july23-29

	A boat moves alongside the tour boat on the St. Lawrence River where nine women were "ordained" to the priesthood and the diaconate July 25.
	Kathy Sullivan Vandenberg, whose hometown in the U.S. was not available, weeps as she kneels for the laying on of hands at an "ordination" ceremony for her and eight other women to the diaconate and the priesthood.
	Friends and family members took part in the laying on of hands ceremony July 25 "ordaining" Dana Reynolds of Carmel, Ca., and eight other women to the diaconate and the priesthood, contrary to Church law.
	Some of the 250 people aboard the tour boat where nine women were "ordained" to the Roman Catholic priesthood and the diaconate, wept during the ceremony.

	Nine candidates for the priesthood and the diaconate prostrate themselves as Catholic tradition requires upon ordination. Their ordination ceremony was held aboard a tour boat on the St. Lawrence River July 25 but is not valid under church law.
	The four women ordained to the priesthood July 25 on board a tour boat on the St. Lawrence River were (left) Michelle Birch-Conery of Vancouver Island, Victoria Rue, of California, Marie David, (home state or region unavailable) and Jean Marie St. Onge of New England.
	The four ordinands to the Catholic priesthood lay prostrate in the aisle of a tour boat on the St. Lawrence River July 25 during their ordination ceremony. The Vatican does not recognize ordinations of women to the priesthood.
	Christine Mayr-Lemetzberger, ordained as a Catholic bishop at a secret ceremony, lays hands on Michelle Birch-Conery of Vancouver Island during the ordination ceremony for nine women on board a tour boat on the St. Lawrence River July 25.

	Mary Parfitt, a Catholic from Gananoque, Ont., poses with "Bishop"Christine Mayr-Lemetzberger, prior to the ordination of nine women aboard a tour boat on the St. Lawrence River July 25. Parfitt carries a sign stating, "May God bless our women ordinands."
	Michelle Birch-Conery of Vancouver Island wears the stole of a priest for the first time following an ordination ceremony aboard a tour boat on the St. Lawrence River July 25 where she and three other women were ordained to the priesthood.
	The tour boat on which nine women were ordained to the priesthood or the diaconate, returns to port at Gananoque, Ont., July 25.

	"The hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church is morally bankrupt," feminist theologian Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza told almost 500 participants from five continents attending the international Women's Ordination Worldwide conference in Ottawa July 22-24. She cited the "scandal and cover up from sexual abuse by priests," and "the Vatican' s prohibitions of condoms in the AIDS crisis," as examples.
	American Catholic Theologian Rosemary Radford Ruether speaks at news conference following her keynote address at the international Women's Ordination Worldwide conference in Ottawa July 22-24. "We don't have to acquiesce to oppressive and violent relationship as the unchangeable order of things either for the church, for American society or the global world," she said in her talk.
	"We’re making a place for the church community to understand that women are persons," said former Ottawa Mayor Marion Dewar, a practicing Catholic. Speaking to the international Women's Ordination Worldwide conference in Ottawa July 22-24, she added, "In Rome, I don’t think it’s gonna happen this weekend."
	Ida Raming, one of seven women ordained to the Catholic priesthood on the Danube River in 2002 leading to their excommunication, speaks to reporters on Parliament Hill July 22 as Diane Watts, national president of Women for Life, Faith and Family, holds a protest placard in background.
	Participants at the international Women's Ordination Worldwide conference in Ottawa July 22-24 join hands in song during the opening liturgy.
	Michele Birch-Conery of Parksville, B.C., 65, will become Canada's first woman Roman Catholic priest when she and eight other women from North America are ordained as priests or deacons on a boat on the St. Lawrence River between the United States and Canada July 25. However, the Catholic Church does not recognize ordinations of women to the priesthood.

	Christine Mayr-Lumetzberger of Austria (left) and Gisela Forster of Germany are the two Catholic "bishops" who will ordain nine women as priests or deacons July 25. The Catholic Church considers the ordinations of women to as invalid and has responded through excommunication.
	Mary Ramerman of Spiritus Christi Church in Rochester, NY, attends news conference at the international Women's Ordination Worldwide conference in Ottawa July 22-24. She was ordained to the priesthood in 2001 in a ceremony not recognized by the Vatican.
	Victoria Rue of San Jose, CA., is among a group of nine women to be ordained as priests or deacons July 25 in defiance of church law.
	Marie Bouclin of Sudbury, ON., international chair of the Women's Ordination Worldwide conference in Ottawa July 22-24, calls the Catholic Church's World Youth Day "a gigantic failure" that doesn't bring youth into the church in a meaningful way.