Facing expulsion from church, priest vows to live for peace

[1holycatholic]

Facing expulsion from church, priest vows to live for peace
WASHINGTON – Days before his expulsion from both his order and the Roman Catholic priesthood for ordaining women, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois sat in chilly spring sunshine staring at the White House, contemplating what life will be like after he’s defrocked.

He was hungry - the result of a weeklong fast as part of his perennial protest against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in Fort Benning, Ga. The institute, formerly known as the School of the Americas, trains police and military forces from Latin America. Opponents say the school’s graduates return to their home countries and use those skills to torture citizens.
…

Read more: miamiherald.com/2011/04/07/2156013/facing-expulsion-from-church-priest.html#ixzz1ItPGWri7

 

[Gerri_Harkin]

A Catholic priest should be subject to the Pope to be in good standing. He knows that better than anyone. Therefore he is expelled. The danger of making up your own rules is
not without consequence. I wish him a peaceful secular life.

 

[ProVobis]

Actually only a bishop can ordain.

 

[hxcCatholic413]

Reading a little bit about his background and accomplishments…I feel like he actually “gets it” sort of speak. Has anyone ever noticed that the older priests are the more modern/liberal ones and the new ones are old-fashioned and conservative…merely an opinion of mine, but it’s worth checking out. God Bless!

 

[thomasf]

Apparently he doesn’t ‘get’ that he can’t ordain women when the Pope has ruled definitively otherwise. No matter what he thinks or believes personally.

 

[kimmielittle]

Apparently he doesn’t ‘get’ that he can’t ordain women when the Pope has ruled definitively otherwise. No matter what he thinks or believes personally.

And the fact He isn’t a Bishop

 

[Dale_M]

And the fact He isn’t a Bishop

Oh, I think Fr. Bourgeois knew that. His participation in the ceremony (he gave the homily) was noteworthy because it was the first time a Catholic priest in good standing had participated in a woman’s ordination.

The claimed ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska was actually done by Dana Reynolds, a California woman whom the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement considers to be a validly consecrated bishop.
ncronline.org/node/1568

 

[kimmielittle]

Oh, I think Fr. Bourgeois knew that. His participation in the ceremony (he gave the homily) was noteworthy because it was the first time a Catholic priest in good standing had participated in a woman’s ordination.

The claimed ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska was actually done by Dana Reynolds, a California woman whom the Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement considers to be a validly consecrated bishop.
ncronline.org/node/1568

Thanks for the link

Soooo according to Mr Bourgeois - most playwrights / activists are capable to lead me in my Spiritual growth as a Catholic? And I mean Catholic ]

I’ll run right out and confess to my local PETA member and let her / him lead me in my Spiritual growth as a Catholic.

OR better yet…I’ll leave Catholics alone and join a Protestant Church to lead me in my Spiritual growth as a Catholic. Oh wait: Don’t Protestant Churches require some theology to become Ministers? So that even, would be a HUGE step-up IMO

So that no one can say I’m sexist in this, I’ll say this - If all that Father Mike had to offer my Spiritual growth as a Catholic, was being a playwright / activist…

 

[Tigg]

What’s wrong with the world today? We can start with the severe denial of faith both by this priest and the women who delusionally think they are ordained. Then move from denial to pride or moral relativism which has darkened their minds into believing that THEIR perception of truth is correct…add a little rebellion to the mix and voila! There are your women priests!

 

[wynnejj]

What’s wrong with the world today? We can start with the severe denial of faith both by this priest and the women who delusionally think they are ordained. Then move from denial to pride or moral relativism which has darkened their minds into believing that THEIR perception of truth is correct…add a little rebellion to the mix and voila! There are your women priests!

How is it that you understand the female mind so well?
Well, first I think of a man. Then I take away all logic and accountability.
(Jack Nickolsen in “As Good As It Gets”?)

 

[hxcCatholic413]

Apparently he doesn’t ‘get’ that he can’t ordain women when the Pope has ruled definitively otherwise. No matter what he thinks or believes personally.

well in the long run he’s better off than the thousands of close minded individuals who cant embrace change…he’s been a priest awhile…i’m sure he has figured out quite a bit

 

[Phemie]

His letter to his Order was published in “America”.

Rev. Edward Dougherty, M.M., Superior General
Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers
P.O. Box 303 Maryknoll, NY 10545

April 8, 2011

*Dear Father Dougherty and General Council,
*
Maryknoll has been my community, my family, for 44 years, so it is with great sadness that I received your letter of March 18, 2011 stating I must recant my belief and public statements that support the ordination of women, or I will be dismissed from Maryknoll.

When I was a young man in the military, I felt God was calling me to be a priest. I later entered Maryknoll and was ordained. I am grateful for finding the happiness, meaning and hope I was seeking in life.

For the past 20 years I have been speaking out and organizing against the injustice of the School of the Americas and U.S. foreign policy in Latin America. Over these years I discovered an injustice much closer to home – an injustice in my Church.

Devout women in our Church believe God is calling them to be priests, but they are rejected because the Church teaches that only baptized men can become priests. As a Catholic priest for 38 years, I believe our Church’s teaching that excludes women from the priesthood defies both faith and reason and cannot stand up to scrutiny for the following reasons…

 

[1holycatholic]

His letter to his Order was published in “America”.

Regrettably, the article has a lot of supportive comments from his fellow dissenters.

From what I’ve seen of America magazine this isn’t uncommon. They appear to sanction dissent under the guise of free and honest discussion.

I wouldn’t subscribe to America magazine, or recommend it to any faithful Catholic.

 

[Phemie]

Regrettably, the article has a lot of supportive comments from his fellow dissenters.

From what I’ve seen of America magazine this isn’t uncommon. They appear to sanction dissent under the guise of free and honest discussion.

I wouldn’t subscribe to America magazine, or recommend it to any faithful Catholic.

It was the only non-blog, non-forum place that I could find where the letter was published.

 

[Tigg]

His letter to his Order was published in “America”.

Wrong, wrong, wrong, Father…on so many counts:

In the Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian and other Christian churches, God’s call of women to the priesthood is affirmed and women are ordained. Why not in the Catholic church?

Because the Catholic Church is the one who infallibly holds the truth???

Our Church is in a crisis today because of the sexual abuse scandal and the closing of hundreds of churches because of a shortage of priests.

Wrong again, Father…the root cause of the crisis comes from the loss of faith due to a neglect of true catechesis.

As Catholics, we believe in the primacy and sacredness of conscience. Our conscience is sacred because it gives us a sense of right and wrong and urges us to do the right thing… And it is my conscience that compels me to say publicly that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women, against our Church and against our God who calls both men and women to the priesthood.

Perhaps *your *conscience has not been properly formed to humbly submit to the truth of the Spirit.

 

[laszlo]

Here are his objections:

(1) As Catholics, we believe that we were created in the image and likeness of God and that men and women are equal before God. Excluding women from the priesthood implies that men are superior to women.

God deprived men from the gift to give body to new beings with immortal spirit. Is He unjust?

(2) Catholic priests say that the call to be a priest is a gift and comes fromGod. How can we, as men, say: “Our call from God is authentic, but your call, as women, is not”? Who are we to reject God’s call of women to the priesthood? I believe our Creator who is the Source of life and called forth the sun and stars is certainly capable of calling women to be priests.

Catholics believe that the vocation comes from God, but not through any individual, but through the call of the bishops before the ordination. The hierarchy is above us, even in this case.

(3) We are told that women cannot be priests because Jesus chose only men as apostles. As we know, Jesus did not ordain anyone. Jesus also chose a woman, Mary Magdalene, to be the first witness to His resurrection, which is at the core of our faith. Mary Magdalene became known as “the apostle to the apostles.”

Jesus got His body for a woman, no men had any part on this process, there were excluded. The exclusion is part of the human nature: we are limited, partial imperfect beings. Only the Evil one temps us, that we are like God.

(4) A 1976 report by the Pontifical Biblical Commission, the Vatican’s top Scripture scholars, concluded that there is no valid case to be made against the ordination of women from the Scriptures. In the Episcopal, Methodist, Lutheran, United Church of Christ, Presbyterian and other Christian churches, God’s call of women to the priesthood is affirmed and women are ordained. Why not in the Catholic church?

The scholar are just advisory for the pope. The pope the vicar of Christ made the final decision. This is the basic tenet of our faith.

(5) The Holy Scriptures remind us in Galatians 3:28, “There is neither male nor female. In Christ Jesus you are one.” Furthermore, the Second Vatican Council’s Pastoral Constitution on The Church in the Modern World states: “Every type of discrimination … based on sex. … is to be overcome and eradicated as contrary to God’s intent.”

The essential difference between man and women cannot be eliminated by any decree. It is discrimination that men cannot give bodies to human beings, only women can. This is the way of life.