Tuesday, November 20, 2012

Roy Bourgeois' Statement on His Dismissal from Maryknoll

I have been a Catholic priest in the Maryknoll community for 40 years. As a young man I joined Maryknoll because of its work for justice and equality in the world. To be expelled from Maryknoll and the priesthood for believing that women are also called to be priests is very difficult and painful.

The Vatican and Maryknoll can dismiss me, but they cannot dismiss the issue of gender equality in the Catholic Church. The demand for gender equality is rooted in justice and dignity and will not go away.

As Catholics, we profess that God created men and women of equal worth and dignity. As priests, we profess that the call to the priesthood comes from God, only God. Who are we, as men, to say that our call from God is authentic, but God's call to women is not? 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.

When there is an injustice, silence is the voice of complicity. My conscience compelled me to break my silence and address the sin of sexism in my Church. My only regret is that it took me so long to confront the issue of male power and domination in the Catholic Church.

I have explained my position on the ordination of women, and how I came to it, in my booklet, My Journey from Silence to Solidarity. Please go to: www.roybourgeoisjourney.org.

In Solidarity,

Roy


Related Off-site Link:
Former Maryknoll Head Decries Vatican Interference in Bourgeois Case – Joshua J. McElwee (National Catholic Reporter, November 20, 2012).

See also the previous PCV posts:
Roy Bourgeois: "The Exclusion of Women from the Priesthood is a Grave Injustice"
Christian Sacrifice and the Unholy Crusade to Defrock Roy Bourgeois
Fr. Roy Bourgeois: Ordination of Women Inevitable

1 comment:

  1. It might be interesting to consider whether all these various hyperventilated struggles between traditionalists and progressives, such as the worthy cause championed by Roy, are essentially a fight over a brand name.

    All these contentious issues could be resolved at once by both traditionalists and progressives each starting a new church that works exactly how they feel a church should work.

    But neither side wants to give up the brand name "Catholic", so Catholics are spending decades fighting other Catholics, thus bringing ever closer the day when it's no longer a brand worth fighting for.

    Somebody should be asking, what's so important about the word Catholic?

    Isn't Christianity supposed to be about worshiping God and serving others? What difference does it really make what we call it?

    As we keep forgetting, Jesus Christ was not a Catholic, but a Jew.

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