Women Priests?

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Women Priests?

A topic long debated within the contexts of the Catholic Church and even outside the Catholic Church is the policy of an all male priesthood. There are many other churches within the Christian faith that have women clergy, and so the debate as to whether or not the Catholics should include the opposite sex in the clergy is a very hot topic. One person that has a fascinating view of the topic is a man by the name, Paul E. Dinter, the author of the article, “Christ’s Body as Male and Female.” In this article Dinter, a former man of the cloth, presents his take on the issue attempting to show his audience that the policy of the Church in indeed flawed. However before any member of Dinters audience can formulate an educated opinion on the topic three aspects of the article must be questioned: credibility, logic and reason, and how the article appeals to emotion.

One part of this article that must be assessed is the credibility of the article, and the author is the first source that must be examined. “Paul E. Dinter spent twenty-three years in the ordained ministry, fifteen of them as Catholic chaplain at Columbia University.” Obviously this is a man that is a creditable source fore this particular topic. Not only is he an ordained minister but also a former Catholic priest. The article also stated that he is a published author and also currently a teacher in New York. It is safe to say that Dinter can be considered an expert in the field, and also builds good credibility being that he has first hand experience, as a priest.

Another assessment that must be made is the credibility of the sources that the author uses. Dinter uses many different sources of which include other expert opinions, quoted from others used to explain his feelings towards the topic, and also many different verses from the Bible. One example of another expert that Dinter uses as a source is Paul Ricoeur, author of the book The Metaphysical Process. A good example of Dinter using a quote to express one of the ways that he feels about the topic is a quote that expresses his opinion on the current policy and the people in charge on the policy.

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