Do-It-Yourself Perdition

It was a headline that only an old-school Catholic could love: "Minnesota Woman Will Excommunicate Herself, Says Bishop."

Next week, Kathy Redig, a Catholic chaplain in a Winona hospital, will take part in an unsanctioned ordination ceremony—she's becoming a priest. Her bishop, Bernard Harrington, complained to the Catholic News Agency that in doing so, Redig is causing "more confusion than good."

But there is good news for the good bishop: Once Redig has finished her ordination ceremony, she is as good as gone from his tribe. Harrington need file no excommunication paperwork—by violating ancient church thinking on women in the priesthood, he said, she has "excommunicated herself," adding snidely: "It makes my job easier."