Gavin D Costa's Theoretical Analysis

Pope Francis caused a spike in the debate over female ordination last year when he reconfirmed that females will most likely never be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church. He cited St. John Paul II to briefly explain why women were banned from ordination. However, Francis continued by saying, “I ask myself: who is most important in theology and in the mystic of the Church: the apostles or Mary on the day of Pentecost? It's Mary! ...the Church is a woman! It's "la Chiesa" (in Italian), not "il Chiesa"...it's "la Chiesa" and the Church is the spouse of Christ… A Church doesn't exist without this feminine dimension, because she herself is feminine.” Gavin D’ Costa analyzed theologian, Hans Urs von Balthasar’s work on the trinity, which highly influenced St. John Paul’s theology that Francis referred to in his statement. Unlike Francis however, D’ Costa concluded Mary’s importance was the reason why females should be ordained. Although D’ Costa’s reexamines Mary as a tool of liberation for women within the Church, his theology is inadequate because his argument relies …show more content…
D’ Costa examines Balthasar’s use of Mary to argue against Balthasar’s conclusion that females must be excluded from the priesthood because the female body cannot represent God. Mary, a woman, is the reason why “the drama unfolds” (276). Without this woman, there is no redemption. Balthasar names Mary the second Eve and Christ the second Adam. “From Adam’s side comes his bride Eve and out of Christ’s side comes his bride, the church; from Eve’s disobedience sin enters the world, and out of Mary’s obedience salvation enters the world; from Eve’s motherhood springs the entire human race, and from Mary’s motherhood springs the new creation in a double sense; as Christ the man, and as Mary, the true church” (276). Mary is the Church because she is the mother of