Bourgeois facing expulsion from Maryknoll

May Father Roy ever prophecy for peace, and justice, with dignity

If the Superior General of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers dismisses FATHER BOURGEOIS, I think I will stop my regular donations. I am tired of priest and bishops following the Vatican line. I will find another Catholic organization to support. I Have supported these priest for many years.

I am from Bolivia and I remember when Fr. Roy served here. He made a big mess of everything and got himself expelled for trying to overthrow the government of Hugo Banzer. He said that was a matter of conscience, too, and his Society supported him, but it cost them in many ways and I don't blame them if they have finally had enough. In the end, Fr. Roy is not the only Maryknoll Missioner with a conscience. When the day comes, God willing, that the priesthood is opened to all who are called, it will have more to do with Maryknoll and its work on behalf of justice than with Fr. Roy.

publicly rejects the magisterium of the church - herein lies the crux of the problem. How dare anyone reject the magisterium of the church! As if the magisterium is right! How right have they been in protecting children?
How right have they been with women's rights? How right have they been in allowing dissent by theologians who are better educated and better informed than the pope and most bishops? How right have they been in handling the money of the congregations in their parishes? I could go on and on. I wonder how a person goes about applying for excommunication.

Does this mean that Fr Dougherty who I believe has been put in this difficult position by the Vatican, would defer to canon law over his own conscience??? Does Fr Dougherty really believe women are not equal in our Church?? Shame.

It's time for Rome to recant! It's time for support for Father Roy Bourgeois!!! Women must be allowed for ordination NOW!!!
Charles G. Kundschier
Minneapolis, Minnesota

It is a sad day when someone in the United States in 2011 can't stand up for equal rights and the dignity of every person without being punished for it. Not to mention that he should have the liberty to express his opinions. Obviously he is an informed priest and citizen who has thoroughly studied the issue before sharing his beliefs and conclusions with others.

What might happen if Maryknoll just said, "NO!"?

Can they be suppressed?

I guess Maryknoll must avoid that possibility since they have so many elderly and inform members who might be left out in the cold. What would Jesus do?

Sad day, indeed.

Father Roy Bourgeois is a brave man who will do more to help the Church by remaining steadfast in his belief that God calls both men and women to the priesthood! Even if that means he will be excommunicated. My prayers are with him in this trial.

Time for courageous action for the continued evolution of the Church
in the modern world!! I hope the Maryknoll community gets behind Fr. Roy and supports him. Would the Vatican move to excommunicate the whole Maryknoll network? That would be an interesting turn of events.

God Bless Fr. Bourgeois and those who defend him. Primacy of conscience must come before primacy of Peter. We don't have enough human and humane priests that we can afford to lose someone of this priests caliber. What we could lose is the hypocrisy of the heirarch and those bishops who hid and continue to hide pedophiles. Why are they embraced while the priests of wisdom, love and compassion are thrown out? Jesus wept (me too)

As an old (83) retired Franciscan Priest, I have come to see the ordination of women as a non-issue. The real issue ought to be to return to the New Testament Churches where the whole worshiping community was “the priest” with various people - men or women, married or not married - were recognized as having the gifts needed and designated to carry out what we consider as the various priestly functions in the local community.

In fact, if we read Hebrews, Jesus Himself is the one and only “priest” we need. Then, according to Vatican 2, the Bishop is “the priest” of the Diocese who appoints others to share in his ministry of governing, administering the sacraments, and presiding at The Liturgy.

The Bishop today ought to return to that early Church model of appointing the whole worshipping Community as a corporate person to be his representative in all of these things. Each Community has people with the gifts and calling - to which can be added special on-going training = to carry out all of the various functions we associate with “the priest” today.

I think an answer to the question "What is the “RELIGIOUS PARALYSIS SYNDROME (RPS)applies here.
==================================
Pope John XXIII and the Second Vatican Council recognized that humankind suffers spiritually and culturally from profound depression and a destructive social disorder, what I call the RELIGIOUS PARALYSIS SYNDROME - RPS.

WHAT RPS IS: It is an immune deficiency disease (IDD) acquired in childhood - what might be called a psychological version if infantile paralysis. RPS is a disease of cultural repression in which mental depression roots. Few people are completely unaffected by it. It is a disease that disables information-processing. It affects judgment, worldview, and the functioning of communication, consciousness and conscience. It is an acute mental disorder that limits intellectual capacity to the minimal capabilities of childhood.

RPS SYMPTOMS: A person suffering from the disease lacks a capacity for critical judgment. Vision and judgment are impaired by small-world processing that is fixed in anachronistic experience and misinformed valuation. The impairment processes new experience in the framework of religious reductionism and conforms reason to the mold of hierarchical, authoritarian suppositions fixated in deity dominion. Victims lack progressive consciousness and real world connection. Their rationality is regressive, that is, their consciousness is backward directed and closed to accommodation and change. The suppressed mindset acquired in childhood remains in place for a lifetime. Evidence of the damaging consequences of the syndrome accumulate only gradually in outcomes of cultural inauthenticity and eco-environmental collapses caused by the actual denial of the disease, and with denial, persistence in ignorance, arrogance and the culture of violent imposition and obsession. Eco-environmental collapses infect vital immunities and open life to catastrophic deficits.

RPS CAUSES: The transmission of the disease is accomplished by adult imposition, that is, by adults who themselves suffer from it and whose consciences are rigidified in conformity to the mold of RPS and who cannot think outside it. The disease is genetically predisposed, that is, it is culturally (in memes) and biologically (in genes) ingrained. The grave crises of the eco-environment are now awakening people to seek causes and solutions.

The crisis the people are discovering is the radical degradation of the eco-environment, whose cumulative damage has been long in process of developing, and which has its cause in part in the disorder of social, religious paralysis. RPS is perniciously difficult to eradicate because it is deeply embedded in religious and cultural habits and because of inheritance imprint. Recovery from eco-environmental degradation and societal violence are unlikely to happen until RPS is recognized and remedied in personal/ social consciousness.
http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.action?articleId=281474977289982

Stay the course, Fr. Bourgeois, your conscience must be your guide.
Love the Holy Spirit.
Joe Keffer

The only person ever declared as a "God Bearer" in the history of the Church was a women. Enough said.
Phil M.N42V5

Thankyou Fr Roy Bourgeois for speaking your truth regarding the ordination of women. A movement from the people cannot be stopped.

Maryknoll is afraid that the Vatican will shut them down if they support Ron Bourgeois to any extent at all, even by simply letting him remain a Maryknoller suspended from active ministry. So they are throwing him under the bus. John 11:50 comes to mind: "Why should the whole nation [i.e., Society] be destroyed. Let this one man die for the people [i.e., Maryknoll]."

It's one thing to speak the truth to power in the U.S. with our extensive protections of freedom of speech and assembly and redress of grievances. Facing an absolutist monarchy like the present Roman Catholic church, one sees the summer soldiers quickly flee the scene.

Sad. I don't even agree with Ron's politics--although I agree with him on women's ordination--but I certainly think he has the right to speak and follow his conscience. Isn't that what Marykoll trained him to do?

Our family has supported "Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers" for many years, including a current (substantial) quarterly pledge. We will discontinue all support of the Maryknolls the moment Fr. Roy is dismissed and will, of course, advise them same. I suppose it is asking too much for this otherwise noble order to challenge the Vatican's claim that when it comes to vocations, God has chosen not to talk to women, but it's so very sad that the Maryknoll Order couldn't have come up with some compromise short of pulling the trigger on such a dedicated servant of theirs.

This just astounds and amazes me. We have so few good and faithful men of conscience in the priesthood and the Church is even considering dimishing it further! Are they out of their minds or just blinded by their arrogance and hypocracy. According to our faith and the scripture, we must rely on our God given consciences to make moral decisions. How can we possibly obey this so called Magisterium when so many of it's members have totally been discredited and obviously do not recognize the dignity and rights of women. As we are too aware, the bishops, cardinals and even the papacy have made terrible errors and omissions over the course of history so am educated conscience must be the bedrock of our decisions. Father Bourgeoise is a noble and selfless follower of the Lord and it looks like he will be joining He who loves and respects women and men equally in another Agony in the Garden.

He says he cannot recant:

"This I cannot do, therefore I will not recant.”

Hmm... Sounds very much like:

"Here I stand. I can do no other. So help me, God."

We know what happened to Luther.

The same judgment awaits Fr. Bourgeois if he does not discipline and humble himself before Almighty God and Mother Church.

I am disappointed by the official position of Maryknoll. Having lived among many fine Maryknollers in Latin America and counting a number as friends, it is so sad to see the General Council fail to support the heartfelt, courageous, and faithful position taken by their brother Roy. I would hope that there are many in the society who have voiced their concern to the council. It is not "defiance" to come to this kind of resolution, but rather a declaration of faith made after long years of thought, prayer and reflection. It is folly for leaders in the church to disregard the power and witness of what Roy has done and is now doing to promote justice, which shows the need for all of us to consider the call of conscience, which is God's way of whispering to us the path toward wisdom and renovation.

Good job, Fr. Roy, on three fronts: primacy of conscience; ordination of women; and challenging the Church and your order to go deeper into the Divine. Bravo! My prayers are with you. I know good will come out of this. I just pray that you will not suffer too much from this cross.

Respectfully,

Maryknoll is run by a bunch of cowards if they expel this good priest.
What will Rome do if they refuse? Excommunicate the whole Order?
I doubt it.
Let's hope Maryknoll will have the moral and prophetic courage to satnd up to Rome and refuse to take part in this unjust action.

I hope they follow the example of the good Benedictine women in Erie who refused to throw Sister Joan under the bus. But then again, women Religious have always been braver than the men.
We have to start somewhere..... I bet Maryknoll would get many more vocations.

I can dream can't I?

I have written to Fr Dougherty asking him to stand by Fr Bourgeois and not cave in to the Vatican. His reply was that I should pray for Fr. Bourgeois. I replied that I think it is the hierarchy and not Roy Bourgeois who need prayers.

What a very distasteful and disturbingly unhealthy relationship the hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church has with women and with anyone who is enlightened enough to think that the Holy Spirit might choose to call women to the priesthood as well as men.

It's truly an embarrassment that a member of the Catholic clergy is banished for publicly promoting or speculating regarding the ordination of women. I fear that the Church continues to race to insignificance, at least in the Western world.

Shame on Maryknoll! The forces o=f darkness have taken over the Church!

Sad that this is happening to Fr. Roy. It's 2011. In 2021, there will be female Roman Catholic priests and nobody will think anything of it. It makes me think of Chris Gueffroy shot on February 6, 1989, the last East German killed for going over the Berlin Wall. Today Germans move freely throughout their country, as they should, and nobody gives it a second thought.

I pray that God will strengthen Maryknoll, he is a voice for so many...May God gives him the wisdom to keep his prophetic ministry. He is very much admired and we love him. iris from San Juan, Puerto Rico

I am a cradle Catholic and can't imagine embracing any other faith. But I am tired of the constant slap in the face to women, especially those who have a genuine calling to the priesthood. Women are protected by anti-discrimination laws in Secular Society, but are second class citizens in the Church. Jesus first appeared to Mary Magdalene after the Resurrection; in the early church, women were deacons, but our patriarcal church sweeps that under the rug.
Fr Roy Bourgeois is a breath of fresh air. I pray that he will not be silenced. Rather, his stand should be a catalyst for an intelligent, balanced discussion.

I am so grateful to Roy for his courage and clarity in standing with us, his sister priests.

Having read both the second canonical warning and Fr. Roy Bourgeois' response to it, I must say that Roy could not be clearer in stating the substance of his position, both concerning women's ordination and the primacy of conscience. Maryknoll's Superior General, however, offers nothing substantive in his rebuke of Roy, merely appealing to papal authority. I wonder if Fr. Dougherty realizes that the man who is now Pope has himself written about and asserted the primacy of individual conscience.

God save the Catholic church from the Catholic church.

And then people wonder why the laity are leaving the church in droves! An educated laity has no time for the nonsense coming from Rome. When the masses were uneducated, Rome got away with its authoritarian way of doing business. Those days are gone forever. Simply put, Rome isn't capable of putting the tooth paste back in the tube.

Fr Bourgeois is expressing a viewpoint that has nothing to do with dogma. Surely his order and the Vatican are reacting too strongly to what he is saying. Can either give an absolute assurance that this teaching will not be changed in the future - even in 500 or 1000 years?

There are many of us out here, like Fr. Ray, who simply cannot go along with the "magisterium" on a number of issues. We are not yet "protestants" but events like this excommunication are surely pushing us in that direction.

Why is it that at the highest level of our church--the papacy--the dissidents who are followers of Archbishop Lafebvre can have their excommunications lifted when their challenge to the "magisterium" is surely more threatening than Fr. Rays's?

Whatever happened to the collegiality of the bishops that Vatican II promised? Why is the current Pope able to proclaim that the prohibition of female ordination is an "infallible" prohibition when only he and his predecessor have taken that position?

Lawrence Kelly
Denton, Texas

Fr. Roy is a true hero and likely to soon become a white martyr, like so many in our church who have been silenced, ex-communicated or forced out of their positions. Roman Catholic Womenpriests expresses its gratitude for his courage and conviction. If all the priests who support us privately would become as public about it as he is, the tide would turn this aging arc toward a new horizon. If you are one of them, will you?

First Viet Nam, now Maryknoll. I life of service and committment to peace and justice..and who cares about the life, the sacrifice, the service.
For speaking his conscience and standing for those he has always supported, the community most benefitting from a life of service now, in the golden years of Fr Roy's life, decides to "cut him loose". Really? Missionaries sent to preach Christ and love and compassion, asking for our pennies and our prayers....and now, too bad, so sad, good bye. Gutless.

The brutal assault on Father Bourgeois and the denial of his right in conscience to express an opinion which is held by many Catholics, clerical and lay, exposes the church to further opprobrium, following on its insufficient response to the sexual abuse scandals and the need for large scale internal structural reform. Persecution of a priest whose long years of service to the people of God are common knowledge is itself a scandal. Of course this is nothing new, as acquaintance with the cases of Hans Kung and Charles Curran, to name on two, sadly attests. The good name and the moral standing of the church are being eroded by a hierarchy out of touch with the real needs of the church and its people. Father Bourgeois has the sympathy and support of many who pray for his welfare; we also pray for the misguided sheperds who are failing in the sacred office they hold.

It is so obvious at this time in human history how ridiculous it is that women are not allowed to be priests. At one time it was believed that women could not be doctors and that myth is long gone. The "Magisterium" is man made! There is the cry that there are not enough priests and being a woman or being married is anathema for the priesthood. When is the march of folly going to stop?????

Yes, the word "recant" reminds me that heretics were coaxed, pleaded with, reasoned with, threatened, but in the end the Inquisition burnt them alive--if they did not "recant." Now the root of the word is Latin, cantare, or to sing. There's a message in the contrast between the two meanings.

This is what it will take to achieve equality within the church...a MAN like Father Bourgeois. We women need to stand firmly behind him. I am proud to have met this amazingly humble, peaceful man and to have heard him speak. I pray he remains strong and that he knows how many of us believe in and are grateful for his stance. God bless Father Roy.

be true to yourself and don't let the magisterium pressure you. the world needs prophets like you.

I recall Fr. Eugene Maly, Vatican II Old Testament scholar, telling me that at the time of the Reformation there was no doubt that Martin Luther was closer to God than the Roman Catholic Church. Are we at the Reformation Part II? There seems little doubt that Fr. Roy Bourgeois is closer to God than those who cling to ancient dogma that does not reflect what Jesus taught when he walked the earth. It's time for the faithful to support this courageous, holy man who speaks truth to power in a kind and loving manner.
Bless you Fr. Roy!

Standing alongside Fr Roy on this issue. Women ARE called. They would like to listen.

Roy, Maybe it's time to explore where in the Body of Christ your gifts and prophetic witness will not only be received, accepted and celebrated, but affirmed in a way that can lead us to be heralds of the Kingdom of God in a world in need (and even hungry) for what you have to offer.

I am a former member of a religious order in the Roman Church and grateful for the support I have received from my brothers in the transition from the Roman Catholic priesthood on my journey into the Episcopal Church and priesthood. I would gladly support what probably may be for you, as it was for me, the painful but necessary transition from the 'mother church' which formed and empowered us to follow Christ (for me, it was as a 14 year-old who felt called to follow St. Francis of Assisi)- into the larger world (and reality of the Church of Jesus)where issues like women priests and especially the call to live authentically (and to have that authenticity respected and validated by those in institutional roles of leadership) are honored and celebrated by the 'hierarchy.'

Oh! And did I say how refreshing it is to hear a prophetic voice in ANY church tradition speak truth to power when it comes to our industrial military complex and the trillion of dollars spent to wage war - and not peace, with it comes to our present and future life together as members of a global community!

If the bishops of the church are about to 'expell' you in your role as a priest and servant leader who has touched the lives of so many, within and beyond the Roman Church, know that you are more than welcomed in the Episcopal Church. While I am not speaking officially for my bishop, I do have the kind of collegial relationship with Bishop Daniel to be so bold as to say you would be more than welcome in the Diocese of East Carolina!

My female associate would be among the first, with me, to welcome you and support the divine calling God has given you, a real gift to all of us who appreciate YOU and what you offer not just the church, but the broken world in which we live.

Peace, my brother, and prayers. I am more grateful than ever to my mother who brought me as a very young boy on a parish trip to Ossining, NY, where I was introduced to the the mysterious and adventurous life of the Maryknoll fathers and brothers. I just never thought martyrdom could happen within the church. I just thought as a young boy that it only happened for those who stepped out into unknown territory in places where folks never met the real Jesus.

Peace,
Bob Hudak, www.stpaulsepiscopal.com

re: Dougherty describes the dismissal as “based on your defiant stance as a Catholic priest who publicly rejects the Magisterium of the Church on the matter of priestly ordination.”

"The Magisterium of the Church" belongs to the whole church, not just to a tiny minority who think they own it. And don't give me the old "the Church is not a Democracy" line. Neither is it a Dictatorship, nor an Aristocracy nor the last remnant of the Holy Roman Empire. It is a community currently dominated by a gang of bullies.

The Ritual of Baptism of Infants reminds parents that it is their duty to bring their children up to love God and neighbor according to the Gospel. THAT is teaching authority (magisterium) recognized by the officialdom of the Church.

It is hard to believe that an order as progressive as Maryknoll is on many issues would not push back against the inane idea from the Vatican that women cannot be priests. Stick with your conscience, Roy. The Maryknoll Superior General should stand up to the Vatican and tell them that it cannot and will not try to override Fr. Roy Bourgeois' conscience. It is time that Rome woke up and realized that Jesus established a church of the faithful, not a monarchy.

Until others "in authority" take the sort of stand Roy is taking,nothing will change.
Here in Australia, there are almost NO new locals being ordained. We are taking in men from overseas...
A completee revolution is needed.
Meanwhile the Vatican "fiddles" - getting all excvited about " And with your spirit",etc...when people are voting with their feet ie, staying away in droves.
Our Catholic schools meanwhile are BOOMING,thsnks to a deal done by Cardinal Pell and the then PM a few years back which has provided the system with a river of cash, and " wedging" the Labor [ SOFT Left] side of politics, forcing it to match the policy.
Bernard

What will it take for the Church to change its mind? It is capable of change and has changed in other fundamental and positive ways over the centuries. The role of women has fundamentally changed since a small sect of followers of Jesus became the Roman Catholic Church.It is so fundamentally discriminating and more so since most parishes would not be able to function with woemn as lay people, the second tier....

The magisterium is not God. Fr. Roy ultimately has to answer to God. Clearly, that's the authority he's looking to.

If this is Maryknoll, I'll eat my hat. "Lie and you can stay in our group."
An abomination.
Everybody should write to Fr. Dougherty,MM at Maryknoll, NY 10545 and urge a change of heart and behavior.
Blessings on Fr. Roy.

Perhaps they will send Chaput down from Philadelphia to remove him. He did such a great job down in Australia! The church is so busy putting out the fires of female priests and gay marriage that it ignores the very real problems in the world today. How sad that this wonderful, caring priest is being thrown out!

The popes cannot invent doctrine. The non-ordination of women has a long tradition. Scripture scholars have studied the question and infuriated the Vatican curia by declaring that there is nothing in Scripture to prohibit the ordination of women. To argue that Jesus was a male and so were the Apostles is a non-sequitur because they were all Jews too. John Paul II declared that the matter is settled and Catholics could no longer talk about it. Could no longer talk about it? Is that a doctrine?

Father Roy Bourgeois promised that he would no longer take part in any staged woman's ordination ceremony? But now he has to recant what he believes in conscience? He has to stop saying what he believes.

Unfortunately, the Society is making a big mistake by asking by going along with the Vatican's exaggerated claims of what is revealed doctrine and what a Catholic can say about controversial issues in common Chritian struggle for truth.

Frank Maurovich