Women play significant roles in the life of the Catholic Church, although excluded from the Catholic hierarchy of bishops, priests, and deacons. In the history of the Catholic Church, the church often influenced social attitudes toward women. Influential Catholic women have included theologians, abbesses, monarchs, missionaries, mystics, martyrs, scientists, nurses, hospital administrators, educationalists, religious sisters, Doctors of the Church, and canonised saints. Women constitute the majority of members of consecrated life in the Catholic Church; in 2010, there were around 721,935 professed women religious. Motherhood and family are given an exalted status in Catholicism.
The Catholic Church has influenced the status of women in various ways: condemning abortion, divorce, incest, polygamy, and counting the marital infidelity of men as equally sinful to that of women.Noble, p. 230.Stark, p. 104. The role of women in the church has become a controversial topic in Catholic social thought. Christianity's overall effect on women is a matter of historical debate; it rose out of patriarchal societies but lessened the gulf between men and women. The institution of the convent has offered a space for female self-government, power, and influence through the centuries. According to some modern critiques, the Catholic Church's largely male hierarchy and refusal to ordain women implies "inferiority" of women. New feminism and feminist theology deal extensively with Catholic attitudes towards women. Yet, the Blessed Virgin Mary remains the most important human figure in the Catholic Church after Jesus Christ, who is also regarded as a true man.
Women in the Bible Prominent women in the Bible include Old Testament figures, particularly Eve in the Garden of Eden, which has affected the development of a Western notion of woman as "temptress".
The New Testament refers to a number of women in Jesus' inner circle – notably his mother Mary (for whom the Catholic Church holds a special place of veneration) and Mary Magdalene who discovered the empty tomb of Christ. The church says that Christ appointed only male Apostles (from the Greek apostello "to send forth").Coppieters, Honoré. "Apostles." The Catholic Encyclopedia Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 12 July 2019
The New Testament is instructive of the attitudes of the church towards women. Among the most famous accounts of Jesus directly dealing with an issue of morality and women is provided by the story of Jesus and the woman taken in adultery, from verses of the Gospel of John. The passage describes a confrontation between Jesus and the scribes and Pharisees over whether a woman, caught in an act of adultery, ought to be stoned. Jesus shames the crowd into dispersing, and averts the execution with the famous words: "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her." According to the passage, "they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last", leaving Jesus to turn to the woman and say "go, and sin no more." This passage has been immensely influential in Christian philosophy.
Jesus' own attitude to women is found in the story of Jesus at the house of Martha and Mary. The Gospels suggest Jesus broke with convention to provide religious instruction directly to women. Mary sits at Jesus' feet as he preaches, while her sister toils in the kitchen preparing a meal. When Martha complains to Mary that she should instead be helping in the kitchen, Jesus says that, "Mary has chosen what is better" ().
Virgin Mary
Mary was the mother of Jesus, and as such is highly venerated within the Catholic Church as the Mother of God. The church holds that she was immaculately conceived and, while betrothed to the carpenter Joseph, Mary was visited by the angel Gabriel who announced that, though a virgin, she would give birth to a son, Jesus. The Gospels give several other accounts of Mary, including that she was present at the feet of Jesus at the time of his crucifixion.
Her role has inspired vast quantities of Catholic art – notably images of the Madonna and Child – and various Catholic prayers, Marian hymns and devotions (notably the Hail Mary). Ave Maris Stella (English, "Hail Star of the Sea") is a plainsong Vespers hymn to Mary and inspiration for the English hymn Hail Holy Queen. The Salve Regina, also known as the Hail Holy Queen, is a Marian hymn and one of four Marian antiphons sung at different seasons. Its poetic verses portray Mary as a figure of hope in a time of trial.
As the mother of Jesus, Mary has a central role in the life of the Roman Catholic Church. Within the church she is seen as the Mother of God and the Mother of the Church. By the early Middle Ages, Marian devotion had become an integral part of Church life. Roman Catholic veneration of her as the "Blessed Virgin Mary" has grown over time both in importance and manifestation, in prayer, art, poetry and music. Popes have encouraged this veneration, although they have also taken steps to reform it. Overall, there are significantly more titles, feasts and venerative Marian practices among Roman Catholics than any other Christians traditions.Encyclopedia of Catholicism by Frank K. Flinn, J. Gordon Melton 2007 pages 443–444 The feast day of the Assumption marks the assuming of Mary's body into Heaven.
The prominence of Mary in the life of the Church grew gradually. In AD 431, the Council of Ephesus granted Mary the title of Mother of God. In 553, the Council of Constantinople proclaimed that she was perpetually a virgin. In 863 AD, the pope pronounced the Feast of Our Lady to be equal to the feasts of Easter and Christmas.Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Penguin Viking; 2011; p. 156 By the 12th Century, the Hail Mary prayer had become popular, which in turn led to the widespread use of the rosary. According to historian Geoffrey Blainey, Mary had become the "favoured intermediary through whom the ear of God could be reached". She had become an important subject for theologians and artists alike and churches were named after her throughout Christendom. She became known as "Queen of Heaven".Geoffrey Blainey; A Short History of Christianity; Penguin Viking; 2011
Prior to the solemn definition of 1870, the only agreed upon infallible definition from a pope apart from a council was that of the Immaculate Conception of Mary by Pope Pius IX in Ineffabilis Deus of 1854."We declare, pronounce, and define that the doctrine which holds that the most Blessed Virgin Mary, in the first instance of her conception, by a singular grace and privilege granted by Almighty God, in view of the merits of Jesus Christ, the Savior of the human race, was preserved free from all stain of original sin, is a doctrine revealed by God and therefore to be believed firmly and constantly by all the faithful."MacArthur, John F., Jr. Charismatic Chaos. Grand Rapids: Zondervan. 1992. p. 90 The pope checked with bishops worldwide that this was the belief of the Church before proceeding to a formal definition.In 1950, Pope Pius XII defined the Assumption of Mary as an article of faith.Encyclopedia of Catholicism by Frank K. Flinn, J. Gordon Melton 207 p. 267
Other perspectives Since the end of the 19th century, a number of progressive and liberal perspectives of Mariology have been presented, ranging from feminist criticisms to interpretations based on modern psychology and liberal Catholic viewpoints. These views are generally critical of the Roman Catholic approach to Mariology as well as the Eastern Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches which have even more Marian emphasis within their official liturgies.Encyclopedia of feminist literature by Mary Ellen Snodgrass 2006 page 547Mary is for Everyone by William McLoughlin, Jill Pinnock 1998 page 183
Some feminists contend that as with other women saints such as Joan of Arc the image of Mary is a construct of the patriarchal mind. They argue that Marian dogmas and doctrines and the typical forms of Marian devotion reinforce patriarchy by offering women temporary comfort from the ongoing oppression inflicted on them by male dominated churches and societies.The thousand faces of the Virgin Mary by George Henry Tavard 1996 page 253 In the feminist view, old gender stereotypes persist within traditional Marian teachings and theological doctrines. To that end books on "feminist Mariology" have been published to present opposing interpretations and perspectives.A feminist companion to Mariology by Amy-Jill Levine, Maria Mayo Robbins 2005 page 147
Mary Reichardt comments that the Blessed Virgin Mary is "paradoxically, both virgin and mother, both submissive and the preeminent mulier fortis".
Since the Reformation, some Christian denominations have distanced themselves from Marian venerations, and that trend has continued into the 21st century among progressive Christians who see the high level of attention paid to the Virgin Mary both as being without sufficient grounding in Scripture and as distraction from the worship due to Christ.Progressive Christianity by William A. Vrooman 2005 page 150Christianity: the first two thousand years by David Lawrence Edwards 2001 pages 438-439
Some groups of liberal Catholics have described the traditional image of the Virgin Mary as presented by the Catholic Church as an obstacle towards realization of the goal of womanhood, and as a symbol of the systemic patriarchal oppression of women within the Church. Some liberal Catholics have written of the cultivation of the traditional image of Mary as a method of manipulation of Catholics at large by the Church hierarchy.Hail Mary?: the struggle for ultimate womanhood in Catholicism by Maurice Hamington 1995 pages 2 and 36 Other liberal Christians argue that the modern concepts of equal opportunity for men and women does not resonate well with a humble image of Mary, obediently and subserviently kneeling before Christ.Blessed one: Protestant perspectives on Mary by Beverly Roberts Gaventa, Cynthia L. Rigby 2002 page 102
Reproductive and family life
Virginity Christian orthodoxy accepts the New Testament claim that Mary, the mother of Jesus, was a virgin at the time Jesus was conceived, based on the accounts in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. The Roman Catholic, Eastern Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox denominations, additionally hold to the dogma of the perpetual virginity of Mary.