Would Jesus approve how Catholic women are being treated today by our church?
Jesus welcomed women into his company, as disciples and apostles.
He listened to them (remember the wedding at Cana?).
He engaged a woman in extended conversation recorded in the Bible (remember Photini, the Samaritan woman at the well?).
He encouraged them to learn at his feet in the same role that men often took when studying with a rabbi (remember Mary, sister of Lazarus?).
He commissioned them (remember his charge to St. Mary Magdala to tell others that he had risen?).
In a society that marginalized women and their testimony, Jesus affirmed that women were created in the image and likeness of God and treated them as such. Did Jesus teach that women were naturally subordinate to men? Never. Did Jesus ever tell women to be silent, to submit to their husbands or fathers, or that they were excluded from teaching and preaching the Gospel message? No, I don’t see any such references in the words of Jesus.
It’s clear from scripture that women were influential leaders in early Christianity. The early church depended on women to support outreach. Women taught and spread the word. Women were acknowledged as ministers in our early church.
What happened then, to bring us to where we are now, in the treatment of Catholic women of equal but different (so not so equal) standing in our church? Culture at the time of Jesus was opposed to women in authority. Patriarchy in the secular culture started early to move church leaders into their subjugation orientation toward women. Male voices versed in that patriarchy have overpowered and outlasted descriptions of Jesus’ relationships with women. The silencing, the dismissal, the exclusion of women’s voices started early, protecting male privilege.
Biblical scholarship is not neutral. It has been done by men. These men have been trained in institutions that exclude women. The Bible is interpreted by male theologians and then used by the church to justify women’s subordination as “God’s will” as opposed to recognizing the treatment of women in Christianity has been influenced by politics, governments, and secular culture.
We should not be misled by cries of “complementarianism” – a theological view that although women and men are created equal (in dignity, value, and personhood), they have complementary roles in life, in the home, in society, and in the church. What it boils down to is that women are called to submit & support and men are called to lead. Complementarity doesn’t appear in the bible. I recognize the concept in St. Paul’s letters but I don’t recognize this in Jesus’ words or actions. Equal but different hasn’t really worked out well for women.
We are inviting believers to step out of their comfort zone and examine their assumptions about the church’s justification for the treatment of Catholic women today . We can’t be surprised by pushbacks or distractions. Point to the words of Jesus in the Bible when confronted with efforts to subjugate women – what did Jesus say and do. Focus on Jesus. Claim the right to be recognized for full humanity.
Marylee Raymond Diamond 4/10/26