This week Father Roy Bourgeois, a Roman Catholic cleric, received a canonical warning from the leadership of his religious congregation, the priests and brothers commonly known as Maryknoll Missioners.
The notice advises Bourgeois to recant, within 15 days of March 29, his statement of belief that women, along with men, are called by God to serve as Roman Catholic priests.
Failure to recant during this time period will result in a second canonical warning from his superiors.
At that time, Maryknoll leadership will submit their charge for dismissal to the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith with a request for laicization, removal of his clerical status.
As a Maryknoll priest for nearly 40 years, Bourgeois has followed publically denounced war and the torture, as a national leader in opposition to the U.S. government's School of the Americas [now known as WHINSEC] at Fort Benning, Georgia.
Many consider him a contemporary prophet.
Bourgeois was moved to speak out against the inequality of women in the Roman Catholic Church due to his dedication to social justice, the promptings of his conscience, and his own friendships with women who themselves felt called to priesthood.
Bourgeois considers himself, nevertheless, steadfast in his faith and loyalty to the Church.
Father Bourgeois was excommunicated for his participation in a women's ordination ceremony in August 2008.
But millions of Catholics, also in good conscience like Bourgeois, believe that women are called by God to priestly ordination, says Erin Saiz Hanna, Executive Director of the Women's Ordination Conference (WOC).
"In our efforts to ordain women into an inclusive and accountable Church, we see it as contrary to the gospel itself to dismiss faithful priests who dare to break the silence in support of women's rightful role in the Church, and we oppose the threat of laicization as a way of dealing with differences," says Saiz
Hanna in a statement for the WOC.
The Women's Ordination Conference (WOC) publically supports Bourgeois and invites the public to take action by signing a petition urging the Maryknoll leadership to desist from issuing a second canonical warning and to support Fr. Roy Bourgeois.
In a similar case in 2001, the Benedictine order supported Sr. Joan Chittister when she publicly supported women's ordination.
No comments:
Post a Comment