Church of England and the Catholic Church Tag-Teaming?

In an unusual twist in British religious affairs, the Church of England and the Catholic Church are working together to stop Parliament from stripping critical exemptions that allow religious institutions to hire according to their doctrinal beliefs.

And now, even the Pope is chiming in.

All of this underlines a certain universality that characterizes the impact of conscience clauses in matters of employment and religious institutions. If the Church of England and the Catholic Church are buddying up, and the Pope is calling in from Rome, something serious is afoot.

Rogue in Rouge would like to point out one journalistic error in the media coverage of this issue: namely, the written concern that the Church is in danger of having to "admit women to the priesthood." The factual error is simple: women cannot be admitted to the priesthood. They can dress up in robes and swing a thurible, but they will be doing nothing more than playing dress-up. Just as a valid marriage cannot be undone, nor can two members of the same-sex enter a sacramental marriage, because both instances defy the very nature and fundamental meaning of a marriage, a woman cannot be a priest, such a concept defies a definitive element of what makes a priest a priest. A priest is first and foremost, a man. And unfortunately for other religions that like to borrow the word "priest," because Catholicism (through Christ) authored the priesthood, it retains definitional authority. Everybody else should just follow mainline Protestants and come up with another name if they want to include women in the fold.

So, the British government can do what it may to members of the Roman Catholic hierarchy who refuse to partake in a game of blasphemous dress-up and defile the priestly order, but no one need worry about women becoming priests.