THE
CATHOLIC
CHURCH’S
VIEW ON
WOMEN
Reported by: Martin & Luzong

The status of women in the Hebrew Scriptures (Old
Testament)
Passages treating women as inferior to men
Exodus 1:15-16, the Pharaoh ordered the midwives to kill all Jewish boys at birth, because of the threat that they might pose to the kingdom. "And he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daughter, then she shall live." The girls, being considered less important, were not seen as a threat; they were allowed to live.

Deuteronomy 22:23 extends this prohibition to a man sleeping with a woman who is engaged to be married. If a man has an affair with an unmarried woman, the act is not considered adultery. Married men were free to visit prostitutes. A man who committed adultery did not commit a wrongful act against his own wife, but rather against his male neighbor.
Numbers 30 describes that a vow taken by a man is binding.
But a vow taken by a woman can be nullified by her father, if she is still living in her family of origin, or by her husband, if she is married. •

Old testament figures, Virgin Mary, and female disciples of Jesus in the Gospels.

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Theologians, abbesses, monarchs, missionaries, mystics, martyrs, scientists, nurses, hospital administrators, educationalists and religious sisters, many of whom have been canonised as
Catholic saints

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Condemning infanticide, divorce, incest, polygamy and counting the marital infidelity of men as equally sinful to that of women

Spanish Priests
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Glorious years of the women were destroyed when the Spanish arrived during the 16th century

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Schools were prioritized to be available for men

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Women should stay at home

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Overly religious, submissive, and obedient Papal Encyclicals and women 1891 to 1931

Rerum Novarum
Pope Leo XIII, 1891

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A woman is by nature fitted for home-work

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Preserve modesty and promote good upbringing of children and well-being of the family

Casti Connubii
Pope Pius XI, 1930

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Ready subjection of the wife and her willing obedience (To the woman’s husband) “Let women be subject to their husbands as to the Lord, because the husband is the head of the wife, and Christ is the head of the Church.”

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Subjection does not deny or take away liberty which fully belongs to the woman

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Does not bid her to obey every husband’s request if not in harmony with right reason or the dignity of the wife

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Wife should not be put on a level with minors

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The man is the head, the woman is the heart. The woman is the chief place in love.

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If the husband neglects his duty, the wife will take place in directing the family. But the structure of the family and its fundamental law, established and confirmed by God, must always and everywhere be maintained intact.

Quadregesimo Anno
Pope Pius XI, 1931
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Mothers, concentrating on household duties, should work primarily in the home or in its immediate vicinity.
It is an intolerable abuse, and to be abolished at all cost, for mothers on account of the father's low wage to be forced to engage in gainful occupations outside the home to the neglect of their proper cares and duties, especially the training of children.

APOSTOLIC LETTER MULIERIS DIGNITATEM
OF THE SUPREME PONTIFF JOHN PAUL II
ON THE DIGNITY AND VOCATION OF
WOMEN ON THE OCCASION OF THE
MARIAN YEAR

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Begun with the general notion of personal dignity and then see how that dignity is particularized in the female sex

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Men and women thus have a common dignity and vocation: the communio personarum/ communion of persons, that we can be truly one with each other and still find our individual identities intact and even enhanced.

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Jesus recognized religious equality in all his encounters with women

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He spoke to women, in public and about the most serious matters of human life: the identity of the
Messiah, resurrection, the meaning of his own death

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He was the first to call Jewish women "daughters of
Abraham"

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Chapter 1: Context of the Marian year (intro)

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Chapter 2: Mary, the paradigm of the dignity and vocation of women

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The next 2 chapters: Christian sexual anthropology

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Chapter 5: Jesus Christ

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Chapter 6: Motherhood-Virginity

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Chapter 7: The Church — the Bride of Christ

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Chapter 8: The Greatest of These Is Love

Why Can't Women Be Priests
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Jesus did not ordain any women. He selected all of his apostles, and none were women

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They play different roles within the Church, as there are different instruments within an orchestra

THE ROLE OF WOMEN IN THE
CATHOLIC CHURCH
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Women have equal rights to be sponsors at Baptism and
Confirmation

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In Matrimony, they’re treated and regarded as full, equal partners with their

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Women can serve on the parish council and finance committees

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Nuns or religious sisters

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Readers at Mass, extraordinary ministers •

Can you tell me what is the Catholic view about women? The Catholic view is that men and women are equal in the sight of God.