[SuziQ]

The church could never have spread its message (or become profitable) without abiding by social norms including centuries of discrimination of women. For the church to fail to acknowledge this sin and change their doctrine, they simply prove their own message that we are all primitive and imperfect.

Actually, the Catholic Church is one entity that has treated women more equally than most others throughout the centuries. The Church doesn't ordain women because Jesus didn't choose them to be his apostles. The Church teaches that even though men and women are equal in the sight of God, they each have different gifts and strengths.

There are women who have served in positions of power and authority within the Church, most notably Abbesses of organizations of women religious, that certainly didn't conform to the 'social norms' of the day.

I don't understand this whole animus some women have for the Church, feeling they're slighted somehow; I've never, in all my almost 59 years EVER felt that in any Parish in which I've been a member.

[Flightdeck]

Read the quotes from Timothy and Corinthians in Post 83. Obviously the church itself has wholeheartedly rejected these portions of its own scripture. Women are not required to keep their mouths shut in church; they often read as lectors. Anything else would be absurd. They need to get around to rejecting the other absurdities as well.