Today Newsweek has an interview on their website with Jessica Rowley, a recent graduate of Eden Theological Seminary, who was just ordained as a Catholic priest in a ceremony held on the seminary's campus.  Eden is an ecumenical seminary of the United Church of Christ.  Newsweek reports:

Sept. 13, 2007 - Last week 25-year-old Jessica Rowley became one of about a dozen women nationwide to make a highly unusual career move: she was ordained a Catholic priest. Rowley’s ordination—which took place at Eden Theological Seminary, a progressive institution in Webster Groves, Mo.—is approved by the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, a group of churches that decline to recognize the authority of the pope but see themselves nevertheless as Roman Catholic. This week Rowley—who is also married—begins working full-time as an associate pastor at Saints Clare & Francis, a breakaway parish in Webster Groves.

The Roman Catholic Church, not surprisingly, does not recognize Rowley as a priest. “The Church does not see itself able to ordain women, following the long and constant teaching of the church,” says Sister Mary Ann Walsh, a spokeswoman for the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops. (It does, however, recognize the more than 100 already married men who became priests after a conversion to Roman Catholicism.) NEWSWEEK’s Karen Springen talked with Rowley about how she views her role.

Click here for the full interview.

I was fortunate to know both Jessica and her husband Joe when I was a student at Eden.  They're great people and Jessica will make a terrific priest.