The Rev. Paul Scalia, 46, is a priest with the Diocese of Arlington and the author of “That Nothing May Be Lost,” about Catholic doctrine.

When your father [Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia] died last year it was a surprise to everybody. How has your life changed since his death?

I have a greater appreciation for who he was and for what he gave us as a family. I have brothers who are lawyers, and they probably appreciate his legal legacy more than I do. But for me it’s the legacy of his faith and what he gave us.

Leaving aside that he had nine kids, would your dad have been a good priest?

Uh, [laughs] I don’t know. I think he could have been. It’s hard to answer, because that wasn’t his calling. If that was his calling, I think, yes, he would have been. But his calling was clearly to be a judge.

Would you be a good Supreme Court justice?

No. I’d be terrible.

How old were you when you first considered becoming a priest?

I was 13 or 14. After my confirmation in eighth grade, that’s when there was sort of a grace of not so much I want to be a priest, but I’m going to be a priest.

That early you knew?

Yes, but not necessarily wanting that. Or thinking that this is what God wants me to do. It was just sort of a sense of things. I was very interested in my faith throughout high school and had many arguments about faith with my Jewish, Muslim, Sikh and atheist friends. None of us knew what we were talking about, but we had good religious arguments.

Every person of faith that I’ve talked with has moments of doubt in their faith. Have you ever experienced those?

I’ve been blessed with having no doubts. Doubt is different from difficulty. I think a lot of people confuse doubt with difficulty. They run into difficulties with believing, and they think that means that they doubt. But difficulties are there so we can trust God more.

Then what about a difficulty with your personal faith?

Sure, difficulty in trusting God. A difficulty to see, well, how is God working here? I don’t understand why this happened, why that happened. I don’t understand how God can be in control and such and such is happening. Or, I don’t understand this teaching. Again, those are opportunities to signal that I am pretty finite and God is infinite, so why should I expect to understand all of these things?

All of the important decisions in the church regarding theology, teaching, social issues, finances, politics, are made by men ...

Is that true?

I think that is true. And I wonder whether you see that as sustainable or even desirable? Or maybe you disagree with the premise of the question?

Yeah, I think the premise is not entirely accurate. If you’re talking about doctrine, obviously the teaching body of the church is those who are ordained. And it’s an exercise of spiritual fatherhood to teach what is true. If we’re talking about policies and decisions of the church, I think there are many women who have a voice in that.

There are women who work for dioceses or work in parishes, but in terms of actually leading the flock, that’s the job of men in the church.

Yes, to be pastors is to men because, again, it’s an exercise of spiritual fatherhood, which men live out. It’s an extension of our Lord as the good shepherd. And our Lord being a man was not an accident. But if we’re talking about leadership in other ways, my point is that whenever we get to a conversation of leadership or power in the church, it always ignores the enormous contributions of those who do not hold official positions in the church. Or those who hold positions that honestly most people take for granted, whether it’s teaching in the schools or women in religious life or mothers in our families. These are enormously influential positions.

Do you see a future in the church where women can be priests?

No.

And why is that?

Because Christ instituted the priesthood as an all-male priesthood. That’s the short answer. And we work with what the Lord has entrusted to us. And we are servants of the sacraments; we are not their masters. We cannot change what the Lord has given us, and that is the all-male priesthood. Now we can go deeper into that and say, Why? John Paul II, in his “Theology of the Body,” gives us a great depth to teaching to understand the significance of being male and female. And the significance of a man in the place of Christ the priest and why it is that a man, in the role of spiritual fatherhood, is so important. It’s not just a position of power, it’s not just a position of authority; it’s a position of spiritual fatherhood. That’s the proper way to understand it. And when we understand it that way, then we can better understand why it’s reserved to men.

Do you understand why women would not feel that that is a position that is tenable, that these are positions that should be open to women?

I can see why some women believe that, but it’s a leap to say that all women believe that.

Correct, some women.

When Mother Teresa was alive, who had more authority, her or John Paul II? It’s kind of a toss-up. Mother Teresa held incredible authority. And no office.

Right, which means she didn’t get to make decisions about what the church would be around the world.

But again, the premise here is that the men are making decisions about what the church should be instead of men serving what has been entrusted to them as the church.

I think that’s an argument that is prevalent in the Catholic Church today. Many women in the Catholic Church feel left out of that role.

What role? Are we talking about policies or are we talking about doctrine?

All of those things. Do you not agree with that?

No, I don’t.

You don’t agree that there are women who feel left out?

Oh yes, I know that there are women who feel left out. Yes, absolutely. But I think the solution to that is not to change the structure of the church or change the all-male priesthood. The solution to that, first and foremost, is for men to be servants of the word and for us to understand what it means to hold authority in Christ’s community. And to hold authority in Christ’s community means to be a servant, not to be a master. And in a Christian community we shouldn’t be haggling about power. There shouldn’t be the grasping for positions of authority.

Yes, but that is a good position or argument for someone who is in power to have.

Sure, well, I’m not sure how much power I have.

What does the Catholic Church in America need to focus on most right now?

The basics. Honestly, it is the simple proclamation of the gospel as the fulfillment for what people are longing [for]. Right now there’s a lot of confusion in our culture, and the clarity of the church’s teachings, and the constancy of those teachings, are a great way to ease anxiety and to help people realize the fulfillment that they long for and the peace that they long for. And that’s done not just by the preaching, but in the charitable works of the church and serving those who are materially poor, financially poor, spiritually poor. The unwed mothers, the women wounded by abortion, the elderly who are in need. All of that.

For lapsed Catholics, what is your best argument for coming back to the church?

Jesus Christ.

Okay, but that’s not really an argument.

I don’t know that there is an argument. What are you searching for? What are you looking for? If I’m speaking to lapsed Catholics, I would say, ironically, what you’re looking for is what you left behind. And there have been many Catholics who have experienced that. Straying from the faith and then coming back years later and realizing, Gosh, this was all here and I didn’t realize it. Or, perhaps, It wasn’t presented to me. Or perhaps, I wasn’t in a place where I could receive it.

What’s the most satisfying part of being a priest?

Clearly saying Mass and hearing confession, because those are the two principal duties of a priest. To feed the flock with the Eucharist, to offer the sacrifice of the Mass and to forgive sins. To bring grace and healing to souls. There are a lot of problems in society, but their origin is not in faulty social structures. Their origin is in the human heart.

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