NCR: Priest threatened with ex-communication for supporting women as Priests.

[pnwmom]

http://ncronline3.org/drupal/?q=node/2545

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

[rug]

1. I'd like to read the letter he was sent. Even though we all know what it said.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

2. Nice sentiment, but

it won't fly.

Both His Holiness and Prefect Levada (former archbishop of Portland, Oregon) are meticulous theologians and are very unlikely to bend to any display of public support. We can scream "sexism" and "injustice" until we're blue in the face, but it won't do much besides increasing frustration.

The route reformers should be following is through theology, Scripture, and Tradition. In this particular instance, can any of those be used to support the idea that women could conceivably be ordained as priests. At first glance, one would say no because the Catholic Church at no time has had women priests (although this is open to debate), nor does Scripture specifically mention women priests, nor does theology, since the priest in theory acts in alter Christi, and Christ was male.

Once we recognize these superficial arguments we can begin to build a case. It is true that Tradition does not support the notion of women priests, but it does not necessarily preclude it. In fact, early church documents indicate that there were women community leaders and deaconesses. What the precise function of these deaconesses was is up for debate. However, their very existence suggests women have had a more clerical role than currently allowed to them. It might also interest you all to know that during the mid 1990s, His Holiness as Prefect of the Congregation of Doctrine and Faith released a report in favor of reviving the office of deaconess and that this office would be exercised first in the midwestern United States to help combat the shortage of priests (I can't recall the name of the document now, but I can find it if needed).

As far as Scripture goes, we might be tempted to point out that Mary Magdalene was the first to announce Christ's resurrection (hence her traditional title of Apostle to the Apostles), and thus women have a scriptural basis for becoming priests. This would make a weak argument; Mary Magdalene is proclaiming the resurrection of Jesus; however, we do not see her taking any active part of the ministry after that (although Tradition has some interesting stories about her). Instead Paul provides a possible inadvertent solution. Galatians 3:28 states "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." This radical equality provided through Baptism could be interpreted to mean that not only is the salvation and grace offered each believer is equal to all other but also each member of the Church is not necessarily precluded from holding certain offices. Likewise, since gender is meaningless on a metaphysical level, it is somewhat fallacious to suppose that a priest's actions in alter Christi would be compromised by physical gender.

I'm sorry it's so long. These are just some thoughts I had. If I had time I would have trimmed it down a bit.

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3. Problem is though....

The problem here is that those with the scholastic background are often silenced by the church when they even try to come up with reasoned and thoroughly thought out and researched arguments. Back in 1998 John Paul II moved to silence such dissent. And it goes on even after John Paul's papacy has ended since he pretty much got his chosen successor in.

It's not going to happen with the current Pope at the least. It won't happen until the next John XXIII or John Paul I is named Pope.