THE arguments put forward in your feature headlined, 'Struggle for a place in the priesthood' (South China Morning Post, October 16) have, perhaps, not taken into account that the Catholic Church has been constituted not by men but by God himself.
That being the case, its nature can only be changed by its author, not by a referendum of its members.
The priesthood is intimately linked to the Church which is, therefore, duty-bound to preserve it as Jesus Christ instituted it. Sister Marie Remedios is right. He only called men to this particular role.
The priesthood is a calling. It is a role that no one - even if he be a man - can assign to himself or that one signs up for, as in the Boy Scouts, or in a charity organisation. It is Jesus who calls.
Furthermore, the article seems to have missed the Church's stand 'that women with their own gifts and tasks have their own specific vocation' (John Paul II, Christifideles Laici).
Mary, the Mother of Jesus, is the Queen of all Saints, Mother of the Church, and yet Jesus Christ did not call her to the ministerial priesthood. Everyone has a role to play, but the person's worth does not depend on how 'high' or 'low' he or she is in the hierarchy.