The Debate Over Women in the Catholic Church
The question of the ordination of women to the priesthood has moved to the forefront of theological controversy in recent years, prompting a swamping of books, and religious opinions. This controversial issue stems not only from the renewed interest of the Catholic Church in the nature of its priesthood, but also, and perhaps predominantly, from the efforts of women to achieve a new and deeper understanding of their religion. The question, should women be ordained as ministers in the church immediately implies many questions. What difference could female priests make to the church? Did Jesus allow for women to be priests? What has been the result of many centuries of male priesthood?
However the first question you always have to ask when one has a controversial issue like this is what was Jesus' view on the topic? Jesus, nowhere in the bible stated anything about women being subservient or lesser people to men. As a matter of fact from the beginning women were part of his disciples and according to the bible Luke stated that a lot of women supported his ministry. When religious based questions are asked the greatest source of information is the Bible. The Bible itself states on many occasions that women held religion as one of the highest priorities in their lives. To add to this, women participated in some of the most important roles in the church community such as Eucharistic ministers etc.
The Catholic Church in the past centuries has been very male dominated. Male priests, male archbishops, male deacons, male popes. In fact in the Catholic Church most women have never held a higher perspective than a Eucharistic minister. This seems very odd, since these days women have...
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...However I believe in an age where we are given such freedom, it is only fair that we allow women to become ordained in the Catholic Church. Jesus once stated in the Bible "do not judge a person on the decisions that they make but rather praise them for the glory that they portray". I agree with this statement in that I believe that instead of focusing all our power on this topic we should be more interested in understanding our God instead of questioning God whether the right decision was made. The fact is, women should not be denied the opportunity to be ordained in the Catholic Church. In my opinion, ordination of female priests to the Catholic Church will happen; the question is when? As the famous religious poet, Thomas Merton once said, "before God we are all feminine."
Bibliography:
Steven, Case. Catholicism. New Day Publishing: New York, 1990.
Women did not have say on administrative level but on domestic level they had a great influence. Women were treated differently from men and also had different roles. However, Jesus treated men and women the same, and talked to foreign women. Nowadays, women still have great importance in the family domain. Women, now have a say on both level, however there is still a lot to be improved especially when it comes to equality.
I find the topic of women in the church`s ministry frustrating at times because as a woman my self I so badly want to justify and make clear our role in ministry while still obeying what God`s word has commanded of us. Luckily for me I grew up in a non fundamentalist church in which women in church positions were not looked down upon but instead greatly appreciated and respected. So while growing up I never thought any different until I began to study the Bible more in depth and came to find out that more often then not the Bible discourages women in ministry. However, there is more to the scriptures on the subject then what it appears and people often forget to consider the difference between what is eternally significant and what is just simply culturally relative. I am going to take a deeper look into what was going on at the time during the scriptures and what was truly trying to be expressed through them.
Throughout the years, there has been constant debate to whether priests should remain celibate or should have the option to marry during priesthood. In Catholicism, the Church holds that celibacy is a gift of the Holy Spirit for the Church; therefore, it is not something negotiable. Many devoted Catholics view the idea of ending celibacy as an absolutely ridiculous thought, but there are many devoted Catholics who have the opinion that ending celibacy in priesthood could have a positive impact in Catholicism. The questions remain: Which is the proper choice? Do Catholics have authority to change tradition? As a raised Catholic and from a personal standpoint, I believe that celibacy in priesthood is beneficial and that its tradition is quite beautiful. Not only should Catholicism continue with its tradition because it is his...
The marianismo gender role beliefs vary depending on where one is located. Marianismo beliefs influence what women see as “appropriate female behavior” (Craske, 1999, p. 12). Stereotypes of women are created which have stuck to what is ‘appropriate’ for what women can and cannot do. It is out of the normalcy for women to not follow these marianismo beliefs. It is obvious that motherhood is found as the ultimate role for women. Though it would make sense that men have fatherhood is not the ultimate role for men (even though both man and woman are needed to create a child) this is not the case at all. Another key marianismo belief Craske (2002) found was that women are “dominant in the private world of domestic organization,” while men are dominant in the public sector (p. 11). This is important to know because women lived very secluded lifestyles. This exclusive lifestyle connects to how Catholic women in Latin America had greater transgressions than men when it came...
...m played a role in ending practices such as human sacrifice, slavery, infanticide and adultery. Christianity in general affected the status of women by condemning infanticide, divorce, incest, polygamy, birth control, abortion and marital infidelity. While official Church teaching considers women and men to be equal and different, some modern activists of ordination of women and other feminists argue that the teachings by St. Paul, the Fathers of the Church and Scholastic theologians advanced the impression of a pleasingly ordained female subordination. Nevertheless, women have played prominent roles in Western history through the Catholic Church, particularly in education and healthcare, but also as influential theologians and mystics. The important status of the Virgin Mary gave views of maternal virtue and compassion a place at the heart of Western civilization.
To explain, through the Gospel of Jesus, Jesus is depicted as the Holy Son, incarnation of God -His Father, and the one who served as the salvation for humanity. The vocabulary and metaphors that is used to describe Jesus sets a patriarchy as is bears "unique characteristics" to males, hence "casting women and men as polar opposite." In addition, the the Gospel of Jesus sets gender binaries. The vocabulary used to describe Jesus, insinuate men hold a closer identity with Christ. As a result, the gendered vocabulary and metaphors used to describe Jesus, and the speech used to describe God exclusively male has without a doubt marginalized women granting men the role that carries greater dominance, power and
Women were treated as second class citizens. They were willfully ignored by members of the Christianity and Despite the patriarchal society from the biblical days, God is taught as being just as much a Mother as God is a Father (102). The willful ignorance of religious scholars of the time just show that they were making a conscious effort of trying to keep women from retaining any power that they had. This relegation of religious roles in an effort to keep Men in power is a poor example of how Christianity is a religion which promotes for the love and care of all people, no matter their status. The interpretation of God from these times clash severely with my notions of what is now considered to be an all-loving entity.
... States one of the most popular religions, Catholicism, still does not permit women to serve in the priest capacity. Some issues will take many centuries to change, and just like in Catholicism, this Islamic barrier will take time to break down.
Religion is powerful in that it controls followers’ behaviours and beliefs throughout their entire lives; it is a form of social control. Catholicism is one of the most widely known religions influencing more than 2 billion people around the world (Ross). Within Catholicism not everyone are seen as equals; men have greater privilege than women. The bible and church are from a male’s point of view (Christ 86) and passages within the bible are used to enforce a sexual hierarchy. In fact, the oppression of women begins with the first story in Genesis about creation, which portrays females as being inferior to men and even of an evil nature. This one passage is the main source of justification of oppression of woman in the church (Daly 13). The church and its teachings instil low self-esteem and low self-worth in women; it creates false identities that are supposed to be God’s plan (Daly 3). One has to wonder why women participate in the church and follow its teachings, and how women can overcome the oppression in the church.
Throughout history there have always been an abundant source of prejudice and discrimination towards women. Many generations have followed and continuously tolerated the sexist ideals that were reinforced. In a religious perspective, Saint Paul, had insisted than when in the church, women should cover their heads, and should not talk. Many churches today still follow this belief and require that men and women are segregated in the church.
not cover her head, she should have her hair cut off; and if it is a
Gender and Magisterial Authority According to the Catholic Church, in order to become an ordained priest, one requirement is that the candidate be male in gender. There are several reasons as to why the Church believes that in order to be a priest one must be a man. Some of those arguments against women ordination include apostolic succession, sacramental disposition and in persona Christi Captis.
Interpretations of the Bible are influential to our society because in the United States, approximately eighty-three percent of the population is Christian, according to a poll performed by ABC News. Perhaps the Bible is written with women subservient to men because the very story of creation is written as such. Genesis serves as the foundation of not only our universe, but also the religious text. In the biblical story of creation, Adam came first, then came the animals, and then last of all came Eve, putting the origin of women last. Then, it is Eve who is vulnerable enough for evil to deceive her into taking the apple and she who persuades Adam to follow her example. This sets up a basis that women are inherently weak and sinful for the rest of the faith to be built upon. (Stanton)
Initially, Old Testament describes women as the corrupter of man. However, through interpreting the action of Jesus Christ, we see that he holds women in equal roles as men, to include mention of female apostles. The New Testament does not promote equality but does mention the acts of Jesus. Finally, the Qur'an places women in a subservient role allowing men to keep their under control, by any means. Interpretations of the Gods word under the disguise of organized religion are the product of the gender discrimination of the time and continue to paint women as lesser creatures in the eyes of God.
“Today I appeal to the whole Church community to be willing to foster feminine participation in every way in its internal life. This is certainly not a new commitment, since it is inspired by the example of Christ himself….nevertheless, he also involved women in the cause of his kingdom; indeed he wanted them to be the first witnesses and heralds of his resurrection. In fact, there are many women who have distinguished themselves in the Church’s history by their holiness and hardworking ingenuity.”