Thecla

Thecla had a revelation that she was supposed to baptize and preach in Christ’s name, as in Christianity.  She told St. Paul.  Figure she would get crushed, right?  I mean women don’t get this status in the Catholic Church.  But this is the first century and Paul saw her as a fellow apostle and told her to go and preach, spread the gospel!  Are you kidding me?  So what happened over the next two thousand years?  Thecla was made a saint by the way, so that is even more approval.  There are several possibilities about the development of woman status in organized Christianity.  One is that the church fell into the culture where women were not allowed certain venues.  Another reason is that women suffered from the church becoming an organized hierarchy of men.  This allowed the church to survive way past the Roman Empire.  “Protect the Church” from demise.  Protecting an institution is often at the expense of the powerless.  Maybe someday we will get back to some Thecla status people.