Women should not hold a ministerial role over men in church

For this debate I think it would be good if we agree to focus on one denomination of Christianity. I was raised Catholic, and I have a good understanding of the religion. I hold that much of this has to do with old traditions that held men as sexually superior to women. In the Middle Ages and the time until the present, the clergy have enjoyed a good amount of power. It has lessened over the centuries of course, but to have a woman hold the powers of the clergy in these times was unheard of and against common law in many areas. Clergy could own land, had a say in government, and just overall had a very influential leadership role. Women were not considered mentally capable of leadership, in many areas they couldn't own land and their representation in government was basically nil. The Church is a very old entity and it holds onto traditions from its very beginning. To say that some of these traditions are archaic is plausible. But would religion, being basically a system to uphold these traditions, lose its message if some things were changed or amended? In the 60's, Vatican II reformed much of the way the church was run. For example: Mass is now spoken in the language of the land and priests face us when they conduct the Mass. Though some methods have changed, the overall message of the religion is still intact. Now for some theology No where in the Bible does Jesus say women cannot be priests. It has been assumed by the men reading the New Testament that Jesus did not want priestesses because none of his Apostles were women. To this, I claim Jesus knew having a woman spread his teaching was not possible, because women were just not respected enough. They had few rights, and bordered on being property. In today's world, while some women do suffer from inequality, it is safe to say that they can properly spread the word of Jesus, which has been one of love and forgiveness. We do find women play an important role in Jesus' ministry though. Mary, his mother, was chosen by God to bring Christ into the world, but for some reason her descendants cannot bring His word into the world. Mary Magdalene was constantly by Jesus' side, witnessed his resurrection, and obviously was chosen by God to tell the Apostles of it, but for some reason her descendants are not allowed to spread the Good News. It seems that the church has gotten too caught up in itself over the years, and forgets that the core teaching of Jesus has nothing to do with one's sex. I have heard all sorts of nonsense, such as "the church is a female and only men can marry females". The truth is, the Bible is open to interpretation, but however you go about things, its core message should be the same. And it just so happens that message has nothing to do with having a penis or not 1) Before I can proceed, I need my opponent to openly and clearly acknowledge that men and women are physically different, but completely equal (or should be) in terms of law, civil rights and mental capacity. I will cease this debate if my opponent reveals that he is a sexist. 2) I ask my opponent what he thinks the true message of his religion to be, and if women being pastors has any influence over this message. 3) Women are capable of being priests and leaders, and it is the tradition of sexism that permeates the church which does not allow them to do so. 4) Allowing women to be priests could reveal some great talent. Also, it could increase the available amount of priests, and I know the Catholic church has a shortage of them.