ARGUMENT:
In 1 Corinthians 14:34-35, Paul issues a prohibition on women speaking in church:
1 Corinthians 14:34-35 (NIV):
34 Women should remain silent in the churches. They are not allowed to speak,
but must be in submission, as the Law says.
35 If they want to inquire about something, they should ask their own husbands
at home; for it is disgraceful for a woman to speak in the church.
This passage is often cited to support the claim that Paul universally forbade women from speaking in church. However, some scholars suggest that this instruction was also context-specific and tied to particular problems in the Corinthian church—like disorderly conduct during worship services or the disruptive nature of some women’s behavior at the time.
That is pure speculation. He never gave a reason. His concern was obeying the Law of Moses which hated the dignity of woman.
To reconcile Paul's ban on women teaching (1 Timothy 2:11-12) with women as messengers (e.g., Marian apparitions or St. Faustina), we need to distinguish between public teaching in the Church and private revelations.
Paul’s Ban on Women Teaching refers specifically to women having authority in the Church or teaching in a public, doctrinal sense. Paul restricted this for certain cultural and theological reasons, not necessarily banning all spiritual roles for women.
Women as Messengers (like Mary in apparitions or St. Faustina’s visions) are not engaging in public teaching or preaching; they’re delivering private messages meant to inspire devotion or repentance, not to assert doctrinal authority.
Therefore, women being messengers or receiving visions does not conflict with Paul's teaching because these roles are not about teaching or exercising authority over the Church but rather sharing personal, spiritual experiences for the benefit of others.
REPLY: That depends on their intention. Mary did preach to groups as a doctrinal authority. And surely as a resurrected being, she does have the right to manifest on earth and preach in a Church? The argument that she is the Mother of God and so some kind of exception to the ban on women's authority is only speculation.
The Church cannot firmly say that Mary's apparitions are real or that Paul's writings do not rule them out.