A group of "priests in good standing within the Roman Catholic
church" wrote to Maryknoll superiors last month to support the
priesthood of Fr. Roy Bourgeois "and his right to speak from his
conscience."
The letter bore the signatures of 157 priests.
Bourgeois, 73, has been threatened with dismissal from Maryknoll, a
New York-based missionary order, for his public support of women's
ordination and participation in such events.
"The priests felt the need to stand in support of, not only Fr.
Bourgeois, but their own right to speak from their conscience," the July
21 letter said.
The letter is addressed to Fr. Edward Dougherty, superior general of Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
"While we understand the difficulty of your position we hope that
seeing support of ordained priests in good standing will help you come
to a fair and just conclusion," the letter said.
The letter does not specifically address the issue of women's
ordination, only that the signees support the right to speak from
conscience. The letter and the signatures have not been made public, but
NCR obtained a copy of the letter with the names.
The letter is "an attempt to let the superior general of Maryknoll
and Vatican officials know that priests in the United States really
support Fr. Roy Bourgeois and feel that his right to speak from his
conscience is certainly something that is justified," said the spokesman
for the statement, Fr. Fred Daley of Syracuse, N.Y.
There is "certainly a concern, too, that we're moving into a
situation where it's a church of fear rather than a church of love,"
Daley said. The signees were a mix of diocesan priests and order
priests, he said.
Maryknoll's spokesman, Mike Virgintino, confirmed to NCR
that the order had received the letter and that it "acknowledges" the
right of Bourgeois and anyone in the Catholic church to present their
views and speak from their conscience on any issues.
He said that this is an ongoing situation between Bourgeois and the church, not between Bourgeois and Maryknoll.
Daley said that the letter was addressed to Dougherty because as the
superior general of Maryknoll he is the one who will be doing the
removing.
Other letters in support of Bourgeois have been sent to Maryknoll or
the Vatican, but no letter or statement has had so many priests sign
onto it.
"It's sad that someone who has given [his] whole life to the church
and has witnessed for peace and accompanied the poor is being treated in
such an embarrassingly scandalous way," said Daley, a friend of
Bourgeois.
According to Daley, in early July a group of concerned priests began
talking about a way to support Bourgeois and the idea of a letter
emerged.
The group approached Call to Action, a Chicago-based
church-reform organization, for help in reaching out to other priests.
Bourgeois was notified of the letter while it was being created, Daley
said.
In other parts of the world, priests have been banding together as a
united front for the rights of Catholics.
The National Council of
Priests of Australia has defended ousted Toowoomba Bishop William
Morris.
In Ireland, the Association of Catholic Priests formed last year
to represent Irish clergy and promote a reform agenda, including a
reevaluation of the church's teaching on sexuality and the inclusion of
women at every level within the church.
And last month in Austria, 300
priests signed a letter calling for reform, including ordaining woman
and married priests.
In March, Dougherty and Maryknoll secretary general Fr. Edward
McGovern wrote Bourgeois telling him that he had 15 days to "publicly
recant" his support of women's ordination or face dismissal from the
Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
After 15 days, a second letter would be sent, and if Bourgeois did
not recant after that, Maryknoll would send his dismissal records to the
Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith "for confirmation
with a request for laicization."
Bourgeois responded in a letter dated April 8, stating that he could not recant without betraying his conscience.
To date, Bourgeois has not received the second letter from Maryknoll.
The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith sent a letter to
Bourgeois in 2008 ordering him to stop his public support of women's
ordination and not to participate in events related to it, but Bourgeois
did not adhere to those demands.
Bourgeois is also the founder of SOA Watch, an organization seeking
to close down the former School of the Americas, now known as the
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation, a U.S. Army
school that trains soldiers and military personnel from Latin America.