Priests In The Catholic Church example essay topic

If one was to take a step back and look at our society as a whole one would see that women's rights have changed dramatically over the last century. Women are no longer expected to get married, have children, and stay at home to take care of their family. Women have left the home and entered the work force. There have been many laws passed to prevent the discrimination of women and to make sure that they are treated equally. Certainly, one can say that there is still a struggle between the sexes over the organization of modern society. Society has indeed embraced a gender war of sorts through the ages which has culminated in a outcome that declares the male the victor.

One example of this is that women are not allowed to be ordained as priests in the Catholic Church. As a child, I attended Catholic schools until high school. I was instructed by mostly nuns. I can remember that when the priest came into the room we would have to stand up as a sign of respect towards our faith. As I got older, I began to think that nuns are part of the religious life but we don't have to treat them with this same respect.

During my catholic education, I was taught that God created us in his image and likeness. If this is true, and as Christians we believe that Christ is the fullest manifestation of God, how can they say that only men image God? Are women incapable of revealing God? A hundred years ago, women had little standing in the Catholic Church, like in society in general. Women were not allowed to: receive communion during their monthly periods and after giving birth to a child they needed to be purified before re-entering a church building. Women were strictly forbidden to touch sacred items such as the chalice, the paten, or the alter linen.

They certainly could not distribute holy communion. While in church, women need to have their heads veiled at all times. Women were also barred from entering the sanctuary except for cleaning purposes, reading Sacred Scripture from the pulpit, preaching, singing in a church choir, being alter servers, becoming full members of confraternities and organizations of the laity, and most importantly women were barred from receiving Holy Orders. In our time today with the new awareness of human rights and the need to secure equal opportunities to all the attitude towards women has begun to change in the Catholic Church.

Women may now be lectors, alter servers, cantors, preachers, leaders of prayer services, ministers of baptism and of holy communion. But the ban on ordination remains in place. In the first centuries after Christ, women held responsible ministries in the Church, including the role of deacon. Historical evidence shows that in the eastern parts of the Catholic Church women served as deacons until the ninth century.

(Ruether p. 121) Since they became deacons through full sacramental ordination, identical to that of male deacons, women did receive Holy Orders which implies they can also receive the priesthood. The Cannon Law 1024 states that only a baptized man can validly receive sacred ordination. (Sweeney p. 114) In 1977 the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith wrote the "Declaration on the Question of Admission of Women to the Ministerial Priesthood" stating several reasons why the church does not admit women to priestly ordination. (Swidler.

37) Some of these justifications included: 1. The priest, when he pronounces the words of consecration, acts in the person of Christ, taking the role of Christ, to the point of being his very image. 2. When Christ's role in the Eucharist is to be expressed sacramentally; there would not be this natural resemblance if his minister were a women - for Christ was a man and remains a man. (Swidler p. 37) 3. Sacramental signs require a natural resemblance to what they signify.

Basically a male priest images Christ, but a female priest would not. A women, solely because of her gender, cannot image Christ in that sacrament. A few of reasons that the Catholic Church does not ordain priest are: 1) Women were considered inferior beings. 2) Women were considered to be in a state of punishment for bringing original sin into the world. 3) Women were considered unclean because of their monthly periods. Conservative theologians, led by the Congregation for Doctrine in Rome, maintain that, while other restrictions placed on women in the past were due to social prejudice, the ban on ordaining women as priests belongs to the unchangeable Catholic doctrine.

(Swidler p. 42) It is one thing to hold that no individual has the right to be ordained, quite another to refuse ordination because he or she belongs to a particular group, class or nation. (Greeley p. 87) Excluding women because they are women is an act of discrimination. What if the Catholic Church excluded all Chinese, all Mexicans, all African Americans? This would be a similar act of discrimination. Feminism is doctrine suggesting that women are systematically disadvantaged in modern society and advocating equal opportunities for men and women.

(Greeley p. 176) Feminists contend that the reason why women are in subservient roles is due to oppression by the stronger, male sex. Other notions rely on biology suggesting that because women physically bear children, the yare destined to raise them. The concept of symbolic interaction ism which sprang from Mead and Cooley's models express that organized groups control the behavior of their members by serving as a generalization which constitutes a core element of the self. (Bartusch p. 145) Symbolic interaction ism suggests that individuals attach particular meanings to events. Thus, one society may deem an action abhorrent while in another it is part of accepted gender roles.

An example being the Catholic Church. Sociologists use the term conflict theory to refer to any theory that emphasizes the role of conflict in human societies. (Conflict Theory is perhaps the most appropriate as it does explain inequality as being a form of conflict between men and women. In terms of gender equality, the answer is not black or white.

From feminism to conflict theory, there are no easy answers to the problem of gender inequality. Is the Catholic Church out of line having their own beliefs about the roles of women in their institutions? Ethically and morally one would most likely agree. But bylaw they have the right to their own beliefs and ways because church is separated from the state. Today there is an urgent need for more priests. If women could be ordained the number of the priests would rise.

With this in mind, one would think that more people would be fighting for this cause. If you were to walk into a Catholic Church this Sunday you would most likely see a women on the alter. However this women would not be weary the fancy vestments standing behind the alter. Women have come a long way, but until a women is able to be ordained as a priest, Catholic Churches will continue to play on gender roles. Although I am not and never will be interested in becoming a priest myself, I feel that excluding women from the priesthood because of their sex is discriminatory.

Bibliography

Bartusch, D., Matsuda, R. "Gender, reflected appraisals, and labeling a cross-group test of an interactions t theory of delinquency". Social Forces (1996).
Greeley, A. (1984).
Angry Catholic Women. Illinois: The Thomas More Press. Ruether, R. (1985).
Women-Church, Theology and Practice. New York: Harper & Row Publishers. Sweeney, T. (1992).
A Church Divided. New York: Prometheus Books. Swidler, L. (1977).