It should be noted that Catholic groups have denounced "The MagdaleneSisters" on the grounds that similar conditions prevailed during the same era at Protestant-run institutions as well.
The system was the subject of a 2002 film, The MagdaleneSisters, which starred Geradline McEwan and Anne-Marie Duff, whose director said at the time he believed the former inmates should have received an apology.
Feminist theologians argue that the lack of female disciples was not unusual two thousand years ago, and point instead to the key role held by other women in his life: his friends Mary and Martha, Lazarus's sisters, and the prostitute Mary Magdalene.