Women's Role In The Catholic Church

Tradition is very important in the Catholic Church, its practices have not much changed since its origin. This religious body is the largest non-government provider of education and medical services in the world because its teachings emphasize support for the poor and the sick (Agnew, 2010). Despite these teachings, the Catholic Church has been criticized for its antiquated ways; including the way it perceives women. Some of the issues in the church regarding women include its doctrines on sexuality, the ordination of women, and its handling of sexual abuse cases. Catholicism calls for maintaining bodily integrity when it comes to social issues (Agnew, 2010). This includes the practice of chastity until marriage, but this practice only seems …show more content…
Political and socio-cultural conditions are equally, if not more, important. Nevertheless the influence of religion can be a powerful factor in mediating women’s status. The role of women in religious systems is often an oblique reflection of women’s status in society, with religion in turn playing a mediating role in interpreting and maintaining that status. Through a process of “symbolic interaction,” then, religion is often used to restrict women – but it also has the potential to lend support to more gender egalitarianism. In the process religion too may undergo a manner of change and transformation. Religious authorities have often made women’s bodies the turf on which their own power struggles are played out. But this raises the question of how, if the spirit and the body have been linked in women’s oppression, they must then also be linked in the strategy towards women’s liberation (Freedom, …show more content…
New feminism, as a form of difference feminism, supports the idea that men and women have different strengths, perspectives, and roles, while advocating for the equal worth and dignity of both sexes. Among its basic concepts are that the most important differences are those that are biological rather than cultural. New Feminism holds that women should be valued as child bearers, home makers, and as individuals with equal worth to men (Curran, 2008). These ideas have sparked a movement in Catholic feminism. The central issue for Catholic reformists today is that the patriarchal leadership of the Catholic Church is involved in an ideological struggle to maintain control of social and cultural reproduction, both the reproduction of people (especially through its teachings on contraception and abortion) and the social reproduction of the church (opposition to the ordination of women). Church tensions and struggles have become crowded around issues of human sexuality, abortion, contraception and homosexuality, and the struggle over the ordination of women (Schreiter, 1997). This has meant that the critical issues around which a battle is being waged are centered on women, their identity and their participation in church and society, even though these issues may