Women in the church the feminine genius

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The term ‘Christian’ while endearing is one earned (according to scripture) by secular observation.

Acts 11:26 seculars called the Christs followers for the first time ‘Christians’.
Acts 26:28 Herod Agrippa charges Paul with almost persuading him to be a ‘Christian’
1Peter 4:16 If you suffer as (we are called) a Christian … do not be ashamed

We all wear the label ‘Christian’ well as if it were a badge of honor however in the beginning it was the label the first century critical bloggers used to identify the followers of our Lord and Savior.

Today we (and others not reasonably related) stand with chins raised towards the sun and proclaim ‘we are indeed Christians’ and it has become such a badge of honor that Christ emulators (LDS and JW) now are insulted if they are not considered ‘Christian’.

May I suggest we earn our secular monachor not proclaim it.
 
One thing I’ve noticed over the years is that complications are the hallmark of man kind.
 
LittleFlower said:
Hmmm. Are you saying that women don’t form cliques?
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I work in a female led organization and I can tell you that women cover for other women all the time. That has been my experience for over 27 years. As far as specifically sex-based crimes, I’m not aware of who did and didn’t cover for others, so can’t comment on that. I do know that women knew of sex-based crimes but didn’t report it.

Again, I think this points to the fact that women also mis-manage but possibly in different ways.
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I am not saying they do not do these things. I am saying that systematic coverup of abuse by women in the Church is relatively small because well, we don’t hold many leadership positions now or historically.

Women always bring a different perspective of things.
 
jfz178 said:
I simply cannot share your optimism.
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Then I guess you can wallow around in your pessimism and hate the thought of walking into a Catholic Church. Somehow I would rather trust the Holy Spirit to move those in positions of power to do the right thing.
 
And you can walk around in naive denial. I also believe in trust. But I also believe in “verify.”
 
I will leave my statements up, however fully retract them. Women religious were and are just as capable to do harm, kill, and abuse. They are also able to get away with it, and cover it up.

My apologies to all.
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Nuns Killed Children, Say Former Residents Of St. Joseph’s Catholic Orphanage Catholic News
 
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Someone upthread made reference to ordaining women but I don’t think that is what the OP was suggesting or anyone else on the thread.

I do think there is room for women to be involved at some level. If only men are in positions of authority in the church then a certain perspective is going to be missing. Feminists get a bad rap on this board but it was feminists that began movements against domestic violence, sexual violence, and child abuse. Feminists are more likely to acknowledge that men can be victims of sexual violence than other men; men typically mock male victims of violence or minimize the trauma. For this reason I think women do need to be involved in the solution to this, as well as in other matters.
 
No need to flood anything. Women can sin too but they also can see some things differently or have a different perspective.
therese1998 said:
Gender isn’t the problem; sin is.
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Yes, sin is the problem but this one, the problem of sexual sin is one in which the majority of perpetrators are men and the majority of those fighting for protection and justice for victims is women.

This issue is power and there needs to be more accountability when people have authority over others. I see a lot of people blaming homosexuality but in ancient Greece there were relationships between and man and a younger man or boy. It appears that this trend is a practice that men in authority never really gave up, even in the church. I’d be willing to bet that many didn’t see it as wrong but just a perk that came with the job and the fact that the sexual activity wasn’t with a woman it wasn’t real sex (and isn’t that something Catholics say to argue against homosexual sex?) so they didn’t see it as something that was wrong, just something that some might do. Occasionally. If they are so inclined. i

I’ve seen what power or a sense of power can do to people; I don’t think I’ve ever seen newly acquired power make a person a better person. They either stay the same or become a jerk. Power really does corrupt.

As Therese said, it’s about sin.
 
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So, I DO believe that women, even nuns, CAN be capable of harm, abuse, murder. I don’t believe that a woman counterpart to every priest bishop or pope is the answer to the problems the church is currently facing.

Having said that, I believe that female influence and guidance is a fine thing and priests, bishops and even popes can benefit from it and suffer from one-side thinking without it.

It certainly IS true that there were abuses beyond sexual that happened in Catholic orphanages and were perpetuated by nuns. That there are people who sin and are influenced by pure evil, even within the church, is not new knowledge. There are many threads on even just this site that deal with that very fact and the damage it does to the Church and to people’s faith. It’s awful. However, I would be cautious about where you get your information, individual accounts and “he said-she said” information mixed in with credible findings after fair and impartial hearing. Also, Buzz Feed is not a particularly reliable source. ( Buzzfeed - Media Bias/Fact Check).

Our faith is in Christ. Faith in humans is almost always misplaced.
 
Woman alongside priests is a sexual problem waiting to happen 😉
 
LittleFlower said:
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Thom18:
How can you prove that flooding the Vatican with women would solve the problem? Are they not also human and prone to sin?
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Your choice of words makes your feelings clear. Allowing lay and religious women to gain and engage in higher positions within the church more freely and easily, will no longer make it a “boy’s club”.

And yes, where there are “boy’s clubs” there are secrets, which is why they exist in the first place. Some things are perfectly harmless, however others maintain a shroud of secrecy around them, where they do not want prying eyes.

Our Church sadly falls not into the harmless category. It has cloaked itself in a shroud of secrecy that only benefits those in the “boy’s club”.

Those outside of it—including victims and survivors of both abuse and sexual abuse—really don’t see the point.

Why can’t laity be part of the administration of the Church on a high level? Vatican level? And what’s wrong with having women involved as part of the strategy to include laity and create more transparency?
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Rather than assume my “feelings”, you could ask me- but that wouldn’t help to make your point, I suppose.

A scandal rocks the Church, and out of the woodwork come people saying, “This wouldn’t happen if there weren’t so many men”, “Priests need to be allowed to marry so they won’t abuse people”, and any other number of things. If I’m not “getting with the times”, it’s because these “solutions” aren’t well thought out. They inadequately explain how they’ll fix the problem, if that’s even their purpose, and so they don’t convince me.
 
Thom18 said:
A scandal rocks the Church, and out of the woodwork come people saying, “This wouldn’t happen if there weren’t so many men”, “Priests need to be allowed to marry so they won’t abuse people”, and any other number of things. If I’m not “getting with the times”, it’s because these “solutions” aren’t well thought out. They inadequately explain how they’ll fix the problem, if that’s even their purpose, and so they don’t convince me.
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I haven’t suggested any of the above.

I have suggested that having lay and religious women in administrative roles in higher positions within the Church leadership would be beneficial. Also, it would be beneficial if laity would also be privy to when abuse is reported and that it is not only handled internally by clergy.

Also, after I have just spent an hour reading a quite comprehensive article of detailed abuse in an American orphanage by nuns, I don’t know what to suggest or how to go forward.
 
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Early Christianity in the first few centuries…was it not run by lay people and served by priests?
 
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