(cont'd)
It is not about men and women, it is not about the 12 men. It puts our priesthood in context. It defines their relation, in imitating the actions of Christ, they proclaim their servanthood.

I agree that the sacerdotal role is one of "servanthood." And I even agree that it may be best that it be reserved for men, to honor the gender of Christ. Even if we do know that Gospels were tampered with by an ecclesiastical polity early in the Church's history, bent on giving the upper hand in the Church to Gentile, generally celibate males, denying the key roles of women in the circles around Christ, I would say that it is still best for men to sacramentally enact the stages and passages of Christ's redemptive life. And this is what things like consecrating the Eucharist and washing feet, etc., are all about. No one would make an issue of such things if POWER (which exists, unfortunately) were shared in a way that reflected the equality, before God, of men and women. It is very easy for badsede to jump in here, and speak of this "washing issue" as somehow impertinent on the part of the protestors. He's right; the poor souls are "bad-mannered"--sort of like screaming lepers or Samaritans. But let him answer THIS question: The office of cardinal-elector of the Pope is not a sacerdotal one; it is one purely of the ecclesiastical polity; boy-princes and laymen have occupied the position and fulfilled its responsibilities. As a Jesuit cardinal is reputed to have bluntly demanded of the reigning Pope (to be responded with by nothing but spluttering fury): WHAT IS THE THEOLOGICAL IMPEDIMENT TO A WOMAN HOLDING THIS POSITION IN THE HIERARCHY? WHY MAY NOT WOMEN BE PERMITTED TO HELP CHOOSE THE POPE, SO LONG AS THEY DON'T CHOOSE ONE ANOTHER? I know of no question that has more explicitly bared the anti-feminist bias among the ecclesiastical careerists who've highjacked our Churh in recent years, and steered her back to the fear and reaction of "Syllabus of Error" days and against the course of Vatican II. They will not give women an equal place at the table, which DOES NOT mean usurping Christ's sacramental position, just putting her right back at Jesus's side--the canonical Gospels to the contrary notwithstanding. What they are doing is destroying the saving role in the world of my Church, making her a mockery and a redundancy, and now they have her all to themselves, after they've invited us "liberals" to leave, and so many have.