ORDINATION OF WOMEN [CASE # ONE]: Catholicism and Adventism on ordination

Are there some similarities between Adventist conception of ordination and Catholic’s conception of ordination? If any, what are they? And if not, what is the point of departure? In this short article, I will present two perspectives about the understanding of ordination from the two Christian denominations mentioned above. The purpose is to set the premise upon which all theology of ordination (including ordination of women) in the Adventist Church must be founded without slipping into Catholicism.

Ordination in the Catholic Church is the sacrament of the Holy Order. Why Holy Order? To Catholics, ordination [ordinatio] has in itself an incorporated word ordo “order”. Hence, the tripartite degrees of ordination in the Catholic Church: ordo episcoporum, ordo presbyterorum, and ordo diaconorum (episcopate, presbyterate, and diaconate). These offices, often seen as monarchical order, are occupied only by ordination. The nature of this sacrament is expressed that “Today the word “ordination” is reserved for the sacramental act which integrates a man into the order of bishops, presbyters, or deacons, and goes beyond a simple election, designation, delegation, or institution by the community, for it confers a gift of the Holy Spirit that permits the exercise of a “sacred power” (sacra potestas) which can come only from Christ himself through his Church” (Catholic Catechism: 1538. Emphasis (a) is mine). The concept of ordination among Catholics is more mystic than mere acts of commissioning a person into ministry. On the ordination of bishops and priests, Catholics uphold the visibility of Christ. The Catechism states: “Through the ordained ministry, especially that of bishops and priests, the presence of Christ as head of the Church is made visible in the midst of the community of believers. In the beautiful expression of St. Ignatius of Antioch, the bishop is typos tou Patros: he is like the living image of God the Father” (Ibid, 1549). The office of the bishop and priest come with headship in persona Christi Capitis.

Obviously, the essence of ordination among Catholics differ from that of Adventists. Whereas sacrament means a transsubstantiatio (a conversion of one substance into another) in Catholicism, Adventists understanding follows a Calvinistic interpretation (though Adventists rarely use the term “sacrament”), where sacrament simply means “a sign or symbol”. Whatever is a sacrament has no essential mystical essence to Adventists as a branch of Protestantism. Thus, the Adventist Ministers Manual 1992 states categorically that “Seventh-day Adventists do not believe that ordination is sacramental in the sense of conferring some indelible character or special powers or the ability to formulate right doctrine. It adds ‘no new grace or virtual qualification” (MM, 77).

Irrespective of the Adventist interpretation of ordination, the nature of ecclesiastical offices are the same. In the Adventist church, ordination moves in hierarchical degrees: Pastors (episkopos), Elders (presbyters), and Deacons (diakonos). The ordination of deaconesses does not posit a problem in the Adventist church. The former two is the bone of contention, with the ordination of women as pastors being the major focus of discussion. The temptation that seems to be a crisis in Adventism is when theologians link headship with ordination. This without any doubt is subconsciously a return to Catholic’s sacramental order.

The word ordination from the Catholic perspective has some order and sacramental substances. Whiles these may not be the case in the Adventist church, the word “order” is interpreted as an “act of commission” and “authority” in Adventism (MM, 76-77). The perspective we get from this background is an ecclesiastical right that sets apart some individuals who possess divine abilities and charisma to serve the church in diverse capacities. The Adventist church understands ordination as beginning by a divine legitimation or election, and after approval by the church through ordination. So “the church today should authorize the ordination of only those whom God has already both chosen and proven” (MM, 78). The current consensus statement on Adventist Theology of Ordination follows the same understanding [CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD].

If this is the case, are we here arguing that God chooses and approves only men? And if pastoring is by divine appointment or what we often refer to as “a call”, doesn’t that deviate from the ecclesiastical order of the episcopate in the Bible (1 Tim. 3, 1-7)? Because the episcopate was by appointment, and legitimated by ordination. In my candid opinion, the only premise that is comfortable to the theologization of women ordination must not deviate from what we have come to understand as the meaning of pastoral ministry. If it is by a divine call, the church must recognize, train and legitimate persons who have displayed evidence of such a divine mandate, whether male or female. On the contrary, if ordination is understood as an ecclesiastical order, which is not as at now, then our theology must articulate it within such context.