Sir - C. T. Greenan (July 16th), quotes from Ordinatio Sacerdotalis ". . . the church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women". It is the very phrasing of this statement that makes the Vatican's position so suspect. Why should the church need special authority to confer priestly ordination on women?
Does it not rather need authority to deny such ordination? Can such authority be produced? Conversely, how do we know the church has the authority to ordain, say, Celts, or people whose surname is Greenan? Thinking people, Catholic or otherwise, cannot simply accept ludicrous commands from Rome without trying to make sense of them. I fear that the "educated Catholics" C. T. Greenan speaks of might soon become "educated members of the Church of Ireland". - Yours etc.,
Barnyard Kelly, State College, Pennsylvania, U.S.A.