Catholic Church Views Of Ordaining Women Essay

Menstruation is also another form in which women are ‘Polluting’. Within Catholicism, women are still unable to be ordained. Women’s presence may also distract men from their more important roles involving worship. Turner points out that in order to carry out priestly duties properly there must be a degree of policing the body and the presence of a woman there makes it more difficult. This demonstrates that religion gives a negative image of women.

Professor of religious studies Karen Armstrong finds in the early Christian Church examples of hostility toward women and fear of their sexual power, which she contends led to the eventual exclusion of women from full participation in a male-dominated church.

Many people today have misconceptions about how women were viewed during the Medieval Catholic time period (15th century) and the Protestant Reformation (16th century). To be honest, women have always made significant contributions to their culture and life several times in the past and even still today. All throughout history there is evidence that women have been regarded highly of. In “Woman In Catholic Tradition” by Edgar Schmiedeler, St. Jerome quoted

The scripture that surrounds the controversial topic of female preachers not being worthy enough to carry the mantle to preach or teach is 1 Timothy 2:12, “And I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man, but to be in silence.” Schreiner professes his agreement with John Piper who feels as though women are

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).

It is difficult to address the topic of women in the early church because culturally, Women were not accepted. Generally, it has not been acceptable for women to have a teaching role within the church. More conservative denominations may even limit that more. Aside from a general lack of woman’s rights throughout time within many cultures, Christians cite the idea that women cannot have positions of authority within the Church from passages like 1 Corinthians 14:34 where Paul says, “The women should keep silent in the

There is nothing inherent in the character of Christian ministry as it is presented in the writings of the New Testament which would give reason for the exclusion of women. On the contrary, the New Testament portrays Jesus treating women as equal human beings. It also portrays women and men serving side by side in the various ministries of the early church . . . According to the evidence, the exclusion of women from ecclesiastical ministry is neither in accord with the teaching or practice of Jesus with that of the first century church” (Bacchiocchi, 1987).

In today’s society the controversial subject of what positions in the church a woman can hold; has become incredibly debatable among the nation. Some people believe that women have equal rights with men and can uphold any position that a man can. Today’s society also believes that because a woman can be in political and business power, then a woman can also be in authority in the church. However, that could not be farther from the truth a women’s positions in the church are defined by God.

Why are genitalia more important than those characteristics in establishing ‘natural resemblance’” (Anderson and Young 198)? Also, Father Damian Ference states that women and men are “equal in dignity, but there is a difference between the two” (“Women and Catholicism”). While it is true that men and women are different, the qualities that each sex are associated with allow for the marginalization of women. I cannot find how the Catholic church believes that the exclusion of women embraces the notion that men and women are “equal in dignity”. In “EXCLUSIVE: Pink Smoke Over the Vatican (2010-12-03)”, Dr. Kathleen Kunster was denied from the priesthood because she could not be a “Father to the people”, which she immediately responded with, “I could be a Mother to the people”. I think that she words it quite well, even though she was still a child. Why can’t females be a Mother? Father Roy Bourgeios sees that women can bring many things with them into the priesthood. He acknowledges that there is no reason why women should be excluded from the

Women play many roles in the Catholic Church, but only very few of them have sanctioned titles. Only men can be ordained in the Catholic Church, and not even becoming a nun gets you the benefit of the Holy Orders. The reason why women cannot become priests in the Catholic Church goes back to when the sacrament of Holy Orders began, and because Christ created the sacrament, the pope, council, or bishops can alter it. The Eastern Orthodox Catholics have the same beliefs and also don’t ordain women. The reason for doing this has nothing to do with who is more worthy or suitable for the Holy Orders, it is simply how the Catholic Church works. The same thing happens with the ban of non-Catholics receiving Holy Communion, it has nothing to do with

According to Pope Francis, the question had already been answered by St. John Paul II in 1994. During that time, the latter taught that the Catholic Church will not ordain women because Jesus’ chosen apostles were only men.

The only thing a woman could do to escape this harsh judgment was to either enter a nunnery or marry and serve a man. By doing this, she was serving two lords: God and her husband. To not serve a husband through consummation and not serve God by entering a nunnery, would be viewed as a complete rejection of God. Thus, women were not only restrained by the political standards enforced men, but also the consciousness of the Church that

The reason that women can not be ordained to the priesthood, according to the Roman Catholic Church, is because, Jesus Christ did not choose any woman to be one of his twelve disciples. Many people critical of this explanation, have said that Jesus was simply conforming to the traditions of his time, but had Jesus been alive today, he definitely would have chosen female disciples. It appears that Roman Catholicism does not want to exclude women, Pope Francis has stated many times, but that long held religious beliefs and traditions make it hard to change. Regardless of the reason, many religions do limit women's rights both personally and religiously and make it hard for them to express themselves or take part in the religion that they follow.

Gender roles, and the mere existence of a gender binary, has been a recent topic of conversation for many churches, theologians, and individual believers. As the cultural pressure to remove gender-specific limitations builds, many of those aforementioned have turned to scripture for answers. Seldom are women’s roles in the Old Testament characterized by decision making or personal merits. Rather, a woman’s capacity to produce an heir for their husband complements his dominance and responsible faithfulness and allows God’s plan to be fulfilled through their combined efforts. In the New Testament, through the transformative power of Christ, prominent women became less of an anomaly, but were still held to a different set of standards and expectations than men and were usually still praised according to their actions and their faith. The Pauline epistles, written in the context in which the Church still exists today: the age to come, provide a basis for today’s understanding of women’s roles in marriage and in church leadership. Although there are many instances of women fulfilling God’s plans and proving their worth among the community of Christians, the biblically normative role of women is to avoid authoritative church leadership positions and remain submissive in situations of teaching and interpreting the Word.

Women have been involved in Christian ministry since the very beginning of Christianity. It has declined and risen according to the acceptance of the environment. The two papers addressed in this essay document the rise of women ministers in the Holiness movement as well as the decline of women in the modern Pentecostal movement. In response to this decline in women in ministry, Courtney Stewart gave points which the UPCI should tackle to rectify the situation.