Christy Turner Women’s Studies Persuasive Essay More than fifty percent of ordained Catholic priests will leave the church before 25 years of being a priest, due in part for the desire to start a family. (Priests in the Catholic Church should be permitted to marry other Catholic women in order to continue to strengthen their lives in Christ by sharing in the gift of marriage instituted by God. The priveledge of participating in the sacrament of marriage has been debated since the beginning of the Roman Catholic Church. There was a time in the early days of the Church in which priests and bishops were able to marry, but only under certain circumstances. The history of celibacy in the Catholic church is not entirely scripturally bound. In fact, the writings of the Bible suggest that one was encouraged to marry, as in the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The benefits of married priests can bring more people back into the Catholic Church and into the change of today’s society. Wives of priests can help bring a female aspect to the hierarchy of the Catholic Church. Presently, since there are no female priests, deacons, bishops, cardinals or popes, there is zero personal female representation in the most important sections of the church. In America, the sufferagist movement was created in order to give women a voice in the matters of decisions in the country. If priests were allowed to marry, women would have a better chance of having proper representation concerning the issues of a part of their life that matters most – their religion. However, the best way for a woman’s voice to be heard in the Church would be female ordination of priests, which has its’ own advantages. Therefore, the allowance of priests to marry and the possible ordintion of women priests is directly related. (Kung, 104) The practice of celibacy or the institution of married priests have been discussed since the fourth century. (New Catholic Encyclopedia, 322-329) Priests throughout history have been able to marry before, but under certain restrictions. For example, in 692 of the Quinisext Synod, men could enter the priesthood with wives and families, but could not marry again if that married became annulled. Various councils thereafter moved slowly towards complete celibacy. The Vatican Council II permits only deacons to be married, but bishops, priests, and cardinals may not. The idea of required celibacy is that service of a priest should be limited towards Christ and the Church, but not towards another woman. This idea originates from Matthew 19:12, which reads, “For some are eunuchs because they were born that way; others were made that way by men; and others have renounced marriage because of the kingdom of heaven. The one who can accept this should accept it." This is viewed by the Catholic Church that it is directed specifically towards priests; this is however incorrect. Matthew says that only a few men stay away from marriage for those reasons. The Catholic church says that to become celibate is a choice. But if one is called to become a priest, does he have a choice whether to become a priest or not? No. To become a priest is to become celibate. This is unfair towards those who desire to have the love of a wife and a family along with the love of a church they serve. Instead of withholding one of the seven sacred sacraments from priests, the sacrament of Holy Matrimony, they should be allowed to fully celebrate them all. Sex and marriage are both gifts from God. He created sex as a form of survival and a gift for two who are married. Marriage is a beautiful union between a man and a woman in which the two leave their parents and siblings to become one in Christ. The sacrament of Holy Matrimony values this union and the fact that it is a sacrament depicts its importance. Lay people, protestants, and pagans can all participate in this gifts. To deny priests and the church’s most respected men of God the right to marry and participate in this gift is not fair to them. In Mary Vincent Dally’s book “I Married a Catholic Priest”, she gives an account of BUWIIIIFHJKLSDKLSDJAKODJKLAS:d Christy Turner AP US History Essay 10.29.05 Perceptions of Slavery Slave owners viewed slavery differently from slaves due to their different point of view and the mindset that they were raised with that slaves were not human beings and should be treated as animals or property. Both slaves and their owners were programmed by society that slaves were not equal to whites and one was a lesser being than the other. However, while owners accepted this view and worked to enforce it, black slaves had to either let that mindset affect them or act as though they accepted it even though they did not. Slaves had to obey their masters in order to survive though they knew life was not supposed to be that way. Slave owners believed the slaves should do their job and do it right by whatever cost. This included many things from beating to starvation. The reality was that slaves were human and the owners were treating humans in an animalistic, inhumane way. Owners of slaves were concerned about their money, crops, and family, not the well-being of their slaves. They fed the slaves only leftovers, deseased meat and food unfit for themselves. They may have believed that this was a form of control – another way to keep their property in line. The slaves worked hard but were given little. On the contrary, if the food quality was better, the slaves would be healthier and work harder. The low food quality may have made them sick and worse suited for work in the fields or in the house. Another aspect of the differences between slave owner’s beliefs and slave reality was the preaching of the Word. Preachers that were allowed to preach to slaves taught them to obey their human masters, the slave owners, and that would lead them to heaven. The owners thought that the more slaves were taught this, the harder they would work. Slaves were not taught the direct truth of the Bible or taught to read the Bible as another form of control. In truth, if they read the Bible or any other piece of literature, they could have become educated or smart enough to form a revolt of some sort. The owners in reality were scared of losing their slaves to anything other than themselves for their own personal gain. Still, many of the slaves prayed or believed God that they would be freed from their torture, despite efforts to keep them from the truth.

_______________________________________________________ Christy Turner Outline How were slave owner’s perceptions of slavery different from the reality of slave life? Slave owners viewed slavery differently from slaves due to their different point of view and the mindset that they were raised with the mindset that slaves were not human beings – 1. Intro 2. P1 – Protection for one was entrapment for another “wild animals”; O: slaves are property and were treated as such like property and animals. S: we are human and should be treated better 3. P2 – O: gave them leftovers and old food to keep them in line; S: outsmarted at times and ate what they had 4. 3 – O: marriage was not for property; 5. 4 - 6. 5 - 7. Conclusion

Questions to Answer 1. What was the percentage of corn syrup in your group’s solution? 80%. 2. Was your corn syrup solution a hypotonic, hypertonic, or isotonic solution on the egg? It was hypertonic because the cell’s mass was reduced, or it shrank. 3. Explain your corn syrup solution’s effect on the egg. The corn syrup was hypertonic, which caused the water inside of the egg to try and balance the solution by diffusing the water from the area of higher concentration (in the egg) to the area of lower concentration (in the solution), also called osmosis. This process of osmosis caused the egg to shrink and lose mass. 4. What is an isotonic solution? A solution that is equal to it’s solutes/solvents. 5. What effect would an isotonic solution have on the egg? Explain. It would stay the same. The amount of substances an water in both the egg and the solution would be the same, so no diffusion would need to take place. 6. What is the approximate percentage of corn syrup that would make an isotonic solution for the egg? 7. Explain how your group would design an experiment to test question 6 above. We would do the same experiment, but instead use ___% of corn syrup, which is __ ml, and _____ ml of water. 8. What is the difference between diffusion and osmosis? Diffusion is the movement of particles in a solution the move from high concentration to low concentration, r down a concentration gradient. Osmosis is the simple diffusion of water. 9. Using your graph, answer the following questions. 10. What is the percent corn syrup with a 60% change in mass? 11. What is the percent corn syrup with a 12% change in mass? 12. What is the change in mass in 55% corn syrup? 13. What is the change in mass in 12% corn syrup? 14. What is the change in mass in 94% corn syrup? 15. If the cells in your large intestine (colon) were exposed to a hypertonic solution, what would happen? Explain. 16. What medical condition would result from question 15? 17. If the cells in your large intestine (colon) were exposed to a hypotonic solution, what would happen? Explain. 18. What medical condition would result from question 17? http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/05/AR2005090501048_pf.html http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/09/13/AR2005091300767_pf.html Christy Turner

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Christy Turner

Eng I Honors

Period 3

5.19.05

 

Should Women be Allowed to Become Priests?

 

 

In Catholicism, both sexes can participate in 6 out of the 7 sacraments – Baptism, First Communion, Reconciliation, Confirmation, Holy Matrimony, and Last Rites. They can administer the Eucharist, be servers in Mass, and pray. But the fifth sacrament, Holy Orders, in which one is accepted into the priesthood to share the Gospel of the Lord with others, is limited to men. Why are women not allowed to become priests in the Catholic Church?

            Excluding women from the ministry has taken place for a long time but its main origin can be officially recognized during the Quintext Council. In 692 AD, this council sought to complete a previous council by issuing canons, or rules, to govern the Church. Emperor Justinian II sought to add the refusal women as priests in the Catholic Church. One of his reasons for doing so was due to an instruction from St. Paul to “let [women] be silent, for it is not permitted for them to speak…” These canons were at first rejected by Pope Sergius, but later accepted around 800 AD by Pope Hadrian I. (womenpriests.org)

The instruction from St. Paul should have been used in context. Paul was speaking from his own point of view, not in the name of Christ. In that point in history, it was Jewish custom that women could not speak at that time because they were considered inferior. However, the teaching of Christ is much different:

“You are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew

nor Greek, slave nor free, neither male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.”

-         Galatians 4:26-29

This passage expresses the teaching of Christ that all people are created equal.

Jesus came to save all of us from sin, no matter what religion, social status, or gender. In this case, women are baptized in Christ just as men are, and should be able to participate in spreading the ministry of God in the way priests do. Therefore, the words of Christ and the opinion of Paul according to his culture are not on the same level and should not be treated as such.

Many say that since both Jesus and the Apostles were male, Jesus intended for priests to also be male. In actuality, God knew that in order to be perceived as leaders, Jesus and his apostles would have had to be male. Due to the Jewish custom mentioned earlier, no one would have listened to a woman if she had tried to teach others about God as Jesus did. This can be seen many times throughout the Bible. For instance, the entire Bible is written to instruct “he”, referring to a male. When Jesus fed the crowd with the loaves of bread and fish of the boy, he fed 5,000 men; this did not account for the women and children that he was teaching, for they were not considered important. Finally, when Jesus rose from the dead, the women who were the first to find he had risen tried to tell the apostles, but they doubted them, because they could not trust the testimony of women. This was considered the law.

Jesus came to this earth to set us free from the curse of the law. The old law, or standard of living, was set into place to govern the people of God until the Savior came. The people of God were set free from many of these rules that were to be renewed with the coming of Christ. This included being set free from the bondage of sin, the mistreatment of the poor and the sick, the sacrificing of animals, and treating women as if they were property, not people. During Jesus’ time on this earth, he spoke to the poor and the sick and healed them. When he sacrificed himself on the cross, that shedding of the blood was all that needed to be shed, so the sacrificing of animals was no longer needed. And when he healed the woman who touched his garment, talked to the woman at the well, and taught all people around him including women, he accepted them, contrary to his Jewish custom. Therefore, the rejection of women in particular should no longer be in effect, as is seen in the culture of the United States today. The Catholic Church can acknowledge this by ordinating women priests.

            There are many benefits of having female priests. Over 100,000 priests in the Church have resigned in the past few decades since 1994 (Sweeny, A Church Divided). This could be considered due to being disconnected from the female race. If women were allowed to be elected priests, not only would the Church have more priests, but they might even be able to marry once again, as they did 1,700 years ago (Sweeny, A Church Divided). Holy men and women in the priesthood will be able to dedicate themselves to Christ, and it helps them remain faithful to God by remaining faithful to each other. Lay couples have the privilege to enjoy the opposite sex in marriage. To deny this privilege from priests would be to deny them from something God created specifically for man. It could help prevent temptation of priests to leave the priesthood in order to have a wife, and allow them to share in the God-given institution of marriage as a gift. In addition, the new generation of people in this world, or simply in the U.S. alone, will be more likely to join the church because there would be a mix of both male and female priests. Women and young girls alike will feel a lot more comfortable with confessing to a female priest who understands what they are going through.

            The church has changed before, and many times, for the better. The restriction of females from the priesthood is not adequately supported by scripture, against Jesus’ teachings of equality, and overshadows the benefits of women priests in the Catholic Church. The Church should review its reasons for preventing female to become priests, weigh the pros and cons, and use common sense and reasoning of the Scriptures to make a decision. This should be considered and could help the Church ordain more priests to spread the Good News to people of all kinds.