Associated Press
ROCHESTER, N.Y. — A woman who played a prominent role at the altar in a Roman Catholic congregation that was banished in 1999 for violating Vatican rules was ordained as a priest Saturday by an independent Catholic bishop.
"There are many women who are called to be priests, and people are ready for that. There’s no need to be afraid of it," the Rev. Mary Ramerman said after a three-hour service.
For a dozen years at Corpus Christi Church, under the guidance of the Rev. James Callan, Ramerman lifted the communion cup and recited prayers at Mass in defiance of traditions regarding the role of women in liturgy.
The 46-year-old theologian and mother of three will take on the extra duty of consecrating communion when she celebrates Mass today at the breakaway Spiritus Christi Church, which claims 1,500 members and includes Callan as an associate pastor.
Bishop Peter Hickman of the Old Catholic Church ordained Ramerman before an audience of about 2,500.
The Old Catholic faith, which rebuked the doctrine of papal infallibility in 1870, boasts more than 600,000 followers nationwide. Over the last decade, "between all of the various independent Catholic and Old Catholic faiths in the United States, as many as a dozen women have been ordained as priests," Hickman said.
The Rev. James Callan has permitted women to take on priestlike roles at Corpus Christi Church. He also invites non-Catholics to share communion and has blessed gay unions off church grounds — actions forbidden by the Vatican.
Callan was eventually suspended by his diocese and joined Ramerman and former parishioners in "alternate worship."
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