Is it true that the Roman Catholic church doesn't allow female priests because of Eve giving a forbidden apple to Adam?

I never thought so. I always thought it came down to the expected roles of men and women in a home. The man is the head of the household and is responsible for the welfare and happiness of the home. The woman is to help the man and support him in all things. The Church is looked at as the “home” for God. So the men lead the “household” and women support them.

Maybe a bit patriarchal but that is what I always felt it was based on.

Slightly different interpretation, although @seawulf575 may be right on some of it.

I understood the Catholic reasoning to be that men were not to be distracted by women – that their position as conduits of godly works would be damaged by the presence of equal women. This, by the way, is why celibacy for Catholic priests is still the rule.

When I was an alter boy, our head priest told us that priests couldn’t be married and women couldn’t be priests because women were a distraction to their commitment to god.

He also said that menstruation and other womanly challenges were a “punishment” from god because Eve ate the apple and tempted Adam.

Basically,,, women = bad

Little boys however, we’re fair game.

Gotta love the Catholic Church.

And yes, I was an alter boy for three years but no, nothing happened. The priests were so drunk most of the time, they could barely hold mass.

The original Old Boys Club.
My understanding is – The church’s restriction of its ordination to men is that masculinity was integral to the personhood of both Jesus and the men he called as apostles.
I disagree with this and if Catholicism should to move it’s beliefs to equality.

The reasoning is not that complicated. In a nut shell:

Priests are considered as representatives of Jesus’ sacredness. Jesus was a man, ergo a woman could not represent Jesus.

For the record, it isn’t just the Catholic Church that is anti-woman.

Orthodox Jews won’t allow women rabbis, and certain liturgical rites require men (only).

Baptists (at least Southern Baptists) don’t allow women spiritual leaders.

Seems like all religions are, to some degree, scared of the influence of women.

Seems like all religions are, to some degree, scared of the influence of women.

I love that line!

Use a search engine and ask your question…..........there are volumes. The simple answer is no.

The equality argument has no solid ground. Men and women are equal in the church, but women are not “eligible” to be ordained into priesthood. And men cannot become nuns. Jesus took men as his apostles to spread his message and build his Church.

You’ve got the chicken/egg sequence wrong.

The misogyny pre-dates the Adam/Eve story, and wrote it.

@Zaku That’s exactly what I was thinking. Women were oppressed long before men wrote the bible.

And before all that, there was the worship of the Goddess.

1 Timothy 2:12

To begin, there was no apple, nor was there an Adam and Eve, so no, the convention is not based upon their acts or existence.

The convention is about control and misogyny, obviously, to prevent female access to education and power, and telling them not only is that what their god wants, but it’s their own fault.

@Smashley – shh! Don’t let the cat out of the bag!