Group 'ordains' three female priests

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BOSTON, July 21 (UPI) -- A group of dissident Boston Roman Catholics say their ceremony to ordain three women into the priesthood is valid, despite denunciations from church officials.

The group Roman Catholic Womenpriests had an ordination ceremony for three women Sunday at the Church of the Covenant, a Protestant church in Boston, The Boston Globe reported.

Church officials said the ceremony had no meaning and pointed out the Vatican has consistently barred women from entering the priesthood.

"The organization calling itself Roman Catholic Womenpriests is not recognized as an entity of the Catholic Church," the Archdiocese of Boston said in a statement to the Globe. "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."

"Why is Rome so upset about us? Because they know the ordinations are valid," Bridget Mary Meehan, the spokeswoman for Roman Catholic Womenpriests, told the newspaper. "We are not intimidated. We feel so strongly."