Catholics: Why do you support the stereotyping of women such that no woman can be Pope?

Question

If you believe stereotypes are wrong, and are willing to point fingers at others over this, then why do you support a church that refuses to accept that a woman can be a Priest or a Pope?

How do you avoid the charge of hypocrisy if you deem one form of stereotype is wrong while the other form of stereotype is right?

I do not stereotype all catholics in this way. Note the words "if you believe..."

That makes clear I am talking to a sub-group, not the entire group.

There is nothing in the definition for "stereotype" that requires someone to be considered "bad".

Answer 1

Sexism is against the teachings of Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church:

Created in the image of the one God and equally endowed with rational souls, all men have the same nature and the same origin. Redeemed by the sacrifice of Christ, all are called to participate in the same divine beatitude: all therefore enjoy an equal dignity.

The equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it:

Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God's design.

For more information, see Catechism of the Catholic Church, sections 1934 and following: http://www.usccb.org/catechism/text/pt3sect1chpt2art3.htm#1934

The one exception is ordination of women. The Catechism of the Catholic Church currently states:

The Lord Jesus chose men to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry.

The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.

Following the practice of Jesus and the Apostles is not stereotyping.

With love in Christ.

Answer 2

I'm Orthodox, not Roman Catholic, but we do not have, nor will we ever have, women priests or bishops.

First, we are intrinsically different. I believe this firmly.

Secondly, I don't necessarily accept absolute equality as an undisputed good or even necessarily rational. People are born in different economic circumstances. Some people are born smarter, some dumber. Some people are born frail and weak, some strong and healthy. Some are born female, and some are born male. The world is unequal, and it doesn't care or pause for are desires to rid ourselves of stereotypes or create a chiliastic utopia.

Women are blessed by God to bring life into the world in a natural fashion. Only they can do this. Men cannot, so God has ordained that only men will bring life into the world spiritually and not physically. Just as we do not circumvent this natural physical order, neither do we circumvent the spiritual order God has established.

The priest icons Christ in as many ways as he can. God uses the masculine for Himself, and when He became a Man, God did so as a male. Even if someone is taking liberties with a painting of George Bush, they wouldn't paint him as a woman. He's simply not female. Likewise, a woman doesn't icon the person of Christ the way a man does, and this function of the priest iconing Christ is actually rather important. Only a male can do this.

Next, I'm going to sound rather dasterdly patriarchal, but the traditional form of family and society is patriarchal. It's a rather recent and modern development that women are absolutely equal. In the ancient world, they couldn't be, because whenever they had children (and they needed to often with the high mortality rate), they were incapacitated for long periods of time. Men had to take the lead, and most societies follow that trend.

While we have equality now, we have no guarantee that this will be the case in a hundred years. Should the Church follow every social trend in society? What is "just" to secular society today may be unjust in a century. It wasn't even a hundred years ago when men had an undisputed lead and the West sought to impose its culture on the world. Now we have equality, and the West is afraid to impose its culture. This could all change just as quickly as the wind. The Church is to be above such fads, and thus, there are a number of things that simply aren't up for negotiation just because secular culture would press for it. This is one of them.

Personally, I think modern society is living in denial. There are real differences in men and women, and they will always exist. We want to eliminate differences in language, culture, religion, gender, etc. as if they don't matter. This is the irrational fantasy of our day, and it's going to end very, very badly. The Church should never bow to the whims of such trends, and it is the duty of every believer to fight them by any non-violent means available.

Answer 3

I'm sure that God has duly noted your opinion. Here's the facts: Adam, a man, was primarily responsible for man's fall from grace. Ever since, it has been the responsibility of the male to work to repair that rift. All of the old testament patriarchs acted as priests, offering sacrifices to God. Females were never permitted to perform that function. When God ordered Moses and Aaron to establish the Old Testament Priesthood, every single priest, over a period of some 1500 years, was male. Jesus, the New Adam, and our heavenly High Priest, is responsible for our redemption. Under the New Covenant, male Catholic priests offer sacrifice to God for the people. Jesus is a man. Catholic priests are men. God had numerous opportunities to make women priests, throughout both the old and new testaments, yet he never did, despite the availabilty of many good and holy women. Hence, the Church reserves the sacrament of Holy Orders only to males who are called to the work by God. Since priests also act as "stand-ins for Jesus" in many sacramental and liturgical functions, ordaining female priests would only further confuse the issue of the Almighty's male gender. Don't plan on seeing women priests in the Catholic Church, any time soon.

Answer 4

Sorry, but not allowing women to be a priest or a pope has nothing to do with stereotypes. It does have to do with prescribed gender roles, but not stereotypes.

A stereotype would imply that a particular group of people is somehow "bad", or prone to violence, much as is being done with Islam today. Catholocism doesn't imply that women are evil, merely that the church does not allow them to take on certain roles; much like a man may not become a "mother superior".

Obviously, as the Catholic Church allows women to become saints, they do recognize that women may be exceptionally holy. Thus, women are not stereotyped, merely prescribed certain roles, as are men.

BTW... I'm neither Catholic, nor Christian. I simply wish to point out the false ideas that people have regarding particular faith traditions.

Answer 5

The fact that woman cannot be priests/bishops has nothing to do with stereotyping.

Catholics are only imitating Christ. The word "Christian" means Christ-like. As Christians we are called to imitate Christ. When Christ started his Church he picked twelve apostles.. They were all men. This practice is continued today within the Catholic Church. Christ did not pick these twelve because they were the smartest or most talented. (Women can be smarter and more talented but they still cannot be priests.) These twelve were to continue the work of Christ. Christ was not afraid of upsetting the social norms, and He was a nonconformist, so he didn't just do it to fit in.

So the Catholic Church can only have men for Popes, Bishops and Priests because this is one way of remaining consistent with their origins.

Answer 6

That is like asking, "Catholics: Why do you support the stereotyping of rice such that no rice can be valid Eucharistic matter"?

A woman cannot be Pope because such is regarded as divinely revealed, not because of stereotyping.

Answer 7

I believe that we are intrinsically different. Jesus had many female followers, Mary Magdalene for one, but none were chosen to be a disciple. We need not be the same. I care not if other denominations choose to ordain females but as a Traditional Catholic I do not agree with female priests.

Answer 8

1 Timothy 2:11-12 – "A woman should learn in quietness and full submission. I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent."

Answer 9

Goes back to Pope Gregory when he decided to slander Mary Magdalene. By doing so he accomplished two major goals. The Gospel of Mary Magdalene talks of Jesus speaking of enlightenment. Not Hell. The church could not have the people having too much control over their thoughts and actions. That would mean less power and money for the church. Also they could not have women attaining too much power in the church either because they were threatened. So by declaring Mary a prostitute, which she clearly was not, they killed two birds with one stone.

Answer 10

There is the nuns the female counter part of priests.

Catholicism is a pagan ridden false religion in most of the people's opinion that I have read on this site.