CLEVELAND -- A woman secretly ordained as a priest earlier this year said she was trying to send a message that the time has come to admit women into the Roman Catholic clergy.
Dagmar Braun Celeste, ex-wife of former Ohio Gov. Richard Celeste, was the only American among seven women secretly ordained June 29 on a boat on the Danube River between Germany and Austria. The Vatican excommunicated the women for refusing to renounce the ordinations. The women have appealed their excommunications.
"Women, just like men, deserve to follow their conscience and calling," Celeste, 60, told The Associated Press.
Celeste operates a Cleveland nonprofit ministry called Tyrian. An Austria native, she holds dual citizenship in the United States and Austria. Celeste said she was ordained under the pseudonym Angela White because she didn't want to divert attention from her daughter's September wedding. She planned to use her real name as a priest.
Cleveland Diocese officials said Celeste is no longer allowed to participate in church sacraments.
"She's been excommunicated. Anything she does is invalid," diocese spokesman Bob Tayek said.
Archbishop Tarcisio Bertone of the Vatican said the ordination attacked "the fundamental structure of the Church as it was wanted by its founder," according to the AP.
