Father Roy Bourgeois, excommunicate?
November 17, 2008 at 3:27 pm by Scott Henry in NewsFather Roy Bourgeois has led an annual march outside Fort Benning for the past 18 years to protest paramilitary training at the Columbus facility and he’s scheduled to do so again this weekend. But, by then, the 69-year-old Catholic priest may have been defrocked – and for a reason completely unrelated to his life’s work as an anti-war protester.
The Vatican has threatened to excommunicate Bourgeois for taking part in an ordination ceremony for a female friend in Kentucky earlier this fall. Last month, he received a strongly worded letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith – the Vatican’s enforcer in priestly matters – saying he would be excommunicated within 30 days if he did not recant his belief that women can be ordained as priests.
After some soul-searching, Bourgeois sent an unrepentant reply:
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.
If the Vatican follows through with its threat, Bourgeois’ excommunication could be official by this Friday, the same day he launches a weekend of demonstrations, prayer and civil disobedience with thousands of protesters who come from around the country for the event.
I visited Bourgeois in Columbus for an article in 2001, a time when – just two months after 9/11 – his annual protest was facing renewed criticism as being anti-American and a threat to national security. He didn’t back down then and it’s unlikely he’ll back down now.
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