Why women cannot be ordained
SIR – I wonder why Matthew Schmitz (Comment, May 17) did not give your readers the reason why Pope St John Paul II ruled that women cannot receive sacramental ordination? Could it be that the reason has been lost in the confusion of which he writes?
The reason our saintly pope gives, though, is beautiful, and one that has the power to heal the hearts and minds of women: the Church, the bride of Christ, being one with him, as his equal, can only do what her spouse, Jesus, does. Since God himself does not ordain women, then the Church cannot do so either.
