Should Mary Magdalene be considered an Apostle?

[JamesParente]

I was having a conversation today, and we were talking about the first Christians. Essentially, what the other person said was that the Church tried to suppress the fact that women were disciples, as well (Junia), in that they listen to Jesus and helped spread the Faith.

The example that was told to me was Mary Magdalene should have been counted among the apostles, and probably other women, as well. They said that women were not and are not given enough power in the Church. I tried to tell the other person that women have plenty of respect and power in the Church (citing the Blessed Virgin Mary as an example, and that women can help spread the faith.) I also brought up that the priest works in persona Christi, and therefore the Priest cannot be a woman. When I said this, I was told that I was sexist.

How do I respond to this claim that the Church suppressed the fact that there were female apostles (or disciples), like Junia, or the claim that Mary Magdalene was given a bad rap in a “male dominated” society of Jesus’ time?

 

[Fr.Charles_Grondin]

While there certainly have been issues regarding women in the church, the church has never hid the fact that there were female followers of Jesus. The Gospels are very clear that there were women who followed Jesus’ ministry even to Calvary.

Counting Mary Magdalene among the 12 Apostles however is a bridge too far. Neither the Gospels nor Tradition place her among them in any context where Jesus grants authority to the Apostles. While Mary Magdalene did indeed have an encounter with the risen Christ, Jesus only sent her to tell the Apostles whereas the Apostles were sent by Jesus to tell the world. She indeed appears to have been a devout follower of Jesus but that doesn’t make her an Apostle any more than the other devout followers of Jesus who were not part of the 12.

As for Junia, I recommend the detailed answer I gave here: What does Paul mean when he refers to Junia as an apostle?