Feminists in the Church disagree, and quote Galatians 3:28: "There is neither male nor female: for you are all one in Christ Jesus." Of course this text refers to baptism. It does not matter whether you are Jew or Greek, male or female, you all baptized Christians are equal in the eyes of God–no one is better than anyone else. Of course, women are not inferior to men, although men and women have different roles–men can be priests, while women must settle for being consecrated virgins (nuns).

So what about roles and equality? Joseph and Mary had the role of parent to Jesus. Though Jesus was God, He was "obedient" to His parents (Luke 2:51). And take the Trinity. Within the Trinity there are differential roles and subjection, but yet all Three Persons of the Trinity are equal. So it is not that women are inferior, it is that they have a different role than men and are subject to them (1 Pet. 3:7, 1 Cor. 11:3,7-9, 1 Tim. 2:12-14, Eph. 5:22-25).

When one looks at the Biblical model, it is clear that women could pray and prophesy in church (1 Cor. 11:1-16), but they could not teach or have authority over a man (1 Tim. 2:11-14). Since priests teach and have authority over men, women could not question or challenge the teaching of the priests (1 Cor. 14:34-38).

John Paul II, in the letter Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, stated: "Although the teaching that priestly ordination is to be reserved to men alone has been preserved by the constant and universal tradition of the Church and firmly taught by the Magisterium in its more recent documents, at the present time in some places it is nonetheless considered still open to debate, or the Church's judgment that women are not to be admitted to ordination is considered to have a merely disciplinary force. Wherefore, in order that all doubt may be removed regarding a matter of great importance, a matter which pertains to the Church''s divine constitution itself, in virtue of my ministry of confirming the brethren (Luke 22:32) I declare that the Church has no authority whatsoever to confer priestly ordination on women and that this judgment is to be definitively held by all the Church's faithful" (Ordinatio Sacerdotalis 4). A year later, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith declared this teaching to be infallible by the ordinary magisterium; it therefore requires the assent of all the faithful.

Irenaeus of Lyons (Against Heresies 1:13:2 [A.D. 189]) "Handing mixed cups to the women, he [the heretic Marcus] bids them consecrate these in his presence. When this has been done, he himself produces another cup of much larger size than that which the deluded woman has consecrated, and pouring from the smaller one consecrated by the woman into that which has been brought forward by himself, he at the same time pronounces these words: ‘May that Charis who is before all things and who transcends all knowledge and speech fill your inner man and multiply in you her own knowledge, by sowing the grain of mustard seed in you as in good soil.' Repeating certain other similar words, and thus goading on the wretched woman, he then appears a worker of wonders when the large cup is seen to have been filled out of the small one, so as even to overflow by what has been obtained from it. By accomplishing several other similar things, he has completely deceived many and drawn them away after him".

Tertullian (The Veiling of Virgins 9 [A.D. 206]) "It is not permitted for a woman to speak in the church, but neither . . . to offer, nor to claim to herself a lot in any manly function, not to say sacerdotal office".

The Didascalia (Didascalia 3:6:1-2 [A.D. 225]) "For it is not to teach that you women . . . are appointed . . . For he, God the Lord, Jesus Christ our Teacher, sent us, the Twelve, out to teach the [chosen] people and the pagans. But there were female disciples among us: Mary of Magdala, Mary the daughter of Jacob, and the other Mary; he did not, however, send them out with us to teach the people. For, if it had been necessary that women should teach, then our Teacher would have directed them to instruct along with us".

Council of Nicaea I (canon 19 [A.D. 325]) "Similarly, in regard to the deaconesses, as with all who are enrolled in the register, the same procedure is to be observed. We have made mention of the deaconesses, who have been enrolled in this position, although, not having been in any way ordained, they are certainly to be numbered among the laity".

Council of Laodicea (canon 11 [A.D. 360]) "The so-called ‘presbyteresses' or ‘presidentesses' [priestesses] are not to be ordained in the Church".

Epiphanius of Salamis (Against Heresies., 79:3) "If women were to be charged by God with entering the priesthood or with assuming ecclesiastical office, then in the New Covenant it would have devolved upon no one more than Mary to fulfill a priestly function. She was invested with so great an honor as to be allowed to provide a dwelling in her womb for the heavenly God and King of all things, the Son of God. . . . But he did not find this [ordaining her a priest] good".

John Chrysostom (The Priesthood 2:2 [A.D. 387]) "When one is required to preside over the Church and to be entrusted with the care of so many souls, the whole female sex must retire before the magnitude of the task, and the majority of men also, and we must bring forward those who to a large extent surpass all others and soar as much above them in excellence of spirit as Saul overtopped the whole Hebrew nation in bodily stature".

The Apostolic Constitutions (Apostolic Constitutions, 3:9 [A.D. 400]) "But if in the foregoing constitutions we have not permitted them [women] to teach, how will any one allow them, contrary to nature, to perform the office of the priest? For this is one of the ignorant practices of Gentile atheism, to ordain women priests to the female deities, not one of the constitutions of Christ".