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Probing The Politics of Difference: What's Wrong with an All‐Male Priesthood?
Author(s) -
Gudorf Christine E.
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
journal of religious ethics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.306
H-Index - 20
eISSN - 1467-9795
pISSN - 0384-9694
DOI - 10.1111/0384-9694.00024
Subject(s) - politics , power (physics) , reservation , sociology , economic justice , corporate governance , law , political science , gender studies , economics , physics , finance , quantum mechanics
Though it is often taken for granted that feminists necessarily must condemn the exclusion of women from the Roman Catholic priesthood, the author demonstrates that the “politics of difference,” if pursued consistently, reopens this question. International feminist arguments for honoring gender differences, the teachings of John Paul II concerning women, and Catholic social justice teachings, taken jointly, suggest that the current Catholic exclusion of women from the priesthood is unjust not because the reservation of a social role to a single sex is inherently unacceptable, but because of the asymmetry in power between the roles accorded men and women in the governance of the Catholic Church. To be just, sex‐specific reservation of roles must meet the criteria of balance, proportion, power, and particularity.