Can someone answer my question? Part 4

[TruthSeeker11]

I have a lot of questions about the Catholic Church and its teaching.

Could someone explain why women hold so much less authority?

 

[Tantum_ergo]

I have a lot of questions about the Catholic Church and its teaching.

1. Could someone explain why women hold so much less authority?

1. Women hold less ‘authority’ how? Women can ‘do’ anything (we have women who were Doctors of the Church) except be priests. Priests are not ‘powerful’ people though. They are supposed to be the servants of all. Women already in society (even in today’s society) are more inclined to ‘serve’ others in their nature. It is men who need to learn to serve. It is men who paradoxically because of their nature and role in ‘secular’ life–as husbands and fathers and ‘heads of the house’ who give up the MOST to become humble servant priests. Further, it is not “The Church” which has ‘decided’ not to permit women as priests. In the time of Christ, in other cultures, there were women ‘priestesses’, in fact they were more common than men. It would have been easy for Christ to ordain women IF the priesthood of Christians was supposed to be like the ‘priestesses’ of other religions. But it was not. As I said, Christ is the one who determined who was to be a priest, and He determined it must be men. The Church has no authority to ordain women. Even if every person in the Church ‘wanted’ to ordain women, the Church could not do so, any more than it could declare that God was a Quartet instead of a Trinity. We can’t set aside or teach a ‘different gospel’ than the one Christ gave us. We don’t have the authority to change His teaching.

 

[Annabelle_Marie]

I have a lot of questions about the Catholic Church and its teaching.

Could someone explain why women hold so much less authority?

And the Church has a high regard for women…you will find in a lot of their teachings on marriage and such that women are not to be treated as objects.

 

[poetryforjesus]

Do you know whom the Catholic Church holds in the highest regard next to Christ?

Blessed Virgin Mary, a woman!

Do you know who successfully started and maintained the global Catholic TV station?

Mother Angelica, a cloistered nun, a woman!

Do you know what organization mostly vehemently defends the dignity of women as virgin, wife, and mother?

It is the Catholic Church.

 

[allenirvan]

SO why is it that women cannot be priest or bishop and perform the duties given to those people alone? Most likely for the same reasons that many protestants teach that only men can be pastors or deacons, it is in the bible…

1 Timothy 2:11-15 NAB
11
A woman must receive instruction silently and under complete control.
12
I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man. She must be quiet.
13
For Adam was formed first, then Eve.
14
Further, Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.
15
But she will be saved through motherhood, provided women persevere in faith and love and holiness, with self-control.

1 Timothy 3:1-13 NAB
1
This saying is trustworthy: whoever aspires to the office of bishop desires a noble task.
2
Therefore, a bishop must be irreproachable, married only once, temperate, self-controlled, decent, hospitable, able to teach,
3
not a drunkard, not aggressive, but gentle, not contentious, not a lover of money.
4
He must manage his own household well, keeping his children under control with perfect dignity;
5
for if a man does not know how to manage his own household, how can he take care of the church of God?
6
He should not be a recent convert, so that he may not become conceited and thus incur the devil’s punishment.
7
He must also have a good reputation among outsiders, so that he may not fall into disgrace, the devil’s trap.
8
Similarly, deacons must be dignified, not deceitful, not addicted to drink, not greedy for sordid gain,
9
holding fast to the mystery of the faith with a clear conscience.
10
Moreover, they should be tested first; then, if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
11
Women, similarly, should be dignified, not slanderers, but temperate and faithful in everything.
12
Deacons may be married only once and must manage their children and their households well.
13
Thus those who serve well as deacons gain good standing and much confidence in their faith in Christ Jesus.

I have to tell you, this can of worms gets much much deeper though.