E.C.
Well-Known Member
- Jan 12, 2007
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Yeah!Women do just about everything in the Churches. Let's let the men do something.
I remember the RC church I went to as a kid being dominated by women. Not that there is anything wrong with this, but there is something inherently unequal about seeing nine people distributing the Body and Blood and the only male is the priest, yet we're being taught that the man is the head of household
Like I said before, women already run the parish.
We have a winner!How about the ability to be a father? Fathers and mothers provide very different things. That is one of the many reasons that our society is falling apart. We think moms can offer everything and that their children really don't need a father.
As the survivor of the divorce wars of one's parents I came to the realization many years ago that a healthy male needs his father (luckily for my brother and I we took matters into our own hands and insured that we were with our father! ). One of my close friends on this base married a few months before boot camp at the tender age of nineteen. He and I were talking one day about families and came to the realization that as boys grow up they need their fathers more and more; the same thing with girls, but to a lesser extent. That being said, there is something to be said, in my opinion, about having a stable male to look to in times of spiritual trouble, such as one's priest.
Personally, I think part of it is because when you go to your priest for confession or counseling or whathaveyou and you're an emotional wreck and spilling your guts to the Lord in front of this guy it would probably not help to have them enter your emotional wreck with you like women tend to do in similar situations (no offense ladies, just an observation after twenty-three years of being alive )
Probably the simplest reason I've read so farSometimes, I think the answer is a lot more simple. It's down to biology. Women menstruate. Imagine a world with no tampons or other manufactured sanitary napkins. That world existed for women well into the early 19th century. I have researched this, and in many cases, women just bled out. Yes, some used rags or made their own, but many, many, many women used nothing. We live in a world where some women STILL don't have access to menstrual products. During their menses, women were usually secluded, and you certainly wouldn't see them touching holy things or participating in any sacraments. Hygiene was not at all like it is today. This alone would have been a practical reason for women not being priests. We still church women forty days after giving birth (prayers upon her returning). It is what it is.
It must be noted the effects of women ordination into the priesthood. Think of how many Lutherans and Anglicans have become Orthodox because of it. Consider also, the near complete lack of a demand for a female priesthood within the Orthodox Church, not from men, but from women. I think that in terms of East vs. West the fact that women have almost always been fairly equal to men in the East (note the differences in Orthodox wedding vs. Western European weddings in which the bride is handed from one male to another like property) may help explain for why women in the East typically don't have the same demand for a female priesthood as women in the West do.
Now if you'll excuse me I'm going to setup my defenses before the rocks are thrown
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