A Summary of Inter Insigniores

1. Not all of the results of feminism are bad.  
2. Women play an important role in the Church.
3. Women should play as large of a legitimate role in the Church as is possible
4. There’s been a movement to admit women into the pastorate, and we need a decision on this matter.
5. The Church does not believe itself authorized to ordain women.  This needs to be explained.
6. Historically, the Church has never ordained women.  This is in keeping with the example of Jesus and of the Apostles.
7. The Scholastics also upheld this doctrine with various arguments.
8. This doctrine has been relatively uncontroversial historically so has received little attention.
9. The Eastern Churches are in agreement with the West on this point. 
10. Jesus did not ordain women or call them to the apostolate.  
11. Yet women played an exalted role in Jesus’s ministry.
12. It’s surprising in light of the exalted status of women in Jesus’s ministry that Jesus did not ordain women.  There must be a reason for their exclusion, then.
13. The Apostles followed Jesus’s example.  Mary had a privileged place yet was excluded from the election of Matthias.  
14. Despite encountering cultures that may have been open to female ordination, the Apostles still rejected it. 
15. Can the Church depart from its heritage? Let’s examine arguments that answer in the affirmative.
16. Some claim that Jesus and the apostles were constrained by their cultural milieu, and so could not ordain women.  But now that this milieu has passed, etc.  Yet Jesus was not afraid of breaking cultural norms, so this argument is bad.
17. While veils are probably culturally bound, Paul clearly bases some of his teaching regarding women in creation.  Creation mandates are not culturally bound.
18. Some claim that it is within the Church’s power to change ordinances such as these.  They point to the power of the Church over the sacraments.  But this power is a limited one.
19. We can only clarify and motivate the doctrine of male ordination, and not demonstrate it.  The best way to do this is to explain the connections between the male-only priesthood and its symbolism in representing Jesus.
20. Sacramental signs are not conventional.  They have inbuilt symbolism and imagery.
21. The priest represents Jesus.  The priest is the very image of Christ in performing the sacraments.
22. The priest is of sacramental importance.  It is fitting that sacramental signs represent what they signify by a natural resemblance.  Christ was and remains a man.  The priest, as man, represents the manhood of Christ.  
23. The priesthood, the Church, and the Son’s becoming a man, is bound with a deep conjugal symbolism that illustrates and enforces the important differences between men and women.
24. Male and female differences are rooted in creation.  Sex differences run deeper than ethnic ones.
25. But doesn’t the priest also represent the Church, which represents the woman? Yes, but the priest primarily represents Jesus to the Church.
26. The controversy over female priests should lead us to reflect on the importance and nature of the male-priesthood symbolizing our savior.  
27. These topics are to be resolved by reference to revelation.
28. The pastorate is not a human right but a divine gift.  The pastorate is not an advantage for the recipient, but for God and the Church.
29. A mere subjective feeling of receiving a vocation to be a priest is not enough to confirm the vocation as authentic.  Authentication by the Church is also required.
30. All have received the vocation to offer their lives and praise to Jesus.
31. It must not be forgotten that the priesthood does not form part of the rights of the individual, but stems from the economy of the mystery of Christ and the Church.
32. Equality is in no way identity.  The roles are distinct, and must not be confused; they do not favour the superiority of some vis-a-vis the others.  The greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven are not the ministers but the saints.