We learn from the Gospels that there were quite a number of women who were followers of Jesus. Like the apostles, some of them accompanied him as he went from place to place preaching. "Now after this he made his way through towns and villages preaching and proclaiming the Good News of the kingdom of God. With him went the twelve as well as certain women" (Luke 8:1)

It is mentioned that at the crucifixion, the women followers of Jesus were watching from a distance. We are told also that among them were those who had been looking after him in the course of his ministry. "There were some women watching from a distance. Among them were Mary of Magdala, Mary who was the mother of James the younger one and Joset and Salome. They used to follow him and look after him when he was in Galilee. And there were many other women there who had come to Jerusalem with him." (Mark 15:40-41. Also Matthew 27:55-56; Luke 23:49).

Jesus was on close friendly terms with Martha and Mary, Lazarus's two sisters. "Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus" (John 11:5).

On the first day of the Jewish week some of the women went to Christ's tomb with spices to anoint his body and discovered that he had risen from the dead (Luke 23:55-60; 24:1-1).

After Christ's ascension, there were assembled with the apostles in the upper room at Jerusalem "several women, including Mary the mother of Jesus." They all "joined in continuous prayer" (Acts 1:12-14).

From what the New Testament tells us we see, then, that Jesus had female disciples who were closely associated with him, as were his male disciples. They accompanied him when he went about preaching, they looked after him, they were present at his crucifixion, and they were with the apostles joined in prayer after the ascension. But, in spite of their closeness to Christ, none of the women, not even his mother, was present on another important occasion, and that was the institution of the Holy Eucharist.

Matthew, Mark and Luke, who speak of this event, say that it was with the twelve apostles that Jesus had the Last Supper. "When evening came he was at table with the twelve disciples" (Matthew 26:20); "When evening came he arrived with the twelve" (Mark 14:17); "when the hour came he took his place at table, and the apostles with him." (Luke 22:14).

These were men who, had been specially chosen by Jesus from among his disciples to form a special group called 'Apostles'. "Now it was about this time that he went out into the hills to pray; and he spent the whole night in prayer to God. When day came he summoned his disciples and picked out twelve of them; he called them 'apostles'". (Luke 6:12-13).

It was with these specially chosen twelve that Jesus celebrated the Eucharist. Neither the other male disciples, nor any of the female disciples in spite of their close association with him, were admitted to the celebration of the Eucharist. It was only to the apostles, then, that Jesus said: "Do this as a memorial of me." (Luke 22:19). The bishops, the successors of the apostles, and the priests, the collaborators of the bishops, share in the ministerial role of the apostles.

The Church's understanding from apostolic times till now has been that it was not Christ's intention to ordain women as priests. It is only in recent times that this question of the ordination of women has been raised. Surely the Church, today and in future, has to be guided by scriptural evidence and the nearly two thousand year old tradition relating to this matter.

Priestly celibacy comes from the Church discipline in the western Church. The eastern Churches, both Catholic and Orthodox, permit marriage to the clergy. Regarding the ordination of women, however, the Eastern Churches are fully in accord with the Western Church that women are not to be admitted to Holy Orders. This is not a matter of mere discipline, as in the case of celibacy, but conformity to the wishes of Christ and his plan for his Church.

In Christ God has a Son. He did not have a daughter. The Second Person of the Trinity took flesh and became man to offer his life for mankind's salvation. It is that offering of his life that is renewed at Mass through the ministry of the sacramentally ordained priest. Just as God chose a Son for the work of redemption, so Christ chose men for the renewal of his sacrifice in the Eucharist. The priest, as a man, like Christ, thus becomes the sacramental sign of the Eucharist. This has been the divine plan for human redemption.

It would be preposterous on our part to ask why Christ acted in this way, and not in that, why he had twelve apostles among his disciples, and why he did not admit women into priesthood. It might be asked in fact why God called the Jews to His chosen people and not the Greeks or the Romans. God's ways are not our ways. To us, his ways are inscrutable.

Not admitting women to the priesthood is no reflection at all on the dignity of women. Jesus had women followers who formed part of his intimate circle. The greatest of all humans is in fact a woman, the Blessed Virgin", our tainted nature's solitary boast." Just as in the natural order God has assigned roles to man and woman (A man cannot bear children), so it has been His will to assign to man the priestly role.

"From the beginning of creation God made them male and female" (Mark 10:6). They were to have complementary roles in human life. This is seen also in the redemption of man where Christ is the redeemer and Mary participates in the work of redemption in giving her consent to be mother of the redeemer and in her mentally sharing Christ's sufferings. This is projected also into the Church's part in salvation and sanctification, man functioning as ordained priest and woman fulfilling her role in a feminine, maternal way, as Mary did.

It might be argued that Jesus was influenced by the culture of his milieu, which had a low opinion of women, and therefore he did not admit women to the priesthood. But we know that Jesus did go against the cultural patterns of that time. For instance, he dined with publicans, contravened Sabbath conventions, and conversed publicly with a Samaritan woman. He who admitted women to close association with him could have also admitted them to the priesthood, but, as we have seen, such was not his plan for them.