There are some questions a writer chooses, and others that choose the writer. The question of who may be ordained to the priesthood is, for me, very much the latter. It is a question that has followed me through years of ministry, study, and conversation — with seminarians, with fellow clergy, with faithful women who have felt called to serve at the altar, and with sceptics who simply want to understand why so many ancient churches still hold the line they do. The Male Priesthood: Precedent and Mandate is my attempt to set down, as carefully and as honestly as I can, what I believe the answer to be and why.

In recent years, the question of whether women should be ordained as priests has become a topic of lively debate in many corners of the Church and society. Some see the issue through the lens of equality, others through the lens of cultural change, and still others through personal experience of gifted, faithful women who serve the Church in countless ways.

These conversations are often sincere and heartfelt. But for the Catholic Church — and for the Canons Regular of the Sacred Heart of Jesus — the question of priestly ordination is not ultimately about cultural preference, personal ability, or institutional reform. It is about fidelity to what we have received.