Aquinas, their subjection to men is due to the fact that 'in man the discretion of reason predominates.' " But Richardson reasons that a Christian virtue superior to reason is agape (brotherly love), "a virtue which unites masculine and feminine . . . Hence, from a Christian point of view . . . neither the masculine society nor matriarchy is theologically sound. Only the society in which male & female are complementary to each other--not equal in the sense of being identical, but equal in the sense that neither has priority--is the true Christian society."

Richardson acknowledges that the main problem is determining just what the special functions of a priestess should be. He thinks she should both preach and celebrate the sacraments, concentrating on "the feminine aspect of the Word, the sacraments and pastoral care." This does not mean just women preaching to women: "Men need the ministry of women no less than women need the ministry of men. Or rather, each sex needs the ministry of both sexes in order that the principles of fatherhood and motherhood may be fully expressed in the church."

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