Mary Ramerman

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Mary Ramerman is one of the founders of the Spiritus Christi sect in Rochester, New York. Ramerman, a Californian and convert to Catholicism who wished to become a Catholic priest, was encouraged by Fr. James Callan, who had been appointed as pastor of the Corpus Christi parish in Rochester, New York, to migrate to his parish so that he could ordain her.

[edit] Excommunication

After several years of controversy, the bishop transferred Callan in order to bring the parish back into line. The community then seceded from the Roman Catholic Church under the leadership of Ramerman and others, and Callan shortly joined them. Soon after, the community invited an Old Catholic bishop from California to ordain Ramerman and other women pastors of the sect in Rochester. Both Ramerman and Callan were declared to have excommunicated themselves (excommunication latae sententiae) by the Bishop.

[edit] References

Bonavoglia, Angela (2005). "One Woman Who Refused to Wait: The Ordination of Mary Ramerman", pp. 239-56, Good Catholic Girls: How Women are Leading the Fight to Change the Church. New York City: Regan Books/HarperCollins.