Ska han exkommuniceras för att han följer sitt samvete...?

En präst som deltog vid vigningen av en katolsk kvinna i augusti hotas nu av exkommunicering.

Nedan är ett utdrag ur ett brev han skrev som svar till Vatikanen (läs hela brevet via länken ovan).

Lustigt nog tar det upp samma saker som jag skrev om i inlägget om diskriminering här om dagen.

Får se om Vatikanen tänker offra ännu en fantastisk präst som säger precis det rätta.... Han kommer säkert till nytta på annat håll om det blir så...

Tack, Gud, för att några präster modigt följer sitt samvete - ge oss fler sådana, så att det kan bli förändring snart! Vatikanen kan inte gärna exkommunicera alla som tycker så här om det inte ska bli akut prästbrist i så gott som hela världen.

Dags att demonstrera globalt?!?

Rösta åtminstone i enkäten intill, ifall du inte redan har gjort det!

Uppdatering: längst ner finns nu adresser man kan skriva till ifall man tycker att det är fel att Fr. Roy exkommuniceras.

***

"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.

/.../

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.

/.../

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."

***

Och följande svarar de vigda kvinnorna på beskedet från Vatikanen:


PRESS RELEASE

Roman Catholic Womenpriests Challenge Vatican on Threat to Excommunicate Fr. Roy Bourgeois

Nov. 11, 2008

Contacts:
Janice Sevre-Duszynska 859-684-4247 or 859-317-8325
Bridget Mary Meehan, RCWP Media Spokesperson USA 703-283-2929

Roman Catholic Womenpriests stands in solidarity with Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois who has been threatened by the Vatican for participating in the ordination Mass of Janice Sevre-Duszynska on August 9th in Lexington, KY, and for giving a homily in support of of women priests. We condemn this action by the Vatican as a blatant abuse of power. We thank Rev. Roy Bourgeois for his prophetic action and urge our fellow priests and bishops to follow his lead and to participate in future ordinations of Roman Catholic Womenpriests. We reaffirm that Christ calls us to liberation, not fear of Vatican reprisals. Therefore, at this sacred moment, we ask priests and members of religious communities to end their silence by speaking truth to power in support of Fr. Roy and women priests. Sign the statement/petition that Women's Ordination Conference and Call to Action are circulating.

For 36 years Fr. Roy, 69, has been a Maryknoll Missionary priest. Members of this community are known worldwide for their work with those who suffer and for identifying root causes of social, economic, structural or systemic injustice. Vietnam veteran, Purple Heart recipient and torture survivor, Fr. Roy is the founder of the School of the Americas Watch, the group which protests the training of Latin American soldiers at the U.S. Army School of the Americas. "The SOA is about men in Latin America who abuse their power in order to control the lives of others," said Fr. Roy in his homily at the ordination Mass in Lexington. "They cause people to suffer and are seen as bullies." Each year in November, the weekend before Thanksgiving, tens of thousands of peacemakers gather at Ft. Benning, Georgia to speak out for justice and to take a stand against the SOA and the foreign policy that this shameful institution represents.

Said Fr. Roy in his homily: "Just as soldiers in Latin America abuse their power and control others, it saddens me to see the hierarchy of our church abusing their power and causing so much suffering among women. Jesus was a healer, a peacemaker, who called everyone into the circle as equals."

Roman Catholic Womenpriests ask the Vatican Curia to examine their consciences:

--Why do you excommunicate women who honor their call to the priesthood, and, in the case of Fr. Roy, the men who support them, but not the priests and bishops who have perpetrated sexual abuse of children?
--Why do you not honor the sensus fidelum -- the voice of the community -- when over 70% of Catholics in the U.S. support women's ordination? (National Catholic Reporter poll)
--Why do you continue to deny the documented archaeological evidence that supports the spiritual leadership of women as deaconesses, priests and bishops for the first 1200 years of Church history?
--Why do you blaspheme Jesus, who treated women as disciples and equals?
--Why do you continue to value Canon Law over the Spirit's sign of the times?
--Why are you afraid to dialogue with us?

Roman Catholic Womenpriests walk in solidarity with Fr. Roy, with Mary of Magdala, the Samaritan woman, Phoebe the deacon, Prisca and Aquila, Priscilla, Bishops Theodora and Brigit and the men and women disiciples of Jesus throughout the ages. Roman Catholic Womenpriests walk in solidarity with Joan of Arc who was executed with the approval of the Church, and centuries later canonized a saint. Roman Catholic Womenpriests walk in solidarity with all who disobey an unjust law. As St. Augustine taught us: “An unjust law is no law at all."

Roman Catholic Womenpriests asks Catholics to:

-- recognize the connections between sexism and violence, sexism and racism, sexism and militarism, and sexism and nationalism.
-- make the connections between lack of feminine images of God and women's suffering in the world.
-- resist the abuse of power by the Vatican by taking a stand for justice (i.e., withdrawing financial support of the Church).
-- empower themselves by organizing to restructure the Church.

Roman Catholic Womenpriests is committed to a grassroots discipleship of equals where all are welcome at the table.

***

Vill du agera på något sätt? Skriv då till någon/några av dessa adresser (det är hans advokat som har skickat dem och bett att de ska spridas):

ACTIONS TO SUPPORT - Rev. Roy Bourgeois - 11/08

Some have asked for addresses to write their support of Fr. Roy and
to ask that he not be excommunicated. Petitions are also appropriate.

Please write or fax or email to Pope Benedict XVI, and/or the Pope’s
Ambassador to the U.S.,
the Apostolic Nuncio, and/or the Congregation for Doctrine of Faith, the group
that is moving toward excommunication of Fr. Roy Bourgeois, and/or The leaders
of the Maryknoll Order. Their addresses
are below.

Please send a cc of any message or petitions you send to:
Bill Quigley – Attorney for Fr. Roy
7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 902
New Orleans, LA 70118 or
duprestars@yahoo. com

ADDRESSES TO WRITE:

Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W, Washington, DC, USA
Telephone: (202) 333-7121
Fax: 337-4036

Pope Benedict XVI
00120 Via del Pellegrino
Citta del Vaticano, Europe
The Pope’s email address (for English correspondence) is: benedictxvi@ vatican.va
FAX from USA:
011-39-06698- 85378

Congregation for Doctrine of Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11, 00193 Roma, Italy
Telephone: 06.69.88.33. 57; 06.69.88.34. 13
Fax: 06.69.88.34. 09

Superior General, John Sivalon at jsivalon@maryknoll. org
and to the three-member Maryknoll Council at
mklcouncil@maryknol l.org and/or fax to 914-944-3600
Write to: Maryknoll Council P.O. Box 303 Maryknoll, NY 10545

Again, please send a cc of your message to
Bill Quigley – Attorney for Fr. Roy
7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 902
New Orleans, LA 70118
duprestars@yahoo. com __._,_.___