Cleric Defies Vatican, Ordains Woman

A recently excommunicated Catholic cleric defied the Vatican and ordained a woman as a priest within his ministry.

The cleric, the Rev. Pat Buckley, declared Frances Meigh a priest during a private ceremony in an abandoned Protestant church near this Irish Republic village.

Meigh, a 67-year-old hermit who painted religious icons for a living while staying at a north England monastery, said she was “quite content” with her decision. She said her new title would be “the very Rev. Mother Frances.”

“It is not the body that is being ordained, but the soul,” Buckley said. “Gender is irrelevant.”

Meigh, a mother of three, had her marriage annulled by the church. She later volunteered for Mother Teresa’s mission in Calcutta. Buckley began talking to her last year about becoming a priest.

The Catholic Church is the official faith of 4 million of Ireland’s more than 5 million citizens.

The Anglican Church of Ireland dropped its ban against female priests three years ago and recently ordained its youngest priest, 24-year-old Lynda Peilow, to join 50 others. The Vatican excommunicated Buckley in April after rebel Bishop Michael Cox ordained Buckley a bishop.