Background: In July 2007, Toni Tortorilla of Portland became -- in the eyes of many -- Oregon's first woman Roman Catholic priest.In a ceremony not recognized by the official church, she was ordained by a woman bishop active in Roman Catholic Womenpriests.
The ceremony was in front of 200 friends and supporters in a Gresham United Church of Christ.
Update: In late May, the Vatican decreed that women who attempt to be ordained as priests, and those who try to ordain them, are automatically excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church. The church believes that only men may become priests.
The decree, effective immediately, was signed by Cardinal William J. Levada, archbishop of Portland from 1986 to 1995, who now leads the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in Rome.
A spokeswoman for Roman Catholic Womenpriests said the international group rejects the excommunication penalty, arguing that they are "loyal members of the church" disobeying an unjust law.
The organization says its first American woman bishop, Dana Reynolds, was ordained in Germany on April 9, and recognizes eight new women priests so far this year.
What's next: Tortorilla, who works as a counselor and spiritual director, ministers to about 90 people in Portland and in Eugene who call themselves the Sophia Christi Catholic Community. They meet monthly in borrowed sanctuaries.
"I believe in the supremacy of conscience, and my conscience has led me all along to be an ordained Roman Catholic priest," Tortorilla said last week. She, too, rejects the excommunication decree and says she will continue to serve her growing community. Archaeological and historical evidence, she says, supports the view that women have been priests and bishops in the Catholic Church.
"The Holy Spirit's call to be a priest is very strong and very persistent," she said. "It supercedes the Vatican's determination not to ordain women."
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