Frenchwoman 'outside church's communion,' says church spokeswoman

Published: 2005-07-12

WARSAW, Poland (CNS) -- A Frenchwoman placed herself "outside the church's communion" when she was ordained in a renegade ceremony, said a French church spokeswoman. Genevieve Beney, 55, was "ordained" July 2 by three self-styled women bishops during a ceremony aboard a ship on France's Saone River near the residence of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin of Lyon. "Although the word excommunication hasn't been used bluntly, she's already effectively outside the church's communion," said Marie-Caroline de Marliave, spokeswoman for the French bishops' conference. "There were more journalists than participants at this ordination, and a lot of people felt it was a nonevent," de Marliave said in a telephone interview. The move defied warnings from Bishop Robert Wattebled of Nimes and Cardinal Barbarin, who said in a June 29 statement the alleged ordination would "constitute a grave act of rupture with the Catholic Church."

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