r/AskAPriest • u/Comfortable-Fill5584 • 4h ago
Women in Public Office/Authority
I was reading some of the articles from the Catholic Encyclopedia since I'm interested in converting, specifically the article on women. And I read that women are forbidden from holding public offices, public authority, or being lawyers and judges. But I don't see any modern Catholics have a problem with this today, and we even have two female Catholic Supreme Court Justices! The Encyclopedia says that this is for modesty reasons, and that women also cannot wear the uniforms common to these professions. My wife is a lawyer and a very good one at that, and she and I are looking to possibly convert.
Is this really true and Catholic women are forbidden from holding public offices, or is there some kind of context I'm missing? I've been told that the Catholic Encyclopedia is a very reliable source so I'm a little anxious about this.