Women's Roles In The Catholic Church Essay

Women’s roles in the Catholic church have remained relatively consistent in the fact that women have never been allowed to become priests but have continued their service to the church in the role as nuns. Even though the church has modernized in other ways, they have not caught up to improving gender equality in the West. Why is this still a controversial issue especially since in other denominations of Christianity, such as the Methodist church, have appointed women preachers? This is still an issue because traditional viewpoints and conservative Catholics disagree with women priests. They believe it goes against the teachings of the bible. The Vatican has not changed the views and remains against women priests to this day. In addition, many Catholics around the world are against it as well. There was a story about the Danube seven in which seven women in Germany tried to defy the doctrine in 2002 and tried to become priests. They did in fact become priests yet it was at a great cost as the church excommunicated the women. …show more content…
One reason is that it goes against the teachings of the Bible is referenced in the old testament, Aaron’s sons were all given the title as priests (Leviticus 21:1-24) no women were given this title. A journal article by Dr. Cheryl Haskins titled “Gender Bias in the Roman Catholic Church: Why can’t women be priests” has supported this as well with Theology standards. In the Old Testament, the term “father/god of our ancestors” appears over 60 times, and in the story of Micah there is evidence of how the term priest referred to men. In addition, in the Bible, Micah, who later became a minor prophet, had a shrine made of Teraphim and Ephod and required his sons to become a priests. The title “father” originates from the priest’s purpose as a diviner and provider for ordinal advice to the people. (Haskins,