KANSAS CITY, Mo. — A local Kansas City woman has been excommunicated from the Catholic Church after going through a priest ordination ceremony at a metro Lutheran church, who provided the ceremony location, on Saturday.
Georgia Walker says she’s Kansas City’s first female Catholic priest.
Walker told FOX 4 she felt both scared and excited, Saturday; sad to be excommunicated from the church, but also excited to lead in the church on her own terms.
Walker says she wants to welcome Catholics back to the church who have left. She says she thinks many Catholics leave the church because they don’t feel welcome, or don’t feel like they can live up to certain standards. She says she is creating a new kind of Catholic church that welcomes everybody with open arms.
“It’s an exciting day for those people who’ve left the Catholic Church who wish to come back to a Catholic church but do not feel welcome in the church,” she said.
FOX 4 reached out to the diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph for a comment last week. Its director of communications, Jack Smith, said he couldn’t comment because the ordination isn’t valid under Catholic faith.
Walker says she will find a place to hold masses and also plans to serve at area prisons.
