Catholic Church Moves to Excommuniae Priest-Sexism in the Catholic Church: Letter to Editor by Tom Hill, Olympia

December 18, 2008Catholic Church moves to excommunicate priest (Original title was Sexism in the Catholic Church)
Sexism, like racism, often is right before our eyes and we fail to recognize it or chose to ignore it.Many will not recognize sexism in the case of Father Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest of more than 36 years who is about to be excommunicated by the Vatican because he gave a homily at the ordination of a woman to the Roman Catholic priesthood last August.Rome is against the ordination of women even though the pope's own Pontifical Biblical Commission could find no scriptural reason for denying women the right to all seven church sacraments. Then in the tradition of men unable to formulate a reasonable theological argument against women's ordination, Catholics have been told the matter is not open for discussion.Most incredible is how quickly Rome reacted to Father Bourgeois' public support of women's ordination. Rome took less than three months to threaten this brave priest with the church's most severe punishment for confronting the sexist position that women are not good enough to serve God's people in an ordained capacity.Only three months! It has taken Rome years to react to predator priests in our church and not one of these criminal priests (or bishops) has been threatened with excommunication.Sexism will continue in the Catholic Church as long as we Catholics ignore what is happening and continue to support this bad behavior.
(Edited out of the original letter: Try sending your weekly tithe to a Catholic reform group and see how long it takes Rome to react to that one!)Tom Hill, Olympia