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A Swedish priest has been fired after telling his congregation that people who support female priests would be rejected by God - despite the fact that his own church is led by a woman. The Church of Sweden priest in Halland, south-western Sweden, was defrocked after a sermon in which he claimed that Christian salvation was only available to people who rejected the ordination of women. The priest made the controversial comments after finding out that a reorganisation of the church in his area meant that he would soon be working with two female pastors. “The very idea that a...

Fishwrap (aka National Schismatic Reporter) tested new depths of tacky today. They published, on the 20th anniversary of St. John Paul II’s Apostolic Letter Ordinatio sacerdotalis, a piece by the excommunicated “lady tambourine ‘priest‘“ (perhaps you recall the Bob Dylan parody song HERE), who – completely deluded – thinks that wymyn have really made progress, along with their tens of followers.This on the heels of publishing an editorial that climate change is the Church’s #1 pro-life issue and that “no sin is more heartless” than not caring for the environment. Good grief.Simply publishing such rubbish from an excommunicated woman, faking...

In a remarkable bid to attract disillusioned members of the Anglican Communion, the Vatican announced Tuesday that it is establishing a special arrangement that will allow Anglicans to join the Catholic Church while preserving their liturgy and spiritual heritage, including married priests. The worldwide Anglican Communion, which includes the 2.3 million-member U.S. Episcopal Church, has been racked by years of conflict over the interpretation of Scripture that has led to clashes over female clergy and, more recently, gay clergy. The Catholic Church's plan "reflects a bold determination by Rome to seize the moment and do what it can to reach...

The report claims more than 50,000 women a year have deserted their congregations over the past two decades because they feel the church is not relevant to their lives. It says that instead young women are becoming attracted to the pagan religion Wicca, where females play a central role, which has grown in popularity after being featured positively in films, TV shows and books. The study comes amid ongoing controversy over the role of women in all Christian denominations. Last month its governing body voted to allow women to become bishops for the first time, having admitted them to the...

Photo: Jennifer Silverberg From the Riverfront Times blog Immediately after being ordained on November 11 as part of the Roman Catholic Womenpriest Program, Hudson and McGrath were greeted by a special process server in the lobby of the Central Reform Congregation. That would be the same process server who, six days before their ordination, delivered the women the official word that they would be automatically excommunicated by going through with their planned ordination. This time the process server appeared with a letter from the archbishop stating that Hudson and McGrath were “summoned” to appear “personally before [him]” at 10...

ST. LOUIS: Two women who made Roman Catholic religious history say they are ready to be the new face of the priesthood, even as Archbishop Raymond Burke moved to formally penalize them for violating church law.Rose Marie Dunn Hudson, 67, and Elsie Hainz McGrath, 69, were ordained Sunday as Roman Catholic Womenpriests, a reform movement begun in 2002.The movement defies church doctrine that reserves ordination of priests and deacons to only men as unjust and discriminatory."After all these years, it's a great feeling to be a priest," Hudson said Monday.She and McGrath will co-pastor a faith community starting Dec. 1...

For Gloria Carpeneto, being faithful to God's call meant being ordained as a deacon in the Roman Catholic Church. The ordination took place July 14 in New York City, where Carpeneto, a Catonsville resident, joined three other women who were ordained by Bishop Patricia Fresen - despite the fact the church officially forbids female ordination. The women belong to a growing movement that no longer simply argues for women's rights but is creating an alternative Catholic church, whether the official church likes it or not. "Women, thank God, are coming to value themselves as full human beings, fully in the...

OK Catholics, here's a question of dogma/doctrine for you. We took my daughter up to Davidson College last week, and of course we hit the College Fair and the religious life table. Had a nice chat with a couple of rabbis on the chaplains' staff. Saw a lady who was manning the Catholic table . . . much to my surprise she had a little plastic tag IDing her as a chaplain. And she (self-described) runs the Catholic program at the school. We had a little chat, I avoided (out of politeness) asking her straight up how a woman could...

Jane Via said she would probably cry and, sure enough, she did. Midway through her homily at the rented San Diego church used by her upstart congregation, Via choked up, thanking the packed house of 100 worshipers for sustaining her over the last week. Sunday's service was the second Mass that Via has led since her illicit ordination in Switzerland in June, and the first over which she has presided alone. It also marked her congregation's first gathering since she met with San Diego Bishop Robert Brom to discuss the consequences of her ordination, which could ultimately include excommunication.

SAN DIEGO - A woman who says she has been ordained a Roman Catholic priest led a service during the weekend - despite the risk of being excommunicated. Jane Via, 58, is among 15 American women who have recently gone through ordination ceremonies that are not sanctioned by the Roman Catholic Church, which bars women from becoming priests or deacons.A hundred congregants attended her service on Sunday at the Mary Magdalene Apostle Catholic Community in San Diego.It was her first appearance since meeting with San Diego Bishop Robert Brom to discuss the consequences of her claimed ordination, which could ultimately...

Dr. Ed Peters latest:The pseudo-ordinations that a number of women around the world, and lately in the United States, have attempted are, to borrow Leo XIII's phrase, "absolutely null and utterly void". (See specifically John Paul II, Ordinatio sacerdotalis, n. 4). Last summer (scroll to 6 July 2005) I explained how such affronts to divine and canon law can and will result in excommunication, although, as I argued, not by the automatic process (1983 CIC 1314) that many simply assumed would apply to such cases. Here I need to make a different point.To no one's great surprise, some of these...

PITTSBURGH The Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh plans to send a report to the Vatican about a ceremony in which a dozen women claimed to be ordained as priests and deacons last month. The diocese does not recognize the ordinations and says the women have excommunicated themselves from the church by participating in the ceremony on July 31. Monsignor Lawrence DiNardo, a canon law expert with the diocese, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that someone can excommunicate themselves by their actions, but that the Vatican can then formally decree that an excommunication has occurred. The report will include the names of the...

Waukesha resident Kathy Sullivan Vandenberg faces excommunication for seeking the priesthood in an unsanctioned ordination ceremony, Milwaukee Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan said in a statement handed out at weekend Masses at Vandenberg's home parish. Dolan wrote to parishioners at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Waukesha that it was his duty to notify the Vatican of Vandenberg's action. Dolan said her excommunication could come soon. The Roman Catholic Church prohibits women from becoming priests. Vandenberg, 64, said Monday that she was "startled" by the letter and surprised that Dolan had "spent so much time and energy" on it when "other important...

Eileen DiFranco sang the hymns, prayed and took Communion as she had done at countless other Catholic Masses.But yesterday, for the first time, she led the service as an ordained priest - and received a warm reception from hundreds of Catholics and others."Nothing is impossible with our God," she told a congregation at the First United Methodist Church of Germantown. "Not even a woman priest."Applause rippled across the steamy sanctuary, where many fanned themselves with programs titled: "First Mass. Eileen DiFranco."DiFranco, 54, of Mount Airy, had participated in a July 31 ceremony that organizers say made her among the first...

Bonavoglia Takes On the Men in Skirts If those who fight for justice are truly blessed, then Angela Bonavoglia must be nearing sainthood. In "Good Catholic Girls," she tells her own charged story and that of other faithful women who seek equality and reform from within the Catholic Church. (WOMENSENEWS)--One Easter Sunday in the late 1980s, Angela Bonavoglia, headed for Mass at St. Peter's Cathedral in Scranton, Pa.Years earlier, she'd written an article for New Directions for Women, a feminist newspaper, criticizing the Vatican's directive against ordaining women. Since then her frustration had been growing."I know I'm going to...

<p>The Vatican has excommunicated seven women who claim to be priests and refuse to repent, saying Monday that the group had "wounded" the Roman Catholic Church.</p> <p>The women — from Austria, Germany and the United States — participated in an ordination ceremony June 29 carried out by Romulo Braschi, an Argentine who calls himself an archbishop but whom the Vatican rejects. The Church's guardian of orthodoxy, Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, set a July 22 deadline for the women to reverse their claims.</p>