Book Review John Wijngaards The Ordination of Women in the Catholic Church with the subtitle Unmasking the Cuckoo’s Egg Tradition (London: Darton, Longman & Todd ISBN 0-232-52420-3).
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Systematically, in clear language, with great scholarship, Wijngaards refutes the arguments used in Inter Insigniores and the Apostolic letter On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men alone (22 May 1994): Jesus selected only men to be his apostles, the constant practice of the Church, which imitated Christ in choosing only men and her living teaching authority which has constantly held that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is in accordance with God’s plan for his Church, the priest on the altar represents Jesus who was a man, etc.
Wijngaards explains why there is no basis for the refusal to ordain women found in the Scriptures. He shows that for centuries women were ordained deacons with exactly the same ritual as men and he reasons that the function of representing Christ can be entrusted to women just as well as by men.
Wijngaards points out that the first collection of Church Law by the monk Gratian in Bologna (c. 1140) was based on Roman Law and that: “Women were hemmed in on all sides in Roman Law. The Roman principles that thus became enshrined in Church Law and Church practice were:
- In many sections of our law, the condition of women is weaker than that of men.
- Women are excluded from any civil and public responsibility and therefore can neither be judges nor exercise any authority.
- Women are under the tutelage of men because of the infirmity of their sex and because of ignorance about matters pertaining to public life.”
These are still the underlying principles of present Church Law.
“The spurious parent bird that laid the egg was none other than secular pagan prejudice, a prejudice enshrined in Roman Law. The host ‘parent’ bird treats the cuckoo’s egg as its own. With typical cuckoo hatchling ruthlessness, the intruder killed off truly Christian initiatives of women’s ministries.”
At the end of each chapter, Wijngaards lists readings from his website. There are many quotes from or references to Scripture, Decrees from Vatican II and earlier Councils, Apostolic letters and works from theologians, old and modern.
At the end of his book Wijngaards affirms that “the need for reform in the Catholic Church does not limit itself to the question of women’s ordination. Other important issues are outstanding, such as the ban on artificial contraception, the maintenance of obligatory celibacy for clergy in the Latin rite, the role of the laity in Church administration and in the pastoral apostolate, the legitimate authority of bishops conferences, ecumenism, dialogue with other religions, recognition of homosexuals to mention just a few”. I recommend The Cuckoo’s Egg warmly!
Jim Taverne
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