I must say here that you have a definate feminist chip on your shoulder here. On one hand you suggest that men have held women back and have misrepresented the truth. That sounds like pure gnostic heresy. Recollect that it was The Church that advanced women’s rights all through history. The Church is the winner - men as a subgroup are not the winner at the loss of the female. You make unnecessary divisions on the Body of Christ and mother Church. The Catholic Church is full to the brim with female “leadership” in the laity. The priests are being relieved more and more of the administrative duties to serve more fully in their priestly roles. Look around you and see the men and women of the laity who are teaching CCD, preparing the music and helping with the liturgical planning and sitting on advisory boards. If you feel left out then men should feel left out that they were not blessed with the ability to have children and share directly in that relational blessing! Come on - get some perspective here. There are legitimate differences in the sexes and some roles are ordained by God and not by “people” (e.g. men and women, boys and girls, males and females). Further has it ever occurred to you that Mary is the highest ranking created creature in all of heaven - forever? Do you hear men running about complaining that a women got the top human leadership position in God’s heavenly court?
You ever notice that there is almost no mention of anyone bickering or posturing about “leadership positions” in the gospels except from a woman, the MOTHER of James and John (The Boanerges - The Sons of Thunder)? You are so preoccupied with finding how men have held women back that you completely forget or overlook the key roles played by all the strong OT Jewish archtypes that prefigure Mary (e.g. Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel, Miriam, the sister of Moses, Deborah, Abigail, Ruth, Judith, Esther). Do you imagine any of these women were held back by men? Do you imagine Mary is less than any man in heaven? Also don’t forget the very important women of the early Church: Priscilla and Aquila are described by the writer of Acts (in Acts 18) as wife and husband. When Apollos “began to speak boldly in the synagogue” about Jesus, “Priscilla and Aquila… took him aside and explained the Way of God to him more accurately.” (Acts 18:26, NRSV). Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome" (Mark 16:1, NRSV) were found worthy to be the ones to “go, tell his disciples and Peter” (Mark 16:7, NRSV). There is also Martha and Mary, Mary Magdalene. It was Mary Magdalene who **first discovered **the empty tomb after the Resurrection, and she was also the
first to both see the risen Christ and to testify to what she had seen. In fact, she is mentioned a total of fourteen times in the story, the most of any one disciple, a significant testament to her importance. Even Pilate’s wife had a role and may have been a secret follower of Christ. Back to Priscilla, she was one of the most learned women in the Bible. She, along with her husband Aquila, was a close personal friend of the Apostle Paul, and
she alone was the teacher of the eloquent and learned scholar, Apollos. It is even suggested, though never proven, that Priscilla was the author of the Biblical Book of Hebrews.
James
God sent His only son and didn’t realize that His message and actions would not suffice for the future? He did not realize that sending Him in a patriarchal society would not have ramifications in the future?