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On a barge on Rome's River Tiber, a stone's throw from the Vatican, Loan Rocher was "ordained" in a secret ceremony in defiance of the Catholic Church's ban on women deacons and priests. Dressed in a white robe with a rainbow stole, the 68-year-old French woman acknowledged her ordination was unauthorised by the Vatican, where a monthlong summit on the future of the church concludes next week. No matter, said Rocher, who is transgender. "They've been repeating the same message for 2,000 years — women are inferior, subordinate, invisible. It's OK. We've waited long enough, so I'm doing it now,"...

HOUSTON — In a majestic Mass at Houston’s Co-Cathedral of the Sacred Heart on Tuesday evening, history was made for the Anglican ordinariates established by Pope Benedict XVI: Their first bishop was ordained. “In a nutshell, it means we’re here to stay,” summarized Msgr. Harry Entwistle, the ordinary of Australia’s ordinariate, which is under the patroness of Our Lady of the Southern Cross. The new bishop, Stephen Joseph Lopes, 40, a native of California, was in fact instrumental in the creation of the ordinariate that he now leads — the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. The...

TROUTDALE, Ore.–Jared Michael Padgett was a straight-arrow kid who had a fascination with guns, planned a career in the military and was deeply devoted to his Mormon faith, those who knew him say. And they're all wondering why the 15-year-old took an assault rifle, a handgun and nine ammunition magazines to his high school and killed a fellow freshman, injured a teacher and took his own life. Police said Wednesday that they have not been able to establish a link between Padgett and Emilio Hoffman, the 14-year-old who was shot dead in a locker room. Police have not said whether...

DENVER - A former Denver police officer who recently became a Roman Catholic priest remains in critical condition after suffering a massive heart attack Monday evening. The Rev. John O'Shea was ordained on Saturday and gave his first mass on Sunday. He joked at the time about how nervous he was in his new job compared to his old one. “I've had people point guns at me and I wasn't as scared as I was for this," O’Shea told parishioners. In addition to serving with the police force for more than 25 years, O’Shea has ten children. He decided to...

<p>As a student at Harvard and then Yale, where different lifestyles mix uneventfully, Gavan Meehan found it easy and comfortable to be publicly gay. But after an inner tug to the priesthood drew him last year to St. John's Seminary in Brighton, his upfront acknowledgement of his sexual orientation brought a far different response.</p>