Media Release: ARCWP to Celebratee Ordination of Elena Garcia as a Deacon and Baptism of Grandson Brohdi Lucas Courtney in Sarasota, Florida

From the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) www.arcwp.org

For immediate release: March 23, 2017

Media contacts:

Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 859-684-4247, rhythmsofthedance1@gmail.com

Bridget Mary Meehan, 703-505-0004, sofiabmm@aol.com

See: bridgetmarys.blogspot.com

Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests Celebrates Worldwide Day of Prayer with Ordination of Woman Deacon in Florida on March 25, 2017

The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP) joins Women's Ordination Worldwide (WOW) in celebrating the World Day of Prayer for Women's Ordination by ordaining Elena Garcia a deacon at 4 PM at St. Andrew United Church of Christ in Sarasota, Florida. Elena will then baptize her grandson, Brohdi Lucas Courtney, as her first act of loving diaconal ministry. All are welcome!

We give thanks for each other in our Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement who, since 2002, are living God's call in a renewed priestly ministry that welcomes the people of God to celebrate sacraments in inclusive faith communities. We have grown from seven brave women ordained on the Danube in 2002, to approximately 240 internationally in Europe, North America, South America, Asia and Africa.

“With Mary, of the Magnificat,” Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan writes, “we pray that justice will triumph over oppression everywhere and that our institutional church will no longer discriminate against women by prohibiting ordination. On this World Day of Prayer for Women's Ordination, we join in solidarity with our sisters and brothers who advocate for women priests and work for equality in the Roman Catholic Church. We rejoice that for fifteen years, women priests have been leading the way toward justice and equality in the Roman Catholic Church.”