Free Republic

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...