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Summary Of Narrative By Father Damian Ference

Decent Essays

Father Damian Ference compares the marriage of man and woman and the marriage of God to the Church. He interprets that the physical interactions between man and woman are symbolic of how God wants to be with us. He uses this reasoning to argue against homosexual relations and the ordination of women. What I don’t understand is how it seems that the Catholic church is so focused on physical symbolism. Why do the sexual interactions between men and women have to be symbolic? I think that the union of two individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation, is enough to symbolize the union between God and the Church. In Women and Religious Traditions, the author questions, “why is it the ‘natural resemblance’ of maleness that is all-important? …show more content…

Why are genitalia more important than those characteristics in establishing ‘natural resemblance’” (Anderson and Young 198)? Also, Father Damian Ference states that women and men are “equal in dignity, but there is a difference between the two” (“Women and Catholicism”). While it is true that men and women are different, the qualities that each sex are associated with allow for the marginalization of women. I cannot find how the Catholic church believes that the exclusion of women embraces the notion that men and women are “equal in dignity”. In “EXCLUSIVE: Pink Smoke Over the Vatican (2010-12-03)”, Dr. Kathleen Kunster was denied from the priesthood because she could not be a “Father to the people”, which she immediately responded with, “I could be a Mother to the people”. I think that she words it quite well, even though she was still a child. Why can’t females be a Mother? Father Roy Bourgeios sees that women can bring many things with them into the priesthood. He acknowledges that there is no reason why women should be excluded from the

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