Shakespeare's Sister
Posted: Sunday, April 25, 2010
by Jennifer Cuddy
Why is it that we tend to think of Nuns as such unhappy, repressed women living in poverty with lousy purses and thick pantyhose? Meanwhile, a priest is revered, educated, and is often entertained by the patronage of the upper classes. Do nuns have such little space within the Catholic church?
If you went to parochial school, chances are that you were taught and reared by nuns. We knew where they lived and how they lived. Or so we thought. Priests were indubitably celibate, whilst nuns were both chaste and impoverished. I've seen many a priest being a guest at the local country club, but no nuns. I wonder how often nuns are even invited to dinner parties, sharing clever anecdotals, great wine and deep, life changing conversations with both men and women. I wonder how many nuns do envy the powers granted to priests as a purely natural response to the suppression?
In many religious faiths, women are subject to silence. The second class citizen status of women within the Muslim faith is obvious and explicit. Within the Christian faith, this silence stems from the doctrine of church organization as professed in First Timothy 2:11-12 " A women must receive instruction silently and under complete control. I do not permit a woman to teach or have authority over a man. She must be quiet." NAB Sadly, this mentality reduces women to inferior status and the implied subjugation is quite insulting. Is this why nuns so often appear unhappy? I do not think it is the chastity that makes them so.
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Top-level comments on this article: (1 total)Hi Jennifer,How are you doing?Sadly this passage of Scripture has been abused and misused and the entire context in which Paul was teaching it is often left out, any time any one passage is misused outside of the context of all of Scipture this is what happens. Great thoughts. Hugs, TeresaYes, didn't you tell me once that this was said in reference to the women at the time who were being obnoxious in the church, talking over people etc.. Anyway, I wouldn't be able to stand living being silenced like that, and I don't even consider myself necessarily a feminist!Yes, they were being unruly and trying to over rule. And they were not learning in "submission" which scripturally means, humbly and chosing to position their selves under the leadership of their husbands as the spiritual leaders of the home. Paul did not teach that a woman was inferior, but that she was made special for a different purpose - if the woman is trying to be the man, there is chaos, but if the woman is wise and follows God's plan for her position, there is harmony and unity. There are several instances in the Bible where God used a woman to teach a man, however, the woman's heart was humble and right before God.Yes, these women were to be silent in the church, but so were the men, think about today, when in church listening to the pastor, you don't hear anyone shouting out asking questions or "correcting" the pastor. Questions are reserved for after service or in Bible studies. But in the corporate gathering of church, all are silent. Paul only had to tell the women because they were the ones being disruptive.As far as a woman not have authority over a man, this is true, but it is not the apostle's teaching, it is God's - again, for the purpose of order - even as Jesus was submissive to the will of the Father.And I agree, it is sad to see nuns tucked away, I can't imagine all of them are content with this - even sadder, is that no where in the Bible are God's people called to be shut in and away from the world or unable to marry. This is a man made rule that I believe puts people under bondage. Even at this, if the priests are allowed to mingle, so should the nuns.unless they experience some joy in being so self effacing, I don't know.
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