Fr. Roy gave homily at
Janice Sevre-Duszynska's
ordination
Fr. Roy lays hands on Janice
during ordination rite.
Roman Catholic Womenpriests Walk in Solidarity with Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois and the School of the Americas Watch
peace and justice community
Contacts: Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 859-684-4247rhythmsofthedance@msn.com Bridget Mary Meehan, 703-505-0004
sofiabmm@aol.com
See http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/
Press Release:
July 22, 2010 --
The feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, "the Apostle to the Apostles," first witness to the Resurrection and the apostle who was commissioned by the Risen Christ to spread the Good News.
Yesterday, SOA Watch announced that “Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers [a Roman Catholic religious order], which has contributed $17,000 annually to SOA Watch, will not support our efforts for peace and justice in the Americas this year. Their decision is due to SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois’ personal belief that women, as well as men, should be able to be ordained into the priesthood.”
Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) believe that the Vatican has put pressure on the Maryknoll community to end their financial support of SOA Watch, which Fr. Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest for 38 years, founded in 1990. It is cruelly ironic that the Vatican and the Maryknolls would take this stand when they know very well that Fr. Bourgeois and SOA Watch have been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Prize for Peace. Today as women and men gather around the world to celebrate the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, Roman Catholic Womenpriests walk in solidarity with Fr. Bourgeois and the School of the Americas Watch peace and justice community. (See www.SOAW.org)
Roman Catholic Womenpriests encourage Catholics to stop giving money to our institutional Church until it reforms unjust laws and practices which discriminate against women. RCWP suggest that Catholics donate instead to peace and justice organizations, and to other non-profits whose members also live the Gospel.
On August 9, 2008 in Lexington, Kentucky, Fr. Bourgeois participated in the ordination of SOA Watch former prisoner of conscience Janice Sevre-Duszynska and gave a prophetic homily supporting the ordination of women. Soon afterward he was called to Maryknoll headquarters to recant his support of women priests – which he refused to do. Fr. Bourgeois continues to give talks around the country advocating that the U.S. Army School of the Americas be closed and that the Roman Catholic Church ordain women called to the priesthood. Sunday, July 25th, is the fifth anniversary of the first North American ordinations of Roman Catholic Womenpriests. The growing RCWP movement now includes about 100 ordained women, and more in preparation for priesthood.
peace and justice community
Contacts: Janice Sevre-Duszynska, 859-684-4247rhythmsofthedance@msn.com Bridget Mary Meehan, 703-505-0004
sofiabmm@aol.com
See http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/
Press Release:
July 22, 2010 --
The feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, "the Apostle to the Apostles," first witness to the Resurrection and the apostle who was commissioned by the Risen Christ to spread the Good News.
Yesterday, SOA Watch announced that “Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers [a Roman Catholic religious order], which has contributed $17,000 annually to SOA Watch, will not support our efforts for peace and justice in the Americas this year. Their decision is due to SOA Watch founder Father Roy Bourgeois’ personal belief that women, as well as men, should be able to be ordained into the priesthood.”
Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) believe that the Vatican has put pressure on the Maryknoll community to end their financial support of SOA Watch, which Fr. Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest for 38 years, founded in 1990. It is cruelly ironic that the Vatican and the Maryknolls would take this stand when they know very well that Fr. Bourgeois and SOA Watch have been nominated for the 2010 Nobel Prize for Peace. Today as women and men gather around the world to celebrate the feast day of St. Mary Magdalene, Roman Catholic Womenpriests walk in solidarity with Fr. Bourgeois and the School of the Americas Watch peace and justice community. (See www.SOAW.org)
Roman Catholic Womenpriests encourage Catholics to stop giving money to our institutional Church until it reforms unjust laws and practices which discriminate against women. RCWP suggest that Catholics donate instead to peace and justice organizations, and to other non-profits whose members also live the Gospel.
On August 9, 2008 in Lexington, Kentucky, Fr. Bourgeois participated in the ordination of SOA Watch former prisoner of conscience Janice Sevre-Duszynska and gave a prophetic homily supporting the ordination of women. Soon afterward he was called to Maryknoll headquarters to recant his support of women priests – which he refused to do. Fr. Bourgeois continues to give talks around the country advocating that the U.S. Army School of the Americas be closed and that the Roman Catholic Church ordain women called to the priesthood. Sunday, July 25th, is the fifth anniversary of the first North American ordinations of Roman Catholic Womenpriests. The growing RCWP movement now includes about 100 ordained women, and more in preparation for priesthood.
7 comments:
"The growing RCWP movement now includes about 100 ordained women, and more in preparation for priesthood."
95 of which are probably mentally unstable.
Those pictures look like an old ladies home playing dress-up. Funny as always.
Mike, right on!
Bridget Mary- if people take your advice and stop giving all you will have is a Church with no money- not a Church that all of a sudden says "Gee, we better ordain women!"
Denial ain't just a river in Egypt.
Think about it anyway- let's say in theory people took your advice, and let's say in theory the pope was more worried about a bankrupt Church, rather then God's Truth. Is it really a victory when you have got a gun pointed at the head of the pope and he caves in to your demands? Tell me- since when are force, coersion, fear, and threats fruits of the Holy Spirit?
As Jesus says "By their fruits you will know them."
@mike: The supporters are not all older, they are just the ones that have the courage to speak out after so many years of being discriminated against. They are the ones through which the spirit is choosing to speak because they have spent the time searching, but the movement, through God's grace, is growing stronger. I, for one, am young and eager, and I completely agree with and support the movement that is occurring (or, rather, simply going back to the way things were), and know of others.
Often people use humour to cover up, particularly if it is something that they don't understand or if they feel threatened. Which is it? Do you have knowledge about the issues to which you speak, or are you simply reacting? Either way, shame on you for resorting to childish insults. Boys will be boys I suppose, but your comments and energy would be better spent elsewhere, because no one with knowledge would really take your comments to heart.
@ the catholic apologist: *sigh* i suppose the same applies. I for one will not give to a church that does not open its doors. Yes, they do good, but so do a lot of other institutions with which I can more readily morally agree. The spirit is moving and who is to stand in the way? There are no talks of threats, force or coercion, simply facts. Why would anyone voluntarily support financially something with which they don't agree if they don't have to? It's not that anyone is hoping the pope will say "gee, you're right" - I think most educated men and women who support equality within the church, along with our brother, Christ, know well enough that this pope is not likely to be moved by the spirit, but nor is he to be comdemned for being the way he is (forgive them, they know not what they do), just as no one is here to condemn you. It's about putting money you wish to donate towards morally just causes. Surely you can't disagree with that? The only one making threats, it would seem, is the pope. God would never excommunicate these people. Your comments make little sense to me.
peace brothers and sisters...peace.
keep going strong Bridget Mary.
Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers should be commended instead of condemned for following the teachings of the Catholic Church, as they are a Catholic institution. This issue has nothing to do with fairness and justice in reality. Equality, perhaps. But man is simply not equal to woman in their nature. We are different, and there is beauty in that. Simply put, the Church does not have the authority to ordain women to the priesthood. They receive their authority from Christ, and Christ set the example by electing 12 men to be his apostles, following the example of the Levitical priesthood, and ignoring the example of a plethora of pagan religious faiths that had priestess serving the altar. Why is that? It can't be that the role of women in society wouldn't allow for it, as shown above. It also wasn't that he didn't have women followers who were also his disciples. Could it be based on the nature of what the priest was to do? At the Eucharistic table, the priest becomes "in persona Christi". The whole Mass is centered around the crucifixion and resurrection of Our Lord. As Christ was male, so are His priests. It doesn't imply that women are incapable of handling priestly duties. It does imply that we, as men and women, despite what we may like to believe, are not fully equal. If we were, we would appear the same. Women have very holy duties and abilities that men do not have, and vice versa. Catholic women have played a central role in the life of the Church, from Lydia in the Acts of the Apostles, through Margaret of Scotland and Jadwiga of Poland and other great queens and women of influence, to the Englishwomen at the Reformation who arranged secret places for Mass, down to Edith Stein, whose quest for intellectual and spiritual truth led her to convent life and did not spare her Auschwitz. In no sense is there any authentic tradition of “If you’re not a priest you simply don’t matter,” despite fashionable attempts to present this as a standard part of Catholicism. In fact, our highest regard for a human being goes to a woman. But we simply have not been given the same duties in life. We just have to acknowledge that and bless God for His divine knowledge and omnipotence. We also believe as Catholics that God is directing the Church properly, despite the many failings of its members. And, as I am sure you are well aware, it is ok to disagree with the Church's teachings on issues other than faith and dogma, but to be outright defiant and commit acts that put you in a state of excommunication? Do you truly see that as a leading of the Holy Spirit?
Catechism Chapter 1577 states: "Only a baptized man (vir) validly receives sacred ordination."[66] The Lord Jesus chose men (viri) to form the college of the twelve apostles, and the apostles did the same when they chose collaborators to succeed them in their ministry.[67] The college of bishops, with whom the priests are united in the priesthood, makes the college of the twelve an ever-present and ever-active reality until Christ's return. The Church recognizes herself to be bound by this choice made by the Lord himself. For this reason the ordination of women is not possible.[68]
It simply is not possible.
God bless!
Mike --
What is the basis of your statement that 95 if 100 ordained women priests are probably mentally unstable? Do you have the professional credentials to make that judgment? Have you interviewed these women so that you can justifiably make such a statement?
support the movement that is occurring (or, rather, simply going back to the way things were)
Careful what you wish for. In olden days women were silent in church and heretics were burned at the stake. I don't think you want those aspects to return, do you?
You people have a very selective nostalgia. You are reaching for things you like of the distant past while completely ignoring the ugly truth of our origins.
@ mike
really, mike? really?
i mean, i know you haven't been 'selective' in your comments at all...
at least you make me smile :-)
bless you
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