Maryknoll priest dismissed over participation in woman's ordination

Roy Bourgeois - Wiki

A Maryknoll Father has been dismissed from the priesthood by the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith because of his participation in an invalid ordination of a woman, the order announced in a statement on Monday.

Fr Roy Bourgeois, 74, took part in the service in Lexington, Kentucky on 9 August 2008. For the next four years there were a number of efforts at reconciliation and Fr Bourgeois said he would not take part in any more such services, but he could not accept the exclusion of women from the priesthood. The Maryknoll statement said: "With patience, the Holy See and the Maryknoll Society have encouraged his reconciliation with the Catholic Church."

"Instead, Mr Bourgeois chose to campaign against the teachings of the Catholic Church in secular and non-Catholic venues. This was done without the permission of the local U.S. Catholic bishops and while ignoring the sensitivities of the faithful across the country. Disobedience and preaching against the teaching of the Catholic Church about women's ordination led to his excommunication, dismissal and laicization."

Bourgeois said in a statement on Tuesday his expulsion from the priesthood was "very difficult and painful... The Vatican and Maryknoll can dismiss me, but they cannot dismiss the issue of gender inequality in the Catholic Church. The demand for gender equality is rooted in justice and dignity and will not go away... the exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women, our church and our loving God, who calls both men and women to be priests."

The Maryknoll statement said: "Mr Bourgeois freely chose his views and actions, and all the members of the Maryknoll Society are saddened at the failure of reconciliation. With this parting, the Maryknoll Society warmly thanks Roy Bourgeois for his service to mission and all members wish him well in his personal life. In the spirit of equity and charity, Maryknoll will assist Mr.Bourgeois with this transition," the statement concluded.

Ordained in 1972, Bourgeois served as a Maryknoll missionary in Bolivia until 1975 when he was arrested and deported after being accused of trying to overthrow Bolivian dictator Gen Hugo Banzer. Returning to the US he continued to work with the poor and became a critic of US foreign policy in Latin America.

He was a leading figure in the long campaign to close the School of the Americas which trains military troops from throughout Central and Latin America. He began calling for closure of the Army's training school since soon after the 1989 killing of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter at the University of Central America in San Salvador, El Salvador. In 1990 a congressional task force found that five of the nine soldiers arrested for the killings had received training at the facility.

Source: Maryknoll Fathers