NEWS & VIEWS
from a CATHOLIC perspective

      LONDON (CWNews.com) - An Australian Catholic woman has been banned from the Sacraments and participation in the ministry of her parish because of her outspoken calls for ordination of women, the London Herald reported on Thursday.

      Ann Nugent, a leader of the Australian group Ordination of Catholic Women (OCW), told the newspaper that she had been told earlier this month of the decision by Bishop Geoffrey Mayne of the Australian Military Ordinariate, who also serves St. Thomas More Parish in a Canberra suburb.

      She said that the bishop subsequently told her that she is not to receive Communion at the parish, lector at Mass, or remain on the parish council. He also told her that he had informed Archbishop Francis Carroll of Canberra of his decision.

      Nugent said she feels like an outcast and believes that the bishop's action are example of clerical abuse of power. "It's overkill on his part. I don't know why," she said.