Today We Celebrated Jack Meehan's Life/Funeral in Falls Church

Almost two hundred people attended the celebration of Jack Meehan's life in Falls Church on Friday and Saturday.
Mourners watched a beautiful slide how of photos of cherished memories while Jack's music played in the background. On Friday, we had a prayer service which included a time of  open sharing and a touching tribute/eulogy by Grandaughter Katie at our Prayer Service, the reading of a letter of commendation by the Irish Ambassador for Jack's major musical contributions.
I presided at the Wake and Funeral Services. Jack's granddaughter, Katie, delivered a touching eulogy at both services about the magic of growing up with Grandpa and his stories of Ireland. The legacy of his mystical, humorous tales of banshees, fairies and real people that occured a long, long time ago will live on in the hearts of Katie and Danny and all of us for years to come.
At the funeral on Saturday, family members and friends carried up symbols from Jack's life including trumpet, wrench,  a cottage music box, photos. The funeral service included  beautiful readings from scripure, prayers, and recordings of Jack playing on trumpet and sax some of his favorite spirituals: "How Great Thou Art," "Amazing Grace,"  "Peace if flowing like a River", and  "When the Saints go Marching in".
We are grateful for all the prayers  and message of sympathy that our family received from all over the United States, Latin America, Ireland and Australia.

Eternal rest unto you, Dad, may your soul and all the souls of the faithfully departed rest in peace. Amen.

"in the Arms of Family Forever" by Dr. Judy Lee/ Celebration of Jack Meehan's Life//Wake Today at Everly Community Funeral Home, Falls Church 2-4pm, 6-8pm

Born in Ballyroan

In County Laois

Rooted in Ireland,

Rooted in love,

Rooted in Christ

Rooted in music-

Strong in the roots,

Intertwined in the

Branches and the

Beautiful blossoms

Growing, making

New in Katie and in Danny

Born of the love of Sean and Nancy

Nurtured by them

and Jack and Bridie,

Grandpa and Grandma,

and Aunt Mary too

and Uncle Patrick and Val,

and Aunt Molly too-

 as well as timid

beautiful Molly

their dog after

beloved Belle

and Shep and Candy,

All the family of Jack,

 and he was so proud

of each one,

and of Mary, his Sister, daughter and priest.

And all the family of Jack

Were by his side

Day and night

In shifts and

All together,

praying, crying,

laughing, waking

 loving, loving

loving him, their gentle love.

And the first time

they were told

God was calling

They waked him

So good, he began

To eat and live again.

He moved his toes to the tunes of

the Ballyroan Band

And squeezed their

hands to the tune of his

Memory Aires, his

trumpet and his sax

for he was music, and music cannot die.

And yes he hummed

To the Rose of Mooncoin

and is free in Inishfree.

And while his homes were in Coolkerry and

Northern Virginia

He would go Back

Home to Indiana with dear

Nancy who lovingly,

with friend Dawn

Fed them all.

And remember his

Beloved Bridie Beale

With In the Mood

And let me call you Sweetheart,

And all the family and dear friends

With Irish eyes are

Smiling and

Danny Boy,

So for them

Happy days were

here with him

and they will come again

when he blares it

out and gathers them in, with him,

when the Saints Go Marchin’ In.

(Dr. Judy Lee, 11/8/12)

 

Watch "Implosion" -You Tube Video on Need for Transformation of Clerical Structures by a Vatican Journalist

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PyPUzfJ8X50&w=420&h=315

Help, Thanks, Wow, by Anne Lamott, A Must Read -Wise and Funny!

"My personal belief is that God looks through Her Rolodex when She has a certain kind of desperate person in Her care, and assigns that person to some screwed-up soul like your or me, and makes it hard for us to ignore that person's suffering, so that we show up even when it is extremely inconvenient or just awful to be there." Anne Lamott, Help, Thanks, Wow, p. 25.

Anne Lamott's book, Help, Thanks, Wow speaks to me because my prayer this year could be summarized by these three words, especially Help!
My Dad, Jack, died on Sat. after almost a year of debilitating illness. He was a devoted dad and my best friend. I will miss him more than words can say, but, I give thanks for his life, lived fully, especially his gift of music that was truly Wow! My Sister-in-law, Nancy, gave this book to me as an early Christmas gift and it is a keeper and a treasure! Poignant and funny at thee same time!
Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwp, www.arcwp.org

National Coalition of American Nuns Challenge Men of Maryknoll Over Fr. Roy Bourgeois

Alas, dear men of Maryknoll,

What icy fear so numbed your hearts

To make you throw your own good brother

Into jaws of cruel inquisition?

If truth to conscience be not honored

By you, but rather weak subservience

Then do you not dis-honor the very vows

That sent you once so boldly forth to mission?

Remember this: you did not go alone

Into the distant lands, but women, too, left all

To join you in the gospel call to love the world.

Why are they now not worthy of your voice?

Together stand with Father Roy today.

Display the courage that your lives proclaim.

Though our expressions be not all alike,

Shall we not trust each one’s integrity?

--From your sisters in the National Coalition of American Nuns

"In Hero of the Catholic Left, a Conservative Cardinal Sees a Saint"/Dorothy Day/New York Times

"Dorothy Day is a hero of the Catholic left, a fiery 20th-century social activist who protested war, supported labor strikes and lived voluntarily in poverty as she cared for the needy.

But Day has found a seemingly unlikely champion in New York’s conservative archbishop, Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan, who has breathed new life into an effort to declare the Brooklyn native a saint.

Cardinal Dolan has embraced her cause with striking zeal: speaking on the anniversaries of her birth and death, distributing Dorothy Day prayer cards to parishes and even buying roughly 100 copies of her biography to give out last year as Christmas gifts to civic officials including Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg..."

..."Cardinal Dolan is, in one sense, the natural advocate for Day, because she lived most of her life in his archdiocese and her canonization was proposed by one of his predecessors. But promoting Day’s sainthood cause is also politically useful for him, and other bishops, at a time when the hierarchy is often described by liberal Catholics as caring more about reproductive issues than poverty, some Catholics said.

“...But some of Day’s closest supporters are critical of how conservatives interpret her message on the role of government.

“I think she would be appalled to have her commitment to voluntary poverty and works of mercy and charity in their deepest sense be used as cover for an agenda that I think she would see as part of a war against the poor,” said Mr. Ellsberg, a former editor of The Catholic Worker newspaper that Ms. Day founded with Peter Maurin in 1933. .."

To be canonized as a saint, Day will face several major hurdles, according to the Rev. Thomas J. Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center. First, the Vatican must determine that two miracles have occurred as a result of prayers to her since her death. Second, she needs organizational support to keep up a lobbying effort for her, and the Catholic Worker movement she helped found is often ambivalent about the canonization process, fearful that her message will become oversimplified. Day herself once said, according to the church, “Don’t trivialize me by trying to make me a saint.”

Then there is simply the matter of time — the heavily bureaucratic canonization process can take decades. “Dolan is behind this, but it might take more than his lifetime to get this whole thing through,” Father Reese said. “And there’s no way of knowing if the next guy will place it as high on his agenda.”

When Cardinal Dolan talks about why he supports Day, he tends not to mention her arrests at protests of nuclear weapons or at a farm labor protest with Cesar Chavez. Instead, he describes her as a sinner whose life was transformed when she converted.

Describing for reporters at the bishops’ meeting Day’s life as a young woman, Cardinal Dolan offered a litany of concerns: “Sexual immorality, religious searching, pregnancy out of wedlock and an abortion.” But, he said, after her conversion, she not only flourished, but she also became an icon “for everything right about the dignity of the human person and the sanctity of human life.”

But her granddaughter, Martha Hennessy, 57, who volunteers in the East Village at Mary House, a Catholic Worker refuge for the poor that Day founded, said in an interview that she found the bishops’ increasing focus on her grandmother’s abortion uncomfortable.

“I wish we would focus on the birth of her child more than on her abortion because that’s what really played a role in her conversion,” said Ms. Hennessy, whose mother, Tamar, was Day’s only child. “It’s hard for me to hear these men talking about my mother and grandmother that way.”

Her daily work continues. The Catholic Worker, a newspaper she helped start has grown into a broad movement, and more than 200 Catholic Worker houses of hospitality continue to serve the poor around the country. Followers of the movement — who do not have to be Catholic — run soup kitchens, rooming houses and clothing distributions, and continue to hold protests, which these days are focused on torture, drone attacks and other aspects of the war on terror.

At St. Joseph House on First Street in the East Village on a recent Thursday, a kitchen full of volunteers rinsed down giant stockpots and bowl-size ladles after finishing the morning’s soup line for the neighborhood poor. Around 25 residents and volunteers live in the graffiti-tagged building, relying on donations for their work. More Catholic workers live two blocks away in Maryhouse, the refuge where Day lived the final years of her life.

As the volunteers gathered for lunch at St. Joseph House — in a simple dining hall hung with hand-drawn pictures of Day, a portrait of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and a crucifix — Carmen Trotta, who has lived in the house for a quarter-century, said that while he believed Day’s message of pacifism and works of mercy should be the focus of discussions about her possible canonization, he was confident that anyone who read her writings would understand her priorities.

“None of us really have any doubt that she was a saint,” he said.

The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests Needs Your Generous Support this Advent/Christmas Season/ You Gift Will Make a Difference! www.arcwp.org

Dear Family, Friends and Supporters of ARCWP: 

As we draw near to Christmas and the close of 2012, we look back on this year with great joy and extreme gratitude. We give thanks for you, our supporters.  Together we are moving toward a renewed inclusive Christ-centered, justice seeking Catholic Church emerging in more and more places led by ordained women.   In 2012 five women were ordained as priests and another six women as deacons.  We anticipate the ordination of as many as nine women as priests in 2013.  In spite of the Vatican-imposed punishment of excommunication our movement for Gospel equality continues to grow.

ARCWP is a new vision rising up: one of inclusion, nonviolence and justice in our church and

world community.  We are active in ministries with those who are living on the margins due to homelessness, racism, poverty and difference.  We serve as pastors for house churches and inclusive Catholic communities.  We are educators and authors, retreat leaders and peace activists.  We provide pastoral care in a variety of medical settings. We work with youth, families, the elderly and the disaffected to heal and build community often in ecumenical settings. 

Our vision rose on November 17 when Jesuit Father Bill Brennan co-presided with our Janice Sevre-Duszynska at the Progressive Catholic Coalition liturgy at the School of the Americas (SOA) protest in Georgia.  In just a few days our joy was tempered by the news that the Vatican dismissed Fr. Roy Bourgeois from the Maryknoll order and the priesthood. But he will always be our courageous priest.  We have collaborated with Women's Ordination Conference and Call to Action in support of Fr. Roy who said.  “...it is my conscience that compels me to say publicly that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women, against our Church and against our Loving God who calls both men and women to the priesthood.”   

As we look ahead to 2013 we know that we will need increased financial support.  Our largest expense is for our ordinations and all the ways we spread the good news of the women priest movement: speaking to groups in colleges and universities and at showings of the documentary “Pink Smoke”, through our website, and by visiting and collaborating with our priests in South America.

That’s what ARCWP is about.  We work tirelessly to bring about the Kin-dom in local communities by the giving of ourselves in ministry and by challenging the powers that be.  We know that we can count on you to support our efforts. Please make your tax-deductible donation to:  ARCWP at the address below or on our website:www.arcwp.org

                                                              
We invite you to visit our website (www.arcwp.org) and Bridget Mary’s blog (bridgetmarys.blogspot.com) for the latest in our movement for a renewed inclusive church.

We offer you our blessings as we move forward together,

 The Women of ARCWP 

Pleae make donations to ARCWP/Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, mail to or donate on our website at www.arcwp.org
:

ASSOCIATION OF ROMAN CATHOLIC WOMEN PRIESTS

18520 EASTSHORE DRIVE

                        FORT  MYERS, FL   33967

The Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, Inc. is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt charitable organization.

Donations are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.

Jack Meehan, My Dad, Died On Sat. Nov. 24th/Wake And Funeral Will Be Held In Falls Church, VA.

"Down the corridor of time has travelled a man...whose Life and Spirit have changed our lives...and shaped our history with musicalutterances that touched our hearts.” 
"When Saints Go Marchin In"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Bjl6Eke4Ac&feature=youtu.be
"Rose of Mooncoin" 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vVysE9BkBqc

 

Jack Meehan of Falls Church passed away peacefully at home with family members at his side after a long illness on November 24, 2012.  He was born on October 4, 1924, in Ballyroan, County Laois, Ireland. Jack was married September 25, 1946, to Bridie Beale, who preceded him in death. Jack was the beloved father of Sean, Patrick, and Bridget Mary. The family immigrated to the United States in 1956. A gifted musician, Jack played trumpet and saxophone and he and his band entertained in the DC area for over 40 years.  His band was the house band for Army-Navy Country Club for over 20 years and also performed for three US Presidents (Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon) as well as at Congressional and embassy functions.  Jack retired from the Brookings Institution in 1991 after 30 years of faithful service.  Along with his children, Jack is survived by his beloved grandchildren, Katie and Danny, and his daughters-in-law, Nancy and Valerie, as well as many family members and friends in Ireland, England and Australia as well as the US.  Services will be held at Everly Funeral Home, 6161 Leesburg Pike in Falls Church.  Viewing  from 2-4PM, 6-8PM on Friday, November 30. Funeral in Everly Funeral Chapel at 10:00 AM on Saturday, December 1, followed by interment at Oakwood Cemetery, Falls Church. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Jack’s name to Capital Caring Hospice, 950 North Glebe Road, Suite 500, Arlington, VA 22203.

 Our family is grateful for the outpouring of prayers and loving support from so many people who loved Dad and enjoyed his fabulous music. We will miss him more than words can say, but his spirit and music will live forever. May the road rise up to meet you, Dad, may the wind be always at your back, may the sun shine warm on your face, the rain fall softly on your fields and, until we meet again may God hold you in loving embrace!
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP
www.arcwp.org
sofiabmm@aol.com
 

 

  

"Elinah Wamukoya Said She Would 'Represent the Mother Attribute of God'"

Ellinah Wamukoya said she would "represent the mother attribute of God"

the Anglican Church of Southern Africa has consecrated its first woman bishop in Africa.

Ellinah Wamukoya, 61, will serve as the church's bishop in the small, conservative kingdom of Swaziland.
Her consecration comes as the Church of England is due to vote on whether to allow women to become bishops.
"We have taken this step, and we wish the Church of England 'God speed' as they deliberate this week," Cape Town's Anglican archbishop said.
The Most Revd Thabo Makgoba of Cape Town said in a statement: "The thunder is rumbling as I write: We have witnessed a great occasion, and now it does indeed seem that the heavens are about to fall upon us - the falling of rain, which this country and its people so desperately need.
David Dinkebogile led Saturday's ceremony and stressed that the gathering was to consecrate a bishop "not a black woman, not an African, not a Swazi woman".
"She was to be pastor to all, to men and women, to black and white, to Swazis and all others in her diocese," he said.
Bishop Wamukoya is a former mayor of Swaziland's economic capital, Manzini, reports the AFP news agency.
"I am going to try to represent the mother attribute of God," she told the AP news agency.
"A mother is a caring person but at the same time, a mother can be firm in doing whatever she is doing," she said.

Church Authority/Where are the people of God, including the women who are half of our church?

http://www.churchauthority.org/index.asp

Each of these recommendations but I think it does not go far enough:
1. Abolish the Curia.
2. Next Synod should include representatives, women and men, from all nations not just male bishops
3. Add more women in every category here so our church represents its members, not just the male, hierarchical, clerical system.
4. Include Roman Catholic Women Priests
5. Your ideas?...........
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org

Photos of Close School of Americas Protest/Sisters of Mercy of the Americas and Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests Demonstrate Behind Banners Join Thousands to Demand Close of School of Assassins/Nov. 18, 2012

Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Hold Up Banner at Demonstration to Close SOA in Ft Benning GA.

Fr. Bill Brennan in wheel chair, Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP in putple stole,
Katy Zatsick, ARCWP in white hat hold ARCWP banner at SOA Watch on Fort Benning Road
in Columbus, GA. on Nov. 18, 2012

Maryknoll Priest Roy Bourgeois and Janice Sevre Duszynska at SOA Watch Vigil at Ft. Benning, GA. Nov. 18, 2012

Slide Show from Mike Haskey mhaskey@ledger-enquirer.com Spotted Sunday at the 2012 SOA Watch protest at the gates of Fort Benning. 11/18/12

Read more here: http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/11/19/2282586/spotted-sundat-the-the-2012-soa.html#storylink=cpy

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2012/11/19/2282586/spotted-sundat-the-the-2012-soa.html

"Priest Expelled Because of Woman's Ordination, Activism"/USA Today/ Maryknoll Priest Roy Bourgeois Participated in Janice Sevre Duszynska's Ordination as a Roman Catholic Woman Priest in Lexington, KY.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2012/11/23/religion-catholic-priest-maryknoll-ouster/1722033/

"Former Catholic Priest Dismissed for Ordaining Kentucky Woman"-Janice Sevre-Duszynska -Courier Journal

http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20121122/FEATURES10/311220042/Former-Catholic-priest-expelled-ordaining-Kentucky-woman?nclick_check=1

Left to right: Bridget Mary Meehan, Roy Bourgeois Dana Reynolds, Janice Sevre-Duszysnka,Kathy Reddig, Ree Hudson

by Peter Smith

...."Bourgeois also served prison time in the United States for his protests of the School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., which Bourgeois and other critics link the school to human rights abuses by its Latin American alumni. .
This past weekend he led the 22nd annual protest at a school at Fort Benning, Ga.
Sevre-Duszynska participated in protests at Fort Benning, serving a 90-day sentence for trespassing there in 2002. She called Bourgeois “a priest and prophet of the grassroots. He is helping to midwife, to nourish the beginnings of a new church.
In a written statement, Bourgeois said he joined the Maryknoll order “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,” he continued.
“The Vatican and Maryknoll can dismiss me, but they cannot dismiss the issue of gender equality in the Catholic Church. ”
His only regret, he wrote, “is that it took me so long to confront the issue of male power and domination in the Catholic Church.”

"Roy Bourgeois: They Finally Got Him" by Tom Roberts/National Catholic Reporter/How about the Cardinals who Nearly Destroyed the Church? Time to Support Women Priests and Inclusive Catholic Communities

Excellent article  on the Vatican's dismissal of Fr. Roy Bourgeois for his support of women priests by Tom Roberts! The Vatican does not punish the cardinals who nearly destroyed the church and the many bishops who covered up clergy sexual abuse.  Their greatest fear- women priests and our supporters. Wow! That says it all! I wonder how Catholics will respond to this latest Vatican outrage! I think it is time to redirect their gifts to supporting women priests and our inclusive communities where all are welcome to receive sacraments! Bridget Mary Meehan, arcwp  (Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests)

http://ncronline.org/blogs/ncr-today/roy-bourgeois-they-finally-got-him

"Ah, they finally got him, as we all knew they probably would. Eventually. And with a press release it was done: Fr. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest for 45 years, was told that the Vatican "dispenses" him "from his sacred bonds."

And the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers, caught in the culture that finds advocating for women's ordination such a grievous and unpardonable offense, "warmly thanks" Roy "for his service to mission and all members wish him well in his personal life."
And so it goes, as Vonnegut would say. So it goes.
Bourgeois' case is a prime illustration of what, today, the institution can and can't tolerate. Bourgeois' major offense, the sin that is unforgiveable in the eyes of the church, for which penalty is removal from the order which he has served for nearly half a century and dismissal from the community, was advocating for women's ordination.

It's a clear case: the priest attended a woman's ordination ceremony and, as the release noted, his "disobedience and preaching against the teaching of the Catholic Church about women's ordination led to his excommunication, dismissal and laicization."

The three biggies, all at once, all wrapped up in less than four years' time.

-----------------

The point has by now been made by countless readers and others who see the gaping discrepancy in what church leaders finds tolerable and intolerable. But it is worth stating once more, in public and for the record.

-----------------

He then goes on to discuss 'The Cardinals Who Nearly Destroyed the Church'.

The point to be made, now that Bourgeois is out, is an obvious one. There are cardinals who have had as much to do as any individual might with the near destruction of once grand Catholic communities in places like Boston and Philadelphia, who have been permitted to remain priests and go quietly into retirement.

Not a word has been said by Rome or by his successors about Cardinal Anthony Bevilacqua who had a large space in Philadelphia's chancery office that was filled with files recounting sexual abuse of children.

Bevilacqua oversaw priests who were involved in nothing short of sexual torture of youngsters. And he hid their deeds until the statutes of limitation kicked in and the priests could no longer be prosecuted. They would retire, and he would escape the law and any Vatican sanction until he could retire.

His successor, Cardinal Justin Rigali, ignored the charter that the bishops themselves had been forced to construct in the course of the scandal. He violated the church's rules and likely violated civil law by not reporting alleged abusers. And off he quietly went, as a middle manager in the chancery office headed to jail.

Cardinal Bernard Law, everyone knows, had to leave Boston because of the enormous public pressure and the outrage of his priests, but he took a cushy job in Rome and retained his seats on at least six powerful Vatican congregations, including the Congregation for Bishops, until he was allowed to quietly retire.

In Kansas City, Mo., Bishop Robert Finn, convicted in September of one count of failing to notify police that one of his priests had taken hundreds of lewd photographs of children, is still a bishop.

Finn recently attended a national meeting of bishops, and not one of them publicly raised the issue. The body of bishops, which has repeatedly apologized for unspecified "mistakes" in the handling of the abuse crisis and repeatedly promised transparency and accountability, couldn't bring itself to mention the glaring contradiction and hypocrisy in its midst.

Not a word from the Vatican. Not a word from Cardinal Timothy Dolan, president of the conference. All were silent. And not a word from Finn about the damage and expense he has already cost the diocese.

What's glaringly clear is what's tolerable and what's not tolerable to the all-male, celibate culture of hierarchy.

Roy Bourgeois wanted to talk about the rights of women in the church. That's the ecclesial crime that will get you kicked out."

Article by Tom Roberts, National Catholic Reporter
Comment by Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, www.arcwp.org

Former Maryknoll Head Decries Vatican Interference in Fr. Roy Bourgeois's Dismissal, Accuses Vatican of Meddling in Maryknoll's Internal Affairs/Jesuit Priest Bill Brennan Co-Presided at Liturgy with Janice Sevre-Duszynska on Nov. 17,2012



(Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP, Miriam Dugan, Fr. Roy Bourgeois on outskits of Vatican
Photo CNS)
The Vatican is under fire for dismissing Fr. Roy Bourgeois for supporting women priests. Now, more priests, like former head of Maryknoll, Fr. John Silvalon, is expressing support for women priests. Jesuit Bill Brenna co-presided at a liturgy on Nov. 17, 2012 in Columbus, GA. with Janice Sevre-Duszysnka. Now what do you think the CDF/Vaican Inquisitors are going to do to a 93 year-old prophetic Jesuit?
In my view, the Vatican is the gift that keeps on giving. Every time they take action against women priests, we are blessed and grow! Happy Thanksgiving!
Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, www.arcwp.org (See article below)
 

Janice Sevre-Duszynska ARCWP and Bill Brennan, Jesuit, co-preside at Progressive Catholic Liturgy on  Nov. 17,2012 in Columbus, GA.   

 

Joshua J. McElwee | Nov. 20, 2012/National Catholic Reporter

"A former head of the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers has expressed support for Roy Bourgeois, saying the longtime peace activist and priest has a "deep love for the church" and his dismissal from the order by the Vatican represents meddling in Maryknoll's affairs.
In his first statement since the dismissal, Bourgeois said Tuesday, "The Vatican and Maryknoll can dismiss me, but they cannot dismiss the issue of gender equality in the Catholic Church."
The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith has "interfered with the integrity of the society," said Maryknoll Fr. John Sivalon, who served as the order's superior general from 2002 to 2008.
"It makes it very hard to consider how we talk about mission and visioning for the future and being open to the Spirit, when in fact we're being dictated to that this is what we need to follow," Sivalon told NCR Tuesday. "And so I think there is a question about the society itself and how the integrity of the society has been affected by this."
The Vatican congregation dismissed Bourgeois, a member of Maryknoll for 45 years who had come under scrutiny for his support of women's ordination, from the order in October, the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers announced in a press release Monday.
In his statement responding to his dismissal, Bourgeois said his expulsion from Maryknoll "is very difficult and painful."
"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," Bourgeois writes in the statement, which was posted Tuesday afternoon at the website of the Women's Ordination Conference.
"My only regret is that it took me so long to confront the issue of male power and domination in the Catholic Church," Bourgeois wrote.
Sivalon said Bourgeois supports women's ordination "out of a very deep love for the church."
"That love for the church just is expressed in his belief that the hierarchical part of the church is becoming less and less relevant in the world and to changes in the world," he said. "It's probably with profound sadness that he himself looks upon how that hierarchy has moved away. I think it's just a sign of his love that he has taken the position."
Dominican Fr. Tom Doyle, a canon lawyer acting on Bourgeois' behalf, said Monday neither he nor Bourgeois was aware of the full scope of the Vatican's move until seeing the press release from Maryknoll on the matter.
Maryknoll's membership was first informed in the same press release, and the society has not made available the letter from the Vatican congregation dismissing Bourgeois, Sivalon said.
Requests for comment on the matter Tuesday were not immediately returned by the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers.
Bourgeois first learned of the news Monday afternoon in a phone call from a Maryknoll priest who had called to ask Bourgeois to come up to the order's New York headquarters for a meeting, Doyle said.
Bourgeois asked the priest the purpose of the meeting, and Doyle said the priest replied that the order had received a letter from the Vatican congregation dismissing Bourgeois both from the order and the priesthood.
Bourgeois then asked if the society would hold off on making an announcement about the matter until he could meet with them and see a copy of the letter, Doyle said. They refused.
"Roy did not see the content of this news release until I printed a copy up and sent it to him by fax," Doyle said.
The Vatican's removal of Bourgeois, Sivalon said, "raises questions about how open the society can be to explain avenues of being in mission in different ways."
Prior to the congregation's dismissal of the priest, "the society was moving toward a much more Kingdom-centered, Reign of God-centered kind of understanding of its mission and service to that, and this raises questions about it," said the former superior general.
"My own position would be of support for women's ordination and opening up ministry to others," Sivalon said, "and I think it would be the position of probably many in leadership in Maryknoll."
"I think all of us, looking at what's happening in the church today, think that it's just becoming less and less relevant and less and less open to the possibility that the Spirit is speaking through the world and speaking through others," Sivalon said. "I think people that know Roy would still look upon him as a priest and respect him as a priest, no matter what the congregation has done."
Bourgeois' role in Maryknoll had been in question since his presence at the ordination of Roman Catholic Womanpriest Janice Sevre-Duszynska in August 2008.
Shortly after that ordination, Bourgeois was notified by the Vatican congregation that he had incurred a latae sententiae, or automatic, excommunication for his participation at the event.
Maryknoll asked Bourgeois to publicly recant his support of women's ordination, telling the priest in a March 2011 letter he faced laicization and removal from the order if he did not comply.
In a series of letters and interviews since then, Bourgeois has said he could not comply with the request for reasons of conscience.
Maryknoll's leadership took a vote on removing Bourgeois from the order in the spring. While the order would confirm at the time that a vote had taken place, it would not comment on its outcome.
Doyle told NCR at the time that Maryknoll Fr. Mike Duggan, the U.S. regional superior of the order, informed Bourgeois of the vote, which was a split decision. Doyle said Duggan told him two council members voted in favor of dismissal and three members abstained.
Monday's statement from Maryknoll states that Bourgeois' "disobedience and preaching against the teaching of the Catholic Church about women's ordination led to his excommunication, dismissal and laicization."
"With this parting, the Maryknoll Society warmly thanks Roy Bourgeois for his service to mission and all members wish him well in his personal life," the statement concludes. "In the spirit of equity and charity, Maryknoll will assist Mr. Bourgeois with this transition."
Doyle said he and Bourgeois would discuss the possibilities for appeal of the decision once they are able to see a copy of the letter from the Vatican congregation.
"As Catholics, we profess that God created men and women of equal worth and dignity," Bourgeois wrote in his statement Tuesday.
"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."
Several canon lawyers contacted by NCR for background on the issues surrounding dismissal of a priest from a religious order said it is unclear how the Vatican congregation was able to act on the matter". See: Canon lawyers: Vatican's role ambiguous in Bourgeois' removal for more.
[Joshua J. McElwee is an NCR staff writer. His email address is jmcelwee@ncronline.org.]

On Thanksgiving Day, let us give thanks for abundant blessings especially the Roman Catholic Women Priests who are serving inclusive Catholic communities where all are welcome at God's table of extravagant love for all

"I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all
of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel


ARCWP Priestly Ordination of Diane Dougherty in Atlanta on Oct. 20, 2012, Metropolitan Community Church

from the first day until now, being confident of this, that God
who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the
day of Christ Jesus." Philippians 1:3-6

On this day of thanksgiving for our blessings, we give thanks for all those who are working for justice and peace around the world including women's ordination in the Catholic Church.

Erin Hanna, Donna Rougeux, Ree Hudson, Roy Bourgeois, Janice Sevre-Duszysnska at Vatican in 2011
Photo by UPI

Janice Sevre-Duszynska and Jesuit Bill Brennan co-preside at Progressive Catholic Liturgy in Columbus, GA. on Nov. 17,2012. Photo courtesy of Bob Warkins

We give thanks for family, friends and  our Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement. We give thanks for a renewed inclusive Christ-centered, justice seeking Catholic Church that is emerging in more and more places in Europe,  the United States, Canada, and Latin America.


Olga Lucia Alvarez, ARCWP, in Colombia, South America 



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Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP, Miriam Dugan, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, MM, Photo CNS

We give thanks for prophets like Roy Bourgeois, and the hundreds of priests, like Jesuit Bill Brennan, who are standing up publically for the full equality of women, including women priests, in the Roman Catholic Church. Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP, Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, www.arcwp.org


Janice Sevre-Duszynska, ARCWP and Jesuit Bill Brennan co-preside at Progressive Catholic Liturgy in Columbus, GA. on Nov. 17th, 2012 Photos courtesy of Bob Watkins

 

Roy Bourgeois and Janice Sevre Duszysnka at SOA Watch in Columbus, GA. Nov. 17, 2012,
Photo courtesy of Bob Watkins


For more information about the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests visit our website. www.arcwp.org