Roman Catholic Womenpriests ordained three women as Roman Catholic priests and another as a deacon in an ordination ceremony in Boston on Sunday. Bishop Dana Reynolds ordained Gloria Carpeneto of Baltimore, MD, Judy Lee of Fort Myers, FL, and Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York City, NY, as priests, and Mary Ann McCarthy Schoettly of Newton, NJ, as a deacon in the Sunday ceremony at the Church of the Covenant.
Roman Catholic Womenpriests issued a press release stating several rationales for the ordinations: “The last fifty years indicate that the Holy Spirit expects women to be treated as full partners in every respect in the world and in the church” and that “the very health of the church depends upon a full acceptance of women into every level of church governance.”
Although the Roman Catholic Church denies these ordinations and considers the women excommunicated from the Church, Roman Catholic Womenpriests rejects the penalty, according to a recent press release. The group stated that “70% of U.S. Catholics favor women’s ordination and a growing majority of Catholics worldwide also favors women’s ordination.” The group finds the law to be unjust because it is not congruent with the beliefs of the community of faith as a whole. Reverend Nancy S. Taylor, a protestant clergy member who attended the ceremony in solidarity with the women said, “prejudice in liturgical clothing is still prejudice,” the Boston Globe reports.
