Dear Friends of Peace & Justice,

Please read this letter from Bill Quigley, who is Father Roy Bourgeois’s attorney. Then read the letter Father Roy sent to the Vatican. Roy’s efforts to close the School of the Americas have become very well known in this country. On November 21st, along with other friends from Los Angeles, I will be going to Fort Benning, Georgia, to the Annual Protest to Close the SOA. Last year over 25,000 people came to Fort Benning to demand the closing of the SOA. Roy is such a great hero and role model to so many of us, in so many ways. - www.soaw.org   

Frank Dorrel

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Original Message sent by:

Bill Quigley – Attorney for Father Roy Bourgeois

7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 902

New Orleans, LA 70118

duprestars@yahoo.com

Friends:

Here is the latest communication, dated November 7, 2008, from Fr. Roy Bourgeois 

regarding the threat of excommunication by Rome for refusing to stop speaking out 

in favor of Women Priests in the Catholic Church.  
	

I have also enclosed some action items with addresses where people can write.  

Please take the time to read this and take action.  Please feel free to send this to 

all the justice people you know.
	

Justice and Peace,
	
Bill Quigley

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~        
	

Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.

PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903

November 7, 2008
	

TO THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH, THE VATICAN
	

I was very saddened by your letter dated October 21, 2008, 

giving me 30 days to recant my belief and public statements 

that support the ordination of women in our Church, or I will 

be excommunicated.
	

I have been a Catholic priest for 36 years and have a deep love 

for my Church and ministry. When I was a young man in the military, 

I felt God was calling me to the priesthood.  I entered Maryknoll and 

was ordained in 1972.
	

Over the years I have met a number of women in our Church who, 

like me, feel called by God to the priesthood.  You, our Church leaders 

at the Vatican, tell us that women cannot be ordained.

	
With all due respect, I believe our Catholic Church’s teaching on this issue

is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny.  A 1976 report by the Pontifical 

Biblical Commission supports the research of Scripture scholars, canon lawyers 

and many faithful Catholics who have studied and pondered the Scriptures and 

have concluded that there is no justification in the Bible for excluding women from 

the priesthood.
	

As people of faith, we profess that the invitation to the ministry of priesthood comes 

from God.  We profess that God is the Source of life and created men and women of 

equal stature and dignity.  The current Catholic Church doctrine on the ordination of

women implies our loving and all-powerful God, Creator of heaven and earth, somehow 

cannot empower a woman to be a priest.
	

Women in our Church are telling us that God is calling them to the priesthood.  

Who are we, as men, to say to women, “Our call is valid, but yours is not.”  Who 

are we to tamper with God’s call?
	

Sexism, like racism, is a sin.  And no matter how hard or how long we may try 

to justify discrimination, in the end, it is always immoral.
	

Hundreds of Catholic churches in the U.S. are closing because of a shortage 

of priests.  Yet there are hundreds of committed and prophetic women telling 

us that God is calling them to serve our Church as priests.
	

If we are to have a vibrant, healthy Church rooted in the teachings of our Savior, 

we need the faith, wisdom, experience, compassion and courage of women in the priesthood.
	

Conscience is very sacred.  Conscience gives us a sense of right and wrong and 

urges us to do the right thing.  Conscience is what compelled Franz Jagerstatter, 

a humble Austrian farmer, husband and father of four young children, to refuse to 

join Hitler’s army, which led to his execution.  

Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus.  

Conscience is what compels women in our Church to say they cannot be silent and deny their 

call from God to the priesthood.  

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.
	

Working and struggling for peace and justice are an integral part of our faith.  For this reason, 

I speak out against the war in Iraq.  And for the last eighteen years, I have been speaking out 

against the atrocities and suffering caused by the School of the Americas (SOA).  

Eight years ago, while in Rome for a conference on peace and justice, I was invited to speak 

about the SOA on Vatican Radio.  During the interview, I stated that I could not address the

injustice of the SOA and remain silent about injustice in my Church.  I ended the interview by 

saying, “There will never be justice in the Catholic Church until women can be ordained.”  

I remain committed to this belief today.
	

Having an all male clergy implies that men are worthy to be Catholic priests, but women are not. 

According to USA TODAY (Feb. 28, 2008) in the United States alone, nearly 5,000 Catholic priests 

have sexually abused more than 12,000 children.  Many bishops, aware of the abuse, remained 

silent.  These priests and bishops were not excommunicated.  Yet the women in our Church who 

are called by God and are ordained to serve God’s people, and the priests and bishops who 

support them, are excommunicated.
	

Silence is the voice of complicity.  Therefore, I call on all Catholics, fellow priests, 

bishops, Pope Benedict XVI and all Church leaders at the Vatican, to speak loudly 

on this grave injustice of excluding women from the priesthood.
	

Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador was assassinated because of his defense 

of the oppressed.  He said, “Let those who have a voice, speak out for the voiceless.”  
	

Our loving God has given us a voice.  Let us speak clearly and boldly and walk in solidarity 

as Jesus would, with the women in our Church who are being called by God to the priesthood.
	

In Peace and Justice,
	

Rev. Roy Bourgeois, M.M.
	
PO Box 3330, Columbus, GA 31903
	

++++++++++
	

ACTIONS TO SUPPORT - Rev. Roy Bourgeois - 11/08
	

Some have asked for addresses to write their support of Father Roy and to ask 

that he not be excommunicated.  Petitions are also appropriate. 
	

Please write or fax or email to Pope Benedict XVI, and/or the Pope’s Ambassador 

to the U.S., the Apostolic Nuncio, and/or the Congregation for Doctrine of Faith, 

the group that is moving toward excommunication of Fr. Roy Bourgeois, and/or 

the leadersof the Maryknoll Order.  

Their addresses are below.  
	

Please send a cc of any message or petitions you send to: 
	

Bill Quigley – Attorney for Fr. Roy Bourgeois

7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 902

New Orleans, LA 70118  

duprestars@yahoo.com

ADDRESSES TO WRITE:
	

Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio
	
3339 Massachusetts Avenue, N.W, Washington, DC
	
Telephone: (202) 333-7121 - Fax: 337-4036
	

Pope Benedict XVI 
	
00120 Via del Pellegrino
	
Citta del Vaticano, Europe
	
The Pope’s email address is: benedictxvi@vatican.va
	
FAX from USA: 011-39-06698-85378
	

Congregation for Doctrine of Faith
	
Piazza del S. Uffizio, 11, 00193 Roma, Italy
	
Telephone: 06.69.88.33.57; 06.69.88.34.13 - Fax: 06.69.88.34.09
	

Superior General, John Sivalon at jsivalon@maryknoll.org  and to the three-member 

Maryknoll Council at mklcouncil@maryknoll.org   and/or fax to 914-944-3600
	
Write to: Maryknoll Council, P.O. Box 303 Maryknoll, NY 10545  
	

Again, please send a cc of your message to 
	

Bill Quigley – Attorney for Father Roy Bourgeois

7214 St. Charles Avenue, Box 902

New Orleans, LA 70118

duprestars@yahoo.com