Returning Back to the Beginning

Returning Back to the Beginning 

We on our part need to be collaborators with the Church. We can do so firstly by promoting equal rights for all and secondly, by standing up against male dominance and degradation of women. Though there are many cultures that promote male dominance over women, it is our mission to preach by the lives we live that a woman has an equal standing in society as compared to man. Their presence in the Church and in the world is needed no matter what way of life they have chosen. However, a caveat, while we work towards all this, let us remember that our mission to make the world understand the true worth of men and women: that they were both made in the image and likeness of God and that they are both equal in the eyes of God.

In the creation story, woman is made as an equal of man – since they are both “created in the image and likeness of God.” But, from the time of the Fall, the approach towards women had changed. In the Jewish tradition women were rarely in the forefront of public life. Women were believed to be the cause of sin and the downfall of man because it was Eve who had disobeyed God before Adam. The image of women was corrupted and disfigured. It was in this atmosphere that Jesus had been born into. However, as he began his public ministry he also began to recreate the image of women. He took the people back into the beginning to show them what God truly intended when he created man and woman. He tried to show that women too have their rightful place in society – which is at the heart, because they are mothers who bring life into the world. At the time of the Resurrection, Jesus again showed how much he valued women in society by making them the first witnesses of his resurrection. Mary too played an important role in lifting up a woman’s position when she was chosen to initiate the Salvation story.

Throughout the history of the Church, women had been degraded. Their opinions were never taken into consideration. In fact, if a woman wished to start a religious congregation she had to first get authorization from a priest before going to a bishop. Moreover, many of the cases when approved were given certain restrictions like cloistering. In the pre-Beguine era, women weren’t even allowed to go out and offer their services to the needy. The image of a woman was that of a temptress and so if they wished to embrace the religious life they were ordered to remain cloistered. But, even after such ideologies, there were some women who ‘swam against the current’. Some of these noted people were St. Joan of Arc, who dressed like a man so as to join the Army and St. Teresa of Ávila who reformed the Carmelite order with the help of St. John of the Cross. These were women who took up leadership roles in a male-dominated era.

The idea of male-dominance in the Church underwent a drastic change with the Second Vatican Council. The Church then began to open up to different views. It tackled male dominance in the Church and gave way to accepting the services of women in the Church. As I searched on the internet for some Church documents on women I found only a handful. But what I did find interesting was St. John Paul II’s thoughts on men’s and women’s role in the Church. In a series of talks given by him under the title The Theology of the Body he takes us back to the beginning where God created male and female in his own image and likeness. By doing so he tries to correct the corrupted image we have of men and women females because of sin. In the 21st century, the Church has carried forward these reflections of Pope John Paul II. Part of the Church’s mission today is to strike a balance between feminism and male-dominance. Thus the Church is urged to try and give equal opportunities to both men and women without having favoritism to either gender.