Posted on 11/12/2008 3:13:42 PM PST by NYer
WASHINGTON (CNS) -- Despite being threatened with excommunication by the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois said he would not recant his belief that women should be ordained as Catholic priests.
"There's nothing that Rome can do to me to take away the peace, the clarity I have on this issue," Father Bourgeois told Catholic News Service Nov. 12. "No matter what the consequences, I feel I am doing the right thing."
Father Bourgeois sent a letter to congregation officials Nov. 7 outlining his stance on women's ordination and how he believes church "teaching on this issue is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny." He said the issue is one of conscience and that he cannot recant something of which he remains firmly convinced.
The letter was made public Nov. 11 by the priest's attorney, Bill Quigley, in New Orleans, La.
The 69-year-old priest said his letter was in response to an Oct. 21 notice from the Vatican congregation, headed by Cardinal William J. Levada, an American, that gave him 30 days to recant his belief and public statements about the ordination of women or be excommunicated.
Known widely for his 19-year campaign to close a U.S. army school at Fort Benning, Ga., that trains Latin American soldiers, Father Bourgeois attracted the attention of the leaders of his order and church officials following his participation in a reported ordination ceremony sponsored by Roman Catholic Womenpriests Aug. 9 in Lexington, Ky.
In August Father Bourgeois said he concelebrated the liturgy, delivered the homily and laid hands on longtime friend and fellow peace activist Janice Sevre-Duszynska during what traditionally would have been the ordination rite at the ceremony in a Unitarian Universalist church. He said he was invited to the ceremony by Sevre-Duszynska and decided to participate after a period of discernment.
He received a canonical warning from Maryknoll leadership during an Aug. 18 meeting with representatives of the order's General Council in Maryknoll, N.Y. At the time, Father Bourgeois said he hoped the issue was settled because he had no intention of participating in any other such ceremony.
The congregation's letter, delivered through Maryknoll superiors, came as a shock, said Father Bourgeois, who was ordained in 1972. "The seriousness set in," he said. "It wasn't complicated. They said very seriously I had 30 days and if I didn't recant I will be excommunicated. That's pretty serious. That's pretty clear. No ifs, ands or buts."
Father Bourgeois said he spent two weeks in prayer and discernment before crafting his response. He said he then drove from his home in Columbus, Ga., to Lutcher, La., 35 miles west of New Orleans, to meet with his family, including his 95-year-old father.
"To them and to me (my father) said, 'Roy has been all over the world and God brought him back from the war in Vietnam safely. God brought him back from Bolivia and El Salvador (where he served as a Maryknoll missioner) and God is going to take care of him now. I support him 100 percent and he's doing the right thing,'" Father Bourgeois told CNS.
"When we get the blessing from family and loved ones, it does bring some peace. At the same time, it saddens me to put them through this," he said.
For now, Father Bourgeois will continue to prepare for the Nov. 21-23 vigil and procession to the gates of Fort Benning in Columbus, the home of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, the army school he has been trying to close for nearly two decades.
He also said he may try to arrange a meeting with congregation officials with the help of his superiors in New York and in Rome to discuss the issue.
And here is the response.
“I think women should be priests.”
Response: EXCOMMUNICATE!!!!!!!!!AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!EXCOMMUNICATE!!!!!!!!
“I think pregnant women should be able to kill their unborn babies.”
Response:
There are many factors that can lead someone to vote for a candidate blah blah blah, if a politician supports abortion they should decide for themselves if communion should blah blah blah
thhhhhbbbbbb
I am glad he will be at peace when he is excommunicated.
Off with his head said the red queen.
Bourgeois is an old commie priest from the Latin American “liberation theology” school. He worked for the communists in El Salvador and Nicaragua and Colombia, among other countries threatened by the reds.
However, he has also been a supporter of domestic US terrorists and groups thru their fronts and causes.
He should not only be excommunicated, but executed as a communist traitor. Oh, try him first so that the public can see what he has done to betray America, and then shot him. We must be proper and follow procedure.
Don’t snag your sweater on the way out the door, Father. The Episcopal Church welcomes you ...
More evidence of the lack of spine for too many years by too many bishops in the US. I HOPE this time they see they MUST stand for something or get this kind of dissent. Enough already. Purge the church, these people are not catholic anyway.
This additional information makes it clear that he’s not just well-intentioned but fizzy-headed, as some who support “ordination” of women are, but a genuinely bad person. The Church (and the world) need fewer of those.
*John McLaughlin voice*............BYE....BYEEEEEEE!!
We mustn’t allow ourselves to take any pleasure in this. It is a tremendously sad thing when anyone is excommunicated. Our goal should be that everyone gets to heaven. This obviously does not happen. But, it is why this man was given every opportunity to recant and realign himself with the Church of Christ.
We need to pray for all those who are in danger of straying down the same dark path, that they may not do so. And we should also pray for this man who has strayed.
Ba-bye, Bourgeois.
Can we allow ourselves to feel relieved that a supporter of terrorism who rejects the authority of the Magisterium will have reduced opportunities to promote error in the guise of being “Catholic”?
Sure, but “nah-nah-nah-nah, nah-nah-nah-nah, hey hey hey, goodbye” or “don’t let the door hit you where the good Lord split you” crosses a line. That’s all I’m saying.
Pray for this guy. He obviously needs it.
So they will excuminacate the priest for saying women should be priests, but then they do this:
“Monsignor W. Francis Malooly, the Catholic bishop of Wilmington in Delaware, said he would not ban Joe Biden, the Vice President elect and a Roman Catholic, from taking Communion because of his stand on issues such as stem cell research and abortion. Mr Biden, a Senator from Delaware, lives in the Wilmington diocese.
The bishop was quoted as saying that “the Eucharist must not be politicised”. He added that the job of a Catholic prelate was not to “alienate people” but rather to “change their hearts and minds”.”
I think what actually happened is that this Catholic priest went to an “ordination” of a group of Catholic women who went through an ordination rite, performed at a Protestant Church, by a former Catholic priest.
Thus, what happened is that this Priest mocked a sacrament. While Joe Biden has publicy articulated “pro-choice” positions, the theological question is whether that is tantamount to materially cooperating with evil, when Joe Biden has never participated in an abortion.
There are some Bishops who are making the case that advocating “pro-choice” positions warrants not presenting oneself for Holy Communion, while other Bishops have decided to not withhold Communion for such politicians.
What this priest is advocating and participating in is outright heresy. While I personally agree with the more strict position advocated by numerous Bishops that Pro-choice Catholics should not receive communion, Rome has not as of yet come down definitively on that point, although one sees a gradual movement in that direction.
Correction to my previous post. The “fake ordination” took place at a Unitarian church. My apologies to orthodox Protestant Christians.
Regards
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