The Catholic Church is male-dominated by institutional design. *** While the College of Cardinals is only 1,000 years old, the fatherhood of God is as old as the Trinity — beyond the category of time. Christ taught us to pray that the eternal patriarchal rule of the father “be done on earth as it is in heaven.”

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The patriarchal fraternity of the priesthood puts itself forward as a “communion” of masculine-ordered love. The love of this brotherhood of fathers is called to be particularly protective toward that ancient biblical formulation of the needy, “widows and orphans.” The fatherless have always been victimized, so a band of brothers pledge their loyalty to the father and their protective strength to the vulnerable. It is a mission that appeals to a manly heart.

The vow of celibacy — by men who are deeply and naturally drawn to women — is a pledge to forgo the sexual communion of marriage in favor of the sacral bonds of worship, building up the Body of Christ. This deep love, which replaces the need for offspring by overcoming death, bears much fruit in this life. Schools, hospitals and relief centers always complete the Catholic landscape — wherever our priests are free to first erect our churches.

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What’s at stake is, however, truly about sex and love, because the Catholic Church is a communion built on loves, starting with the trinitarian love of the father for the son. Sex differences are central to our covenants of loving. This is expressed in our sacramental order of an all-male priesthood and male-female marriage. These sexually bounded covenants form the lattice of our public and private bonds.