Saint Francis Of Assisi Roman Catholic Church

Religion is a complex system which takes many forms in the world and each religion spreads different theories and concepts. To date, gender inequality is still an issue around the world. Religion can act as a tool used to oppress women in society and can be used to motivate equality and respect for the female gender. The religion of Christianity includes people of different backgrounds and has a strong sense of community, gender equality and helping other. This Essay gave me an opportunity to examine and explore Saint Francis of Assisi Roman Catholic Church through attending the ritual of Eucharist. Through this opportunity, I could gain a greater sense of respect for Christianity and hence widen my perspective about Christianity. In this essay, I examine the pattern of symbolic roles to draw
Mary Daly defines religion as the “a basic element of patriarchy”. The elements of patriarchy are available at the church in which the male gender tends to have more power and control in different ways. Hence, Mary Daly also points to the relationship of the gender of god and the gender of people in power and how they compare and cause patriarchy. First, when entering the church the statue of Jesus was the biggest and the center of worship, the male priest, and the male altar servers were the center of attention and seemed to perform most of the duties in the ritual. Together this shows how the people in power have the same gender as the gender of the god. Second, I found that in their prayer that they consider god to be of the male gender as they refer to him as father and Jesus Christ as his son. This shows how god is almighty and powerful and his gender is associated with being male. The gender of god symbolizes that the male gender is associated with power and authority. Therefore, portrays the common hierarchy where males are given higher position over the female gender in daily life