Sir, - Once again it seems, there is a move to have women proclaimed as having a right to the Christian priesthood. Once again this claim must be rejected on three grounds:
1. God Himself determines who will exercise the function of the priesthood in the public liturgy. Not even Christ as man takes the honour to Himself, and to the Apostles he says, "You have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and have appointed you" (John 15:16).
2. Both in the Old and New Testaments God chose men exclusively for the priesthood.
3. Only men are to exercise the ministerial priesthood, representing all mankind before God in the things pertaining to God.
Were even a Pope to allow women to become priestesses in the Catholic Church, and I certainly do not rule out such a possibility in the current Conciliar Church a Pope or two down the line, that would not make them valid priests in the eyes of God. The only precedent for priestesses in the history of the world is within pagan or witchcraft sects. The movement for women priestesses within the Catholic Church will do nothing but quicken the demise of Catholicism. - Yours, etc.,
Elizabeth M. Crosbie
Braemor Road, Churchtown, Dublin 14.