In theology class, we are all taught that humanity as a whole is made ‘in the image and likeness of God’ as referenced in Genesis 1:26. Yet, women cannot be ordained in the Catholic Church, despite the understanding that they are also made in the image of God. The primary justification for denying women the privilege of this sacrament is that God did not call any women to be his disciples. However, it cannot be denied that women traveled among the men, whether it be Mary Magdalene or Mary, Mother of Jesus. Women surrounded Jesus as much as the men did. Some may go further about how Jesus ordained Peter as the first Pope. Therefore, it can be implied that men are sent to lead the Church founded by Jesus, and women follow in the role of Mary, the Church, humbly receiving the will of God and bearing fruit to the world. This is meant to complement the societal gender roles in the Western world for thousands of years. Since Priests act in persona Christi, they must be men so they can serve as spouses to the Church and embody the maleness found in Jesus. This doctrine states that women cannot be priests because they do not embody Christ in the same way that men do. Therefore, they cannot act in persona Christi, since they are not male. In other words, they lack the proper genitalia. This implies that women are not made in the image and likeness of God, which is a heretical claim. While Jesus depicts himself as a male, Jesus is also God through the mystery of the Trinity. God is described as being above gender and, while often depicted as masculine, is also referenced in feminine ways, such as in Isaiah 42.14, Isaiah 49:15, Isaiah 66:13, Psalm 22:10–11, Luke 15:8–10, and Luke 18:1–8. Also, indeed, God, an absolute being who is the creator of the universe, is above the human concept of gender. As the feminist writer Mary Daly said, “if God is male, then male is God.” This can lead to women feeling ostracized by the Church, as shown in a proposed Women’s Strike for Lent this year, where many women plan to withhold time, labor, and financial contributions from the Church. Still, some may look to the writings of the Early Church Fathers and their opinions on women’s ordination. The Life of The Virgin Mary is a text describing her life, often attributed to St. Maximus the Confessor. In this text, he writes, “When the Lord entered Peter’s house and healed his mother-in-law, who was confined to her bed because of a fever, his all-holy and the blessed mother, the Virgin Mary, was with him as well as the women who had been made disciples of the Lord.” (Life of the Virgin 69 (Van Esbroeck, Vie [Fr.], 58–59) In Ancient Greek, the word deacon (diakonos, διακονος) is what describes Phoebe in Romans 16:1-2. However, it is generally translated as servant, which is another translation of the same word, but this specific choice may be attributed to the writer’s personal bias. It is usually thought that women would only serve in these roles to assist widows and other women to adhere to propriety, roles that can be done by religious sisters today. However, in Acts 6, seven men are chosen to be deacons and administer to the widows. This creates a contradiction. Women cannot act in traditionally masculine roles without breaking propriety rules, and yet men can act in traditionally feminine roles. To go further and look at this through a more scientific lens, it is known that there are people who are intersex. 1.7% of the world hold Intersex traits, 0.5% have atypical genitalia, and 0.05% have ambiguous or mixed genitalia. While the percentages seem small, 1.7% of 8.2 Billion people is no small group. This leads us to question, if someone who is intersex felt called to the vocation of a Priest, would they be denied? Does it depend on whether they hold XY chromosomes or how they developed? Would the Church ask for medical proof of sexual anatomy before entering a vocation? If we fall into a vocational binary, where can this person find a home in the Church? They, too, are made in the image and likeness of God; God makes no mistakes. Perhaps it is meant for us to question these strict gendered guidelines as they have become exclusionary to those who seek solace in the Church. This is not meant to criticize those who find vocations as Religious Sisters or Consecrated virgins; it is intended to simply question why there are both clerical and non-clerical roles for the men of the Church, and yet the same is not given to the women. If women cannot teach and must remain quiet, why are women the first to spread the good news of the resurrection? If women must remain silent, as 1 Timothy justifies due to that, “…Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and transgressed.” Did Adam not also eat the fruit? Oftentimes, this is seen as wanting what we cannot have, something that Satan aspires to make us feel. I respond that the Holy Spirit can work in mysterious ways and should not be contained by human ideas such as gender roles. As it says in Galatians 3:28, “There is no longer Jew or Greek, there is no longer slave or free, there is no longer male and female; for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.” In response to those who may feel concerned by my statements, to provide criticism of the Church as an institution is not meant to be a criticism of Theology and the validity of the sacred teachings of Jesus. As the theologian, Bernard Cooke said in his book Sacraments and Sacramentality, “All human statements, all human understanding are conditioned by the times and culture in which they occur…we are a pilgrim people on the way to the ultimate insight into the mystery of God that will mark our existence in the life beyond death.”