This is News?

(Update: the good Archbishop means business.)

From Catholic World News:

Excommunication for women claiming ordination

St. Louis , Mar. 14, 2008 (CWNews.com) - Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis has formally announced the excommunication of three women who participated in a ceremony that they described as ordination to the Catholic priesthood.

In defiance of warnings from the archbishop, two Missouri women-- Rose Marie Hudson and Elsie McGrath-- claimed ordination during a November 11 ceremony performed at a Jewish synagogue. A German woman who claims to be a bishop, Patricia Fresen, led the ceremony. Since that time, Hudson and McGrath have been serving as "pastors" of a group based in a Unitarian church.

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"The situation is sad for the whole Church," Archbishop Burke said, urging the faithful to pray that the women will be reconciled.

Well of course it's sad, we should always feel sadness for delusional idiots who, by donning vestments and passing out crackers, actually believe they can upend 2000 years of Magisterium and Scripture, forcing an archbishop to excommunicate them. What's even sadder is this is considered newsworthy. If foolishness like this had occurred fifty years ago, the only place you would have read about it would have been in Ripley's Believe it or Not, in the funnies.