Shortly after being elected in 2013, Pope Francis announced that the Catholic Church would remain consistent in their doctrine that only men, not women, could be priests.

“The church has spoken and says no… That door is closed,” he said.

One year since this announcement, Rev. Georgia Walker, 67, has been challenging the Church’s mandate, claiming to be “Kansas City’s first Roman Catholic priest.” Walker converted to Catholicism 20 years ago. She believes that God called her to become a priest, but as a woman, she didn’t think that it would ever come to fruition.

After much consideration, Walker decided that she didn’t want to leave her faith for another denomination that accepts female priests, but she also didn’t want to ignore her calling.  This is how she discovered the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, a national organization that claims to train and ordain women as priests. For 12 years, Walker participated in a discernment process with the association but did not take her vows. She was finally ordained January 3, 2015 at The Catholic Diocese of Kansas City, MO.

“I’m just trying to respond to the call to be prophetic and to bring the church to a new place,” Walker said. “It needs to be pushed along, otherwise women are never going to be able to fully participate.”

Jack Smith, Director of Communications of the Diocese of Kansas City, replied, “We certainly agree with Pope Francis on the importance of increasing women’s roles in leadership in the Church. In this diocese, women serve as directors of diocesan offices, members of the diocesan finance council, heads of schools and charitable agencies and numerous other leadership roles.”

However, since the association is not recognized by The Vatican, the Diocese does not deem Walker’s ordination official.

“The ordination wasn’t by a Catholic bishop. There was nothing Catholic about it,” Smith said.

Walker has since responded, “What the official church does to me is not relevant. They can’t take away my baptism, they can’t take away my calling to the priesthood. All they can do is deny me their sacraments. But now, I am a priest and I can provide those sacraments. Not just to myself but to others.”

The church has  excommunicated Walker for the unsanctioned ordination, but she hopes that her story will help women who want to be priests find acceptance in their religious communities.

“I intend to move ahead with my plans to form an intentional, inclusive Roman Catholic community with persons who are interested in participating in weekly liturgies,” she said in the Huffington Post. “All will be welcome at the table.”