Female Cardinals?

[CatherineM]

I'm asking this question because I don't know, and not to start an argument. When the Anglicans started making bishops out of women and gay men, which upset the Orthodox more? I'm asking because our Ukrainian Catholic bishop had a lot to say about the Russian/Sochi gay ordinances recently.

[An Historian]

"Let women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted them to speak, but to be subject, as also the law saith." 1 Corinthians, chapter 14, verse 34.

[Aloysius]

there are a lot of landmines surrounding doing this... I think that in order to do it there should be both lay male cardinals and lay female cardinals to emphasize that cardinals don't all have holy orders.  and I wouldn't want to see those male lay cardinals getting elected as pope any time soon.

 

I think you would have to find a way to have the pomp and circumstance of the cardinalate while emphasizing the distinction between the lay cardinals and the episcopal cardinals.  I picture a particular kind of red hat for the ladies and a particular kind of red hat for the men, both very visibly different than a clerical cardinal... then maybe some kind of red cape but with the person's lay clothes--classy dress clothes, for the women I imagine something like what you might see the Queen of England wearing--still visible.  would we call the women "Princesses of the Church" like cardinals are "Princes of the Church"... or maybe the lay cardinals would be like dukes and duchesses of the Church lol and the episcopal cardinals would still be princes of the Church... hmm... I could really picture this, the men would be something like the Papal Gentlemen that Francis has gotten rid of (except with some kind of red, maybe a classy lay-looking Fedora, I'm sure some kind of design could be come up with) and the lady's red hat could be some kind of classy hat like the kind many women used to wear at Church except red.

 

honestly, I don't think this would be at all that kind of death knell to unity with the orthodox.  orthodox bishops are hard liners in many ways, but they're not quite the same kind of hard liner you usually find among the orthodox laity... I think they'd look at the move and kind of shrug their shoulders over it, really.  and there's no way at all it would push the eastern catholic sui juris churches into orthodox hands unless there was some indication that holy orders would be given to women... and it's very clear that if this would be done, it'd be done as a way to try to undercut the idea that there will ever be women as priests by emphasizing that women can have a significant role in the Church.  the role of the laity in relation to clerics in the Orthodox churches is already actually much more balanced than it has been in the Roman Church for quite some time.

 

 

The laymen of the Orthodox Church are especially prominent in the election of candidates to the Priesthood. Their cooperation is also indispensable in matters of the "Conscience of the Church." The faithful, clergy and laity, constitute the "royal priesthood," which means they are called upon by God to serve in Church. Laymen share the spiritual and administrative affairs of the church with clergymen, including the responsibility for the steadfastness of the faith and the discipline of the whole membership of the Church. 

http://www.goarch.org/ourfaith/ourfaith7063

 

 

anyway, the rules for the election of the pope are constantly changing.  it is true that only in the very early days of the Church were there ever totally non-clerical 'cardinals' involved in the election of popes.... those in medieval times that are often cited as "lay cardinals" had actually received tonsure and minor orders so that they were technically clerics, though they had the freedom to marry.  but in general, the rules for the election of the pope are always changing, they've had significant changes at many points in history and there's no reason to be against the idea of having a significant change now just like significant changes have constantly been done, if it was thought that it would be for the good of the Church.  I think if we did bring in lay cardinals, I would recommend changing the rules for the election of the pontiff such that the lay cardinals voted to elect candidates, and the episcopal cardinals approved or disapproved of those candidates and elected from among them... similar to an orthodox election of a priest, where the laity elect candidates who can be accepted or not by the episcopate.

 

of course, I highly doubt this is actually going to happen.  if it did, that's the kind of way I'd like to see it done.  

[Aloysius]

Nota Bene: As in previous discussions on married clergy, I'm approaching this mostly from the perspective of "it's not my decision to make, this is how I'd like to see it done if they did it", I am not actually advocating it be done and if it were my decision to make it's unlikely I would choose to do it... but I try not to judge things like this as if I have any grounds to make the decision one way or another... I'm just a simple layman, and not even a lay cardinal at that!

[AccountDeleted]

I've never wanted to be a priest but being a Cardinal might be fun!  How do I get appointed?? :)