Priests reject controversial synod poster: it’s ‘out of bounds and confusing’

Priests reject controversial synod poster: it’s ‘out of bounds and confusing’

By CNA Staff

Denver Newsroom, Sep 29, 2022 / 16:00 pm

Father Francisco “Patxi” Bronchalo, a priest of the Diocese of Getafe, Spain, recently posted on social media that a controversial drawing on the official Facebook page of the Synod on Synodality “is out of bounds and confusing.” Father Jesús Silva of the Archdiocese of Madrid also criticized the image.

The drawing shows a group of young people in front of church, including a woman dressed in a white chasuble and red stole and another young man wearing a multicolored LGBT “Pride” shirt.

In a series of Twitter posts, Bronchalo said that the image “surprised” him, and he began his analysis with the woman dressed in priestly vestments.

He noted that this image “can give the feeling to whoever sees it that one of the fruits of the synod could be that the sacrament of priestly ordination may also be given to women,” which entails “deceiving whoever sees it and sowing confusion.”

Bronchalo pointed out that “there may be people inside and outside the Church who believe that this will be the case” and then be disappointed. At the same time, the priest fears that within the Church there may be people “who feel disgusted by the promotion of slogans that don’t help them in their faith but rather create confusion.”

The priest affirmed it’s not possible for the synod to approve the ordination of women “because it cannot,” since St. John Paul II in his apostolic letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis confirmed as part of the Church’s magisterium that ordination is reserved to men.

Bronchalo then quoted the document:

“Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church’s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (cf. Lk 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church’s faithful” (OS, 4).

‘The priesthood is not like changing a tire’
Expanding on the issue, Bronchalo used three arguments on the impossibility of ordaining women. The first is that “Holy Scripture tells us that Christ chose his Twelve Apostles only from among men.”

And it was not because of a cultural issue, because, the priest argued, “it’s easy to see how Christ’s way of acting was not conditioned by sociological or cultural reasons.”

“He chose twelve specific men because he wanted it that way,” he stressed.

Furthermore, Bronchalo argued that “it makes perfect sense that priestly ordination be given to men, because in our masculinity we (represent Christ, the Bridegroom) of the Church when we celebrate the sacraments. Therefore the fact that candidates for the priesthood should be living a healthy and integral masculinity is important for the Church.”

Priests reject controversial synod poster: it’s ‘out of bounds and confusing’