Rev. Roy Bourgeois Facing Excommunication Over Support for Women Priests

I have always supported Father Roy and the closing of the School of the  Americas.  I have met Father Roy on several occasions, here in Utah and at Ft. Benning, GA in 2007, as have many others of us.  Please  read the post from the Christian Radical below and consider supporting him in his support  of women being ordained into the Catholic Church.
———————
 Rev. Roy Bourgeois Facing Excommunication Over Support for Women Priests
http://thechristianradical.blogspot.com/2008/11/rev-roy-bourgeois-facing.html

Bill Quigley
November 11 2008
PLEASE READ AND CIRCULATE

Friends:

Here is the latest communication, dated November 7, 2008, from Fr. Roy Bourgeois
regarding the threat of excommunication by Rome for refusing to stop speaking out in
favor of Women Priests in the Catholic Church.

I have also enclosed some action items with addresses where people can write. Please take
the time to read this and take action. Please feel free to send this to all the justice
people you know.

Bill Quigley

Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903
November 7, 2008

TO THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, THE VATICAN

I was very saddened by your letter dated October 21, 2008, giving me 30 days to recant my
belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or I
will be excommunicated.

I have been a Catholic priest for 36 years and have a deep love for my Church and
ministry. (…)

When I was a young man in the military, I felt God was calling me to the priesthood. I
entered Maryknoll and was ordained in 1972.

Over the years I have met a number of women in our Church who, like me, feel called by
God to the priesthood. You, our Church leaders at the Vatican, tell us that women cannot
be ordained.

With all due respect, I believe our Catholic Church’s teaching on this issue is wrong and
does not stand up to scrutiny. A 1976 report by the Pontifical Biblical Commission
supports the research of Scripture scholars, canon lawyers and many faithful Catholics
who have studied and pondered the Scriptures and have concluded that there is no
justification in the Bible for excluding women from the priesthood.

As people of faith, we profess that the invitation to the ministry of priesthood comes
from God. We profess that God is the Source of life and created men and women of equal
stature and dignity. The current Catholic Church doctrine on the ordination of women
implies our loving and all-powerful God, Creator of heaven and earth, somehow cannot
empower a woman to be a priest.

Women in our Church are telling us that God is calling them to the priesthood. Who are
we, as men, to say to women, "Our call is valid, but yours is not." Who are we to tamper
with God’s call?

Sexism, like racism, is a sin. And no matter how hard or how long we may try to justify
discrimination, in the end, it is always immoral.

Hundreds of Catholic churches in the U.S. are closing because of a shortage of priests.
Yet there are hundreds of committed and prophetic women telling us that God is calling
them to serve our
Church as priests.

If we are to have a vibrant, healthy Church rooted in the teachings of our Savior, we
need the faith, wisdom, experience, compassion and courage of women in the priesthood.

Conscience is very sacred. Conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to
do the right thing. Conscience is what compelled Franz Jagerstatter, a humble Austrian
farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to join Hitler’s army, which
led to his execution. Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer
sit in the back of the bus.

Conscience is what compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny
their call from God to the priesthood.

Conscience is what compelled my dear mother and father, now 95, to always strive to do
the right things as faithful Catholics raising four children. And after much prayer,
reflection and discernment, it is my conscience that compels me to do the right thing. I
cannot recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our
Church.

Working and struggling for peace and justice are an integral part of our faith. For this
reason, I speak out against the war in Iraq. And for the last eighteen years, I have been
speaking out against the atrocities and suffering caused by the School of the Americas
(SOA).

Eight years ago, while in Rome for a conference on peace and justice, I was invited to
speak about the SOA on Vatican Radio. During the interview, I stated that I could not
address the injustice of the SOA and remain silent about injustice in my Church. I ended
the interview by saying, "There will never be justice in the Catholic Church until women
can be ordained." I remain committed to this belief today.

Having an all male clergy implies that men are worthy to be Catholic priests, but women
are not.

According to USA TODAY (Feb. 28, 2008) in the United States alone, nearly 5,000 Catholic
priests have sexually abused more than 12,000 children. Many bishops, aware of the abuse,
remained silent. These priests and bishops were not excommunicated. Yet the women in our
Church who are called by God and are ordained to serve God’s people, and the priests and
bishops who support them, are excommunicated.

Silence is the voice of complicity. Therefore, I call on all Catholics, fellow priests,
bishops, Pope Benedict XVI and all Church leaders at the Vatican, to speak loudly on this
grave injustice of excluding women from the priesthood.

Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was assassinated because of his defense of the
oppressed. He said, "Let those who have a voice, speak out for the voiceless."

Our loving God has given us a voice. Let us speak clearly and boldly and walk in
solidarity as Jesus would, with the women in our Church who are being called by God to
the priesthood.

In Peace and Justice,
Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903
++++++++++

ACTIONS TO SUPPORT – Rev. Roy Bourgeois – 11/08

Some have asked for addresses to write their support of Fr. Roy and to ask that he not be
excommunicated. Petitions are also appropriate.

Please write or fax or email to Pope Benedict XVI, and/or the Pope’s Ambassador to the
U.S., the Apostolic Nuncio, and/or the Congregation for Doctrine of Faith, the group that
is moving toward excommunication of Fr. Roy Bourgeois, and/or The leaders of the
Maryknoll Order. Their addresses are below.

Please send a cc of any message or petitions you send to:
Bill Quigley ? Attorney for Fr. Roy
7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 902
New Orleans, LA 70118 or
duprestars@yahoo.com

ADDRESSES TO WRITE:

Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W, Washington, DC, USA
Telephone: (202) 333-7121
Fax: 337-4036

Pope Benedict XVI
00120 Via del Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano, Europe
The Pope’s email address (for English correspondence) is: benedictxvi@vatican.va
FAX from USA:
011-39-06698-85378

Congregation for Doctrine of Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11,
00193 Roma, Italy
Telephone: 06.69.88.33.57; 06.69.88.34.13
Fax: 06.69.88.34.09

Superior General, John Sivalon at jsivalon@maryknoll.org
and to the three-member Maryknoll Council at
mklcouncil@maryknoll.org and/or fax to 914-944-3600
Write to: Maryknoll Council P.O. Box 303 Maryknoll, NY 10545

Again, please send a cc of your message to
Bill Quigley ? Attorney for Fr. Roy
7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 902
New Orleans, LA 70118
duprestars@yahoo.com