This book brings a critique to the theology of the ordained ministry in contemporary Catholicism, a theology that fosters clericalism. It challenges a theology that views the ordained as “set apart” for a particular work over and against the laity. This book brings critique to current practices, including lifelong commitment to the ordained ministry, the requirement of celibacy for the ordained, and the exclusion of women from the ordained ministry.
Josephine E. Armour examines history, reclaiming elements that have been distorted or forgotten, and asks, “What is retrievable in the tradition that is freeing and redeeming for a renewed theology?” The critique of the traditional theology and current practices in the ordained ministry and the retrieval of relevant elements of the tradition is a springboard for reconstructing a theology of the ordained ministry.
The model of the Trinity is suggested as an image for the ordained ministry itself and through its relational nature, the ministry of the whole church. The model of the Trinity sets the ordained ministry in its rightful context of the Christian community, where all of the gifts of the baptized are valued and where ministry is collaborative, non-hierarchical, and mutually enriching for the people of God.
