A priest from the Spanish diocese of Getafe named Father Francisco “Patxi” Bronchalo recently said on social media that a contentious drawing on the Synod on Synodality’s official Facebook page “is out of limits and confused.” Father Jess Silva of the Madrid Archdiocese also objected to the picture.
A lady wearing a white chasuble and scarlet stole is seen beside a group of young people in front of a church, along with a young guy sporting a colorful LGBT “Pride” shirt.
Bronchalo said in a series of tweets that the picture “surprised” him, and he started his analysis with the lady wearing clerical garb.
According to him, this picture “may convey the impression to anyone who sees it that one of the results of the synod might be that the sacrament of priestly ordination may also be administered to women,” which implies “deceiving whoever sees it and spreading confusion.”
People “within and outside the Church may think that this will be the case,” Bronchalo said, “and then be disillusioned.” The priest worries that there may be Church members “who feel dissatisfied by the propagation of phrases that don’t assist them in their faith but rather generate confusion” at the same time.
The priest said that since St. John Paul II clarified that ordination is only permitted for males in his apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, it is not conceivable for the synod to allow the ordination of women.
Bronchalo then cited the following passage from the document:
“Therefore, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32), I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be firmly held by all the Church’s faithful in order that all doubt regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, may be removed.” (OS, 4).
“Changing a tire is not like becoming a priest,”
Bronchalo further on the subject by presenting three justifications for why women cannot be ordained. First, “Holy Scripture informs us that Christ picked his Twelve Apostles solely from among mankind.”
Furthermore, the priest said that it was not due to a cultural problem since “it is clear that Christ’s behavior was not influenced by social or cultural factors.”
He said, “He picked twelve particular persons because he wanted it that way.
In addition, according to Bronchalo, “it makes perfect sense that priestly ordination be offered to males, since when we perform the sacraments, we (represent Christ, the Bridegroom) of the Church in our manhood. Therefore, it is crucial for the Church that candidates for the priesthood live a healthy and full masculinity.
The priest made it clear that “the priesthood is not an everyday task that anybody can do, like changing a tire”. The being is configured by receiving it.
Christ-imitation for two millennia
The Church has consistently practiced granting the sacrament of priestly orders to males for two millennia, mirroring Christ in his decision, according to Bronchalo’s second reason against the ordination of women.
“We are stewards of a religion that we both received and pass on. Because of this, the Church does not feel qualified to influence issues that originate with Christ, the priest said.
Additionally, he noted that there are 24 liturgical churches within the Catholic Church, and that “for all this time, it has always been accepted that the priesthood is given to men since Christ himself desired it that way” in all of them.
from the Church’s founders
Third, Bronchalo emphasized that throughout Church history, even before St. John Paul II, “the magisterium of the Church has continuously alluded to the reality that priestly ordination is for males.” As a result, early church fathers like St. Irenaeus, Tertullian, and St. Augustine refer to “the grounds for ordination being reserved to males” in their writings.
Women who are doctors of the Church, like St. Catherine of Siena, have backed the practice of only allowing males to hold ordination. The priest stated that the saint “talked of the marvel of being priests, to inspire men to practice their ministry effectively.”
In his conclusion, Bronchalo said the picture “is out of limits and is perplexing” because “rather than bringing people together, which is what the synod desires, what these things do is divide,” and he added, “I hope they would delete it or they could explain it to those who feel puzzled.”
All things that are not Church.
The Archdiocese of Madrid’s Father Silva made the following Twitter comment:
Don’t you think it’s cute how they depicted non-Catholic churches on the @Synod va page with all of their flaws encapsulated in an one image? So that we are aware of anything that is not a Catholic institution. Interesting tactic