Let me begin by saying that the Catholic Church has always maintained the equal human dignity of every person.  With that said, it also notes that there are differences between men and women (Here I would note that, with the popularity of such books as Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus, I would suggest that most people agree that there are legitimate gender differences).  I am not going to get into what those differences may or may not be.  But I would like to work from the commonality that faith gives and try to give you some direction in which to understand the participation of women in the life of the Church as compared with some of the biblical verses you cite from your Protestant friend.

      I would like to begin with a selection from Galatians (3:23-29).  Paul, here, speaks of our common baptism which makes us all children of God.  The famous verse is no. 28--"There is neither Jew or Greek, slave or free, male or female.  All are one in the Lord."  Now, obviously this verse seems to fly in the face of the other verses which proclaim that women should be silent in Church, as you have quoted.  What are we to make of this?

      I would point you to another resource, which came out in the mid-90s: The Interpretation of the Bible in the Church, published by the Pontifical Biblical Commission.  The book looks at all the different ways of interpreting the Bible, citing their positive aspects and offering honest criticism.  The only way which it says nothing positive about is a fundamental interpretation which takes the Bible at face value.  It calls this way dangerous, inviting people to a type of intellectual suicide and offering easy answers to the problems of life.

      I would suggest that your Protestant friend is buying into a fundamental interpretation.  And as Catholics, we do not highly regard such an interpretation.

      So, how are we to interpret these scriptures?  Using historical critical method, we know that this was part of the culture of the time (and still is, in some Middle Eastern countries).  Let me share an interesting tidbit to describe the life of women back in the time of Paul.  If a village wanted to maintain its population, every woman in the village had to bear at least 6 children in her lifetime.  So high was the mortality rates.  You can see, then, that it was necessary for women to be full time mothers for the human race just to survive!  We know that this is not our culture nowadays.

      How we understand and articulate the differences between the genders in modern America is our task.  And how we bring the gospel to bear in our situation today is the challenge.  But I think we can see in the Bible not only a snapshot of their cultural milieu but also a movement away from the sinful boundaries that Christ, as the boundary breaker, crosses, especially in his relationships with women.

     And here I will close with two examples from the scriptures of women who were in ministerial positions at the time of Paul.  First, there is Prisca, the wife of Aquila, who are both mentioned as ministers.  There is also Phoebe, personally commened by Paul as a minister (Romans 16:1).  And lastly, there is the androgynous name, Junia, mentioned as an apostle no less in Romans 16:7.  Now, it must be noted that Junia, like our names Chris or Pat, could name a man or woman.  But it does make it possible that Paul notes a woman apostle, right there in the Bible as well.

      So, with that said, our common baptism makes us all suited for ministry, depending on the gifts God gives us.  What difference gender makes is for us to discover in our current cultural situation.

     I hope this helps with your understanding of the role of women in the Church.

Grace and Peace,

Fr. Chris

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