3 women to be ordained as priests

BOSTON, July 18 (UPI) -- Three women who plan to be ordained as Catholic priests in a ceremony in Boston have been warned that they face excommunication.

The ordination is scheduled for Sunday afternoon at the Church of the Covenant, which is affiliated with the United Church of Christ and the Presbyterian Church, The Boston Globe reported.

Gabriella Velardi Ward of New York, Gloria Carpeneto of Baltimore and Mary Ann McCarthy Schoettly of Newton, N.J., say that they believe they have been called to the priesthood. Dana Reynolds, a California woman consecrated as a bishop in Germany, will perform the ordination.

But church officials say that those who participate in ceremonies that violate church law face separation from the church.

"Catholics who attempt to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the women who attempt to receive a sacred order, are by their own actions separating themselves from the church," the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement. "As a faith community rooted in the loving ministry of Jesus Christ, we pray for those who have willingly fallen away from the church by participating in such activities."