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christian beliefs about the role of women in christian communities
religious beliefs about the role of women
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The Roman Catholic Church has without fail refused to ordain women as Priests; this practice dates back centuries. B.A. Robinson states, “The Pope has declared as infallible the teaching that the Church cannot ordain women to the priesthood now or at any other time in the future.” (Robinson) I think the ordination of women to the priesthood should be allowed for the following reasons there is no scriptural evidence in support of exclusion; Jesus’ choosing all male Apostles did set the tone for future denial of women in a leadership role. There is a severe decline in the number of priests with an increase number of Catholics and The New Testament brought about changes with it a new priesthood was established. The introduction of Vatican II rewrote much of our Catholic Church’s tradition; however, women’s ordination was not one of them. In addition, early evidence has been uncovered to support women’s ordination as deacons, priests, and bishops. Evolution and cultural change demand change within the Catholic Church. If the Church does not reconsider their stance on women's ordination, the Archdiocese will have no other alternative then closing additional parishes throughout the United States. Opening the priesthood to women and those with a calling will lessen the priest shortage and need for closing parishes. I come to you Father Gene asking your assistance in appealing the Archdiocese to reconsider what historically has been the norm of excluding women from ordination into Priesthood.
According John Wijngaards (Wijngaards) in 1976, the international biblical experts of the Pontifical Biblical Commission concluded, with a majority of twelve to five, no scriptural objections to the priestly ordination of women existed. ...
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...neralibus Title III General Decrees and Instructions." December 2007. "L "Osservatore Romano". 6 April 2011 .
VI, his Holiness Pope Paul. http://www.vatican.va/archive/hist_councils/ii_vatican_council/. 18 November 1965. 11 April 2011 .
Wijngaards, John. Association for the Rights of Catholics In the Church. 17 September 1998. 10 April 2011 .
Williams, Mary E. Gale Group. 2006. 18 March 2011 .
I feel that this is wildly inappropriate behavior for modern times. However, throughout the history of Western Civilization, it has been largely a Patriarchal society. However, this is not exclusive to Christianity. It is for this reason that I do not see the historical situations of the marginalization of Women to be out of the ordinary. This is not to say that I agree with it, far from it, just that from a historical standpoint it seems to be normal. 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 shows 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
Rausch, Thomas P. "Chapter 9: A Truly Catholic Church." Towards a Truly Catholic Church: an
...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.
The need for female preachers is evident. There is a niche for women in ministry. However the climate of the UPCI needs to change before there will be any shift upward in the number of licensures. There are things that the organization needs to address (polity issues, wording in the manual, etc.) before the climate can change. Indeed it seems that not enough people care about the issue. Perhaps the right people do not care or those who care are not making their voices heard. Whatever the case, there is a distinct need for women in ministry. There are too many women teaching Sunday school who have a call of God on their lives to evangelize or pastor. God calls without respect for age or sex, and it is high time that everyone recognized that fact.
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.
The Torah, in general, does not exactly alleviate the situation of women. Many Jewish feminists argue that a big chunk of the misogynistic views of men stem from the exclusivity of God as male. Judith Plaskow says, “There is the fact that we address God as he. And it is not just that we use the masculine pronoun in the absence of neuter ones – we image him in male terms. Thus he is King, Lord, Shepard, Father, etc.” She goes on to mention the incredulous arguments against the ordainment of women. Arguments that stated things like because a Rabbi or Minister is in effect a Godly figure, and since God is used in exclusively male terms, it is not fitting that a woman should take a role in the clergy.
The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. Retrieved February 21, 2010 from New Advent: http://www.newadvent.org
She helps illustrate a very important issue in the Catholic Church. Women have begun to populate positions within the Church, but none have broken through a “Glass Ceiling,” that keeps them from entering positions of power. The Church has long been Male Dominated for a number of reasons, not allowing women into teaching positions or positions of authority. She is the first non-ordained person to have power and jurisdiction within Vatican city. She also exemplifies a cultural shift that started with John Paul II, ended briefly with Pope Benedict XVI, and was restarted by the newest Pope, Francis. This cultural shift is probably tied to feminism…
Although females in the Catholic Church carry out a number of important roles within their religious community, there are issues of equality still present. For example, women are not able to be ordained or even be able to vote for the election of a new Pope. By enforcing equality, every person will be satisfied and the risk of people rebelling against the Church is minimised. Furthermore, giving females even more roles will positively change the thoughts of other Christian denominations. It is evident that there are equality issues in the status of women in the Catholic Church, and it is of high importance that they should be able to advance as members of the Christian Community.
The position that women have in religious scripture has given them a lesser spot in society. When God created a man it made sense to create his partner, the female. Because the man is created first and then the women from his rib, the female gender in religious scripture has been discriminated on. This is shown in the various books of the Old and New Testaments, teachings of Jesus Christ, and the Qur’an. First, the Old Testament illustrates women as the corrupter of men. Next, the teachings of Jesus show more equality among genders even though the New Testament does not. Finally, the Qur’an depicts women as having a subservient role to men allowing men to take advantage.
Gonzalez, Justo L. 1984. The early church to the dawn of the Reformation. San Francisco: Harper & Row.
THESIS: Should women be permitted to lead religious worship, such as music; should women be permitted to be a pastor; should women be allowed to hold a high administrative office; should women be allowed to serve and care for others? Women are human beings, and all humans were created to serve each other; however, mankind may have culturally set barriers and limitations on women which would not benefit women to serve in certain roles.
Turner, William. (March 1, 1907) The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume I, online edition. Retrieved February 2, 2002 from the World Wide Web: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01713a.htm
There are many questions as to why women can not become priests. Women can not receive the Sacrament of Orders and cannot fulfill the function of ministerial priest hood. The Catechism of the Catholic Church states,
Bainvel, Jean. The New Catholic Encyclopedia. New York City: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15006b.htm (accessed September 23, 2011).