Letters to the Editors
Women for a Male Priesthood
To The Editors:
In her article in the March/April 2015 issue of New Church Life, I believe Chelsea
Rose Odhner has missed the point of Bishop W.F. Pendleton’s paper. Having
just broken away from Bishop Benade, Bishop Pendleton was suggesting how
this new General Church was to be organized by and for both the priesthood
and the laity. He was suggesting and setting forth the principles upon which the
government of this church would be based. Mrs. Odhner clearly sees Bishop
Pendleton’s principle that the freedom or the internal bond of conscience
should govern the Church and the individuals within the Church.
However, Bishop Pendleton and the Heavenly Doctrines also speak of an
ecclesiastical order derived from the Heavenly Doctrines which should govern
the Church. That doctrine is the bond that should bind us:
Priests ought to teach the people, and to lead them by truths to the good of life, but
still they ought to compel no one, since no one can be compelled to believe contrary
to what he thinks from his heart to be true. He who believes otherwise than the
priest, and makes no disturbance, ought to be left in peace; but he who makes
disturbance, ought to be separated; for this also is of order, for the sake of which the
priesthood is established. (The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 318)
Our present Bishop took counsel from the priesthood and, as a result,
sent out a letter confirming that most of the clergy, after much study from the
doctrine, believe that our church is best served by a masculine priesthood. I
believe that there is essential unanimity among the priests on this conclusion.
In a letter to the editors in this same issue of the Life, Mr. John Parker
says his views on women in the ministry have changed because of his wife
and daughters. I wish he could tell us what doctrine changed his mind. The
Writings teach that: "The church is a church from a life according to
doctrine." (Apocalypse Explained 799)
The Doctrine of the Sacred Scripture says that the Church is from the Word,
for the Word is Divine truth itself (n. 1-4); that the doctrine of the Church is
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