Women and the Church

One of the earliest influences on the lives of not only the Italians but the entire Roman Catholic family across the globe has been the dominance of the Catholic Church. Roman Catholicism is one of the most widely practiced religions across the world and the largest branch of Christianity.  In Italy around 96% of the people are followers and the number only seems to grow. Across the world, continents of Asia and Africa reportedly have the fastest growing Roman Catholic population.

The entire Roman Catholic Church across the world falls under the governance of the Pope. The Pope resides in Vatican City and performs all his rights there. Rome is one of the most visited places of pilgrimage across the world not only for its magnificent architecture but mainly because it was where St. Peter set up the first Christian Church, what we today call St. Peter’s Basilica.

Through the years right from its inception millions of years ago the Church has in some way or the other discriminated in the roles that women and men play. Motherhood and proclaiming the word of God that is the Bible is looked at something that is respectful and dignified for a woman. In contrast to this the story of Adam and Eve and several other Biblical stories have developed the notion of a woman being known as a temptress. The Bible did not assign roles to a man like it did to a woman.

There have been several controversies that have ensued with regards to the Church’s attitude to women who practice Roman Catholicolism. One very famous and recent one is the ‘Da Vinci Code’. The book claimed that Jesus and Mary Magdalene were married and that the famous portrait of The Last Supper had Mary Magdalene sitting next to Jesus. The Author of the book Dan Brown states that all of the facts in the book are 99% true however none of them have been mentioned in the Bible. 

The role of women and the influence of the Church has always been a topic worth debating. Several people have pointed out what maybe be termed as unfair practices towards women in the Roman Catholic Church. For starters it is hard to understand why a woman can’t a woman priest conduct the mass. The Church ordinations of women to priesthood are invalid and those who attempt them are excommunicated. Nuns and Sisters have played the role of helpers and assisted in the setting up and the running of the schools, hospitals, convents, nursing homes and abbeys.

The Church however continues to influence the stature of women in a number of ways; although it has curbed the practice of infanticide and, strict divorce and incest laws and has also termed as marital infidelity of men equal to that of women there are other laws that almost seem baseless. One of the most controversial topics under the Catholic Church is the use of contraception. The Church does not allow the usage of condoms, birth control and contraceptive pills and also abortion. According to the Church the only form of contraception is that of abstinence from sex. The Church being against the usage of condoms has led to intense criticism in the sense that banning the use of condoms under the Church has led to concerns of AID’s in countries where the issue has reached the point of being termed as an epidemic.

The topic of birth control has enraged women across the world the basic justification is that how can a bunch of men; the bishops of the Roman Catholic Church discuss and come to conclusions about reproductive rights of women. In most matter if the Church like in this case for example no women were even consulted on the issue.

The Church is also against any sexual activity outside the holy bond of marriage. In opposition to this there is no single in verse in the Bible that states “Thou shalt not have sex before marriage”, in spite of this theologians argue that there are several verses in the Bible that imply pre-marital sex as being a sin. Another issue that most Catholics seem to have with the Church’s preaching is against the practice of divorce. According to the Church a divorce is not recognized and if any person decides to go forward with it they would be ostracized from the church. If after a divorce there happens to be a possibility of a re-marriage, the children born out of the marriage would be considered illegitimate.

The Church has emerged out of patriarchy but through the years has given women a certain amount of space by allowing them to run schools, hospitals and par take in other activities. However a large number of people still feel that the due to a largely male dominated hierarchy and the refusal to allow women to be priests still boils down to the fact that the role of women is still considered inferior.

Trishann Henriques