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Boston Diocese Boots 'Women Priests'

Church excommunicates 4 women ordained in unsanctioned ritual

By Peter Fearon,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 21, 2008 9:08 AM CDT
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(Newser) – A group campaigning for women to be admitted to the Roman Catholic priesthood held a ceremony in a Protestant church in Boston yesterday in which three women were declared Catholic priests and a fourth a deacon. The Archdiocese of Boston immediately denounced the action and declared that the women had automatically excommunicated themselves by taking part in the unauthorized ordination, reports the Boston Globe.

A spokesman for a conservative lay organization blasted the ordinations as a "sacrilegious parody" of Holy Orders whose "publicity value must be measured against the manifest fraudulence and irredeemable hopelessness of their cause.” Said a female Protestant minister: “Prejudice in liturgical clothing is still prejudice.’’

Rose Marie Dunn Hudson and Patricia Fresen, both members of the activist group Roman Catholic Womenpriests. The group ordained three new women priests Sunday.
Rose Marie Dunn Hudson and Patricia Fresen, both members of the activist group Roman Catholic Womenpriests. The group ordained three new women priests Sunday.   (AP Photo/Tom Gannam)
Pope Benedict XVI is adamantly opposed to women in the priesthood.
Pope Benedict XVI is adamantly opposed to women in the priesthood.   (AP Photo/Dean Lewins, POOL)
Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, archbishop of Boston. He has declared the women who took part in an ordination ceremony Sunday excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.
Cardinal Sean Patrick O'Malley, archbishop of Boston. He has declared the women who took part in an ordination ceremony Sunday excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church.   (AP Photo/Marlene Karas)
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Group has ordained other women priests
Associated Press

Catholic activist group looks to change doctrine
Metro Boston

US

 
Vatican • Archdiocese of Boston • Roman Catholic Church • women priests • Catholic Action League • Church of the Covenant • Eucharist • Holy Orders • Gloria Carpeneto • Judy Lee • Gabriella Velardi Ward

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