The text below is a slightly extended and revised version of what I wrote in the discussion which took place on ekumenizm.pl in regard to the news that the Pontifical Commission Ecclesia Dei declared that girls may not be altar servers at mass celebrated in the extraordinary form according to the 1962 rite.
Gender equality is not a goal in itself in the church, and neither is “self-fulfillment.” The fundamental question is a different one: what should the church do in order to be a channel of God’s will rather than an obstacle blocking that channel? The following story comes to my mind – one of the si non è vero è ben trovato kind. It is said that when the ordination of women was being discussed in the Church of England, one young bishop delivered two speeches. In the first one he defended this idea, and in the second one criticized it mercilessly, often using the same arguments. The aim was to show that there is no place for being sure that “we are following the right path.” The more arguments, the more doubts. The question is, however, what the church should do in this situation. There are two possibilities: to say that we don’t know it for sure, and we forbid it just in case, or that we don’t know it for sure, so we allow it just in case. I don’t think they are equal, because even though the first one protects us from what the traditionalists call an “abuse”, it makes also impossible the sovereign work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is in a sense “deprived of the right” to act in a way the church hasn’t foreseen. A strange deal, isn’t it? The second one does make abuse (in the eyes of traditionalists) possible, but at same time allows the Spirit of God to act freely. And in the end this seems to me a lot more important. For we don’t have to “protect God”; I’m convinced that he will protect himself from our possible abuse. Under one condition, though: IF WE LET HIM ACT. “Give thanks to God, do not put out the Spirit’s fire.” (1 Thessalonians 5:18-19) We should remember about this, especially a few days before Pentecost: we are REALLY able to put out the Spirit’s fire in our community! The space for him to act depends on how much we are ready to BE SURPRISED. Not only as individuals, but also as community!
P.S. That young bishop’s name was Rowan Williams…
