The role of cultural norms

It is clear that both Scripture and Tradition come to us expressed through particular historical and cultural contexts. The human authors and teachers through whom God chose to communicate His eternal and unchanging truth were themselves shaped by the assumptions, language and social structures of their time.

Accordingly, the ways in which believers think about God and articulate their faith are influenced by the cultural norms of the societies in which they live. It is therefore unsurprising that in biblical and New Testament times women did not occupy recognised positions of leadership in the synagogue, the Temple or the early Christian communities, although there is some evidence of women exercising significant and in certain cases possibly leading roles. This evidence will be considered later in relation to the question of the diaconate.

Until comparatively recent times, the legacy of earlier assumptions, including ideas associated with ritual uncleanliness, continued to shape ecclesial practice. Until the period of the Second Vatican Council, women were not present in the sanctuary, and the idea of women reading Scripture in the liturgy, addressing the congregation or serving at the altar would have been widely regarded as unthinkable.

Given the prevailing views about the role of women in society, the fact that Christian liturgy was male-led reflected not only a sacramental understanding but also social arrangements that were largely taken for granted. Detailed accounts of the various disciplinary prohibitions affecting women’s participation in the liturgy are provided by Wijngaards here. Such prohibitions remained formally embedded in the Code of Canon Law until 1983, although in practice they were increasingly relaxed from the 1960s onwards.

These restrictions were disciplinary rather than doctrinal in nature. Even so, their persistence underlines the extent to which cultural norms form an important context for considering the wider question of women’s ministry, including - most controversially – the area of sacramental leadership. The central point of contention is whether the exclusively male priesthood is intrinsic to the sacrament of the Eucharist itself, or whether it represents, at least in part, a historically conditioned outcome.