(no subject)

It's Sunday, so I get to babble some about religious stuff. This week's topic is an idea that's been rolling around in my head since Easter, when one of our more conservative priests (I've ranted about him before, calling him Fr. Earnest) started talking about those who came to Jesus' tomb after he'd risen.

The Catholic Church won't let women be priests; at least one reason for this (besides "Basically, we say so," I mean) is that the apostles were all male. The apostles were the first priests, through Jesus' word, and since Jesus didn't make any women priests, we can't break tradition.

And yet the Gospels are filled with examples of women following Jesus with as much, if not more, faith than the guys.

( Here, let me cite you some examples. )

Let's look at the facts, then, shall we?

1. Women were taught by Christ along with men.
2. The women often showed great faith and repentance, according to Christ -- sometimes even greater than the men.
3. The women ministered to Christ, at least one of them in the same way Christ eventually ministered to his disciples, by washing his feet; few passages show the men ministering to him in a similar way.
   
4. The women stayed with Christ when he was arrested; the men ran.
5. The women stayed with Christ when he died; the men hid.
6. The women attended to Christ's body, immediately after his death and three days after; his disciples stayed in hiding (Joseph of Arimathea's a good guy, though).
7. The women believed in the risen Lord; the men didn't believe until they could see him, in spite of his repeated teaching that he would rise from the dead.

And they won't let us preach and handle the eucharist why, exactly?