Women Religious Break the Silence on Women’s Ordination with Roy Bourgeois

PRESS RELEASE 

MEDIA CONTACT: Erin Saiz Hanna, office: +1 (202) 675-1006

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 16, 2008

Women religious raise their voices to "Break the Silence" on women’s ordination

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, over 100 women religious go public in their support of women’s ordination and Roy Bourgeois, the Maryknoll priest who was informed by the Vatican that he would be excommunicated if he did not recant his support of women’s ordination within 30 days.  He did not recant, and no further communication has been received.  In collaboration with the campaign spearheaded by the Women’s Ordination Conference (WOC), titled "Break the Silence. Shatter the Stained-Glass Ceiling." the National Coalition of American Nuns wrote the letter addressed to the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.  The 113 signatures add to the over 200 women religious that signed two petitions in conjunction with the "Break the Silence" campaign since November 11, when WOC opened the first petition.

"Catholic women religious are among the most prophetic people within our Church," stated Aisha Taylor, executive director of WOC.  "The Vatican has intentionally created an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, and the women who signed the letter and our petitions add their voices to the thousands of WOC members who, for over 30 years, have called for women’s full inclusion in the Roman Catholic Church.  Many of the signers have been members of WOC since the first conference in 1975."

Among the signers are Sr. Joan Chittister, OSB, who defied the Vatican in 2001 and spoke at the first Women’s Ordination Worldwide conference in Dublin; Sr. Theresa Kane, RSM, who made national headlines when she publicly requested, with Pope John Paul II sitting near-by, that he ordain women; Sr. Ivone Gebara, CND, one of Latin Americas leading theologians. 

Bourgeois’ threat of excommunication is the second attempt this year in silencing the voice of women and men religious who prophetically stand in support of women’s justice and equality in the church. On June 26, Sr. Louise Lears, a Sister of Charity who dedicated her entire life to serving the Church, was penalized by Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis for attending the ordination of two Roman Catholic women.

The Pontifical Biblical Commission found in 1976 that there is no scriptural reason to prohibit the ordination of women.  The Bible describes how women were prominent leaders in Jesus’ ministry and early Christianity.  In all four gospels, Mary Magdalene was the primary witness to the central event of Christianity-Christ’s resurrection.

"It is long overdue for the Vatican to respond to the church’s need for an inclusive clergy, which embraces women–all of whom are created equal and can be called by God to serve as priests in an accountable and inclusive Catholic Church," Taylor concluded.

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Founded in 1975, the Women’s Ordination Conference is the oldest and largest national organization in the world that works solely to ordain women as priests, deacons and bishops into an inclusive and accountable Roman Catholic church.  WOC represents the 63 percent of US Catholics, and millions of Catholics around the world,that support women’s ordination. WOC also promotes new perspectives on ordination that call for more accountability and less separation between the clergy and laity. For more information, visit www.womensordination.org  The NCAN letter follows.

NATIONAL COALITION OF AMERICAN NUNS

FOUNDED TO STUDY AND SPEAK OUT ON ISSUES OF JUSTICE IN CHURCH AND SOCIETY
12434 Klinger St., Detroit, MI 48212, 313-891-2192

Via FAX: 06.69.88.34.09

                                                                                     December 12, 2008

Cardinal William Joseph Levada
Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00193 Roma, Italy

Dear Cardinal Levada:
 

The Vatican’s threatened excommunication of Fr. Roy Bourgeois because of his belief in the priestly ordination of women has diminished our Church.

As women religious who love our Church and who have served the People of God for decades, we support our brother Roy.  As a Maryknoll priest for 36 years, he has followed the Gospel of Jesus in his ministry for peace and justice by speaking out against the war in Iraq and against the torture of countless human beings, aided and abetted by the U.S. government’s School of the Americas. He has been a prophetic voice for thousands in our society.

Roy is now a prophetic voice in our church because of his support for women’s equality in all Church ministries. Excommunications depend not on edicts or laws, but on compliance. We do not believe Roy is outside the community and we embrace him wholeheartedly. Like Roy, we know women who testify that they are called to priesthood. We know that Jesus did not discriminate in calling both women and men to ministry. And we know that our church needs the gifts of everyone called.

So we join Fr. Roy Bourgeois and the majority of U.S. Catholics, who believe that women are called to priestly ordination in the Catholic Church. We look forward to the day when Catholic women, following in the footsteps of Mary Magdalene who announced the Resurrection to the male Apostles, will minister as full equals in our church.

Sincerely,

Jean Ackerman, OP

Alice Baker, IHM

Barbara Battista, SP

Barbara Beesley, IHM

Marlene Bertke, OSB

Ruth Bockenstette, SC

Mary A. Bodde, SC

Mary E. Boesen, SL

Mary Ellen Brody, RSM

Julie Brown, RSM

Mary Peter Bruce, SL

Jeri Cashman, OP

Joan Chicoine, IHM

Joan Chittister, OSB

Benita Coffey, OSB

Carol Coston, OP

Mary Ann Coyle, SL
Mary Ann Cunningham, SL

Beth Davies, CND

Marie Cyril Delisi, IHM

Kathleen Desautels, SP

Jo Ann Dold, OP

Maria S. Dowhaniuk, SFCC

Suzanne Dunn, SFCC

Gwen Farry, BVM

Maureen Fenlon, OP

Sheila Ferraz, SC 

Maureen Fiedler, SL

Mary Kay Finneran, SC

Arlene Flaherty, OP

Victoria Marie Forde, SC

Susan Fortier, OSB

Ivone Gebara, CND

Rita Clare Gerardot, SP

Marian Gibbons, OP

Joan Glisky, IHM

Paula Gonzalez, SC

Jeannine Gramick, SL

Joan Groff, SC

Katrinka Gunn, SC

Patricia A. Haire, CSJ

Ann Halloran, OP

Doris Hamerl, CSC

Mary Harvey, RSM

Eileen Haugh, OSF

Joan Henehan, CSJ

Grace A. Hogan, OP

Margaret Hughes, IHM

Ruth Hunt, SC

Marion Irvine, OP

Florence Izzo, SC

Therese Jilk, OSF

Deidre G. Jordy, SP

Elizabeth Joyce, SP

Theresa Kane, RSM

Connie Kelly, SC

Esther Kennedy, OP

Betty Kenny, OSF

Pamela S. Kobasic, IHM

Kathy Komarek, OP

Anna Koop, SL

Linda Kors, CSC

Janet Kramer, SOSF

Marie LaBollita, SC

Cita Lamb, SND

Jean Ann Ledwell, OSU

Janet Lemon, IHM

Rose Annette Liddell, SL

Denise Lonergan, SFCC

Lystra Long, OP

Marian McAvoy, SL

Anne McCarthy, OSB

Kathleen McClelland, RSM

Bridget Mary Meehan, SFCC

Virginia Miller, SP

Mary M. Miner, RSM

Kate Moriarty, RSM

Maureen Murray, RSHM

Patricia Nagle, IHM

Betty Olley, OP
Michele Olley, OP

Madonna Oswald, IHM

Patricia Otillio, RSM

Elizabeth Pardo, IHM
Claudine Picard, RSM

Katharine Pinto, SC

Helen Marie Plourde, SSND

Marie-Anne Quenneville, OSU

Meg Quinlan, RSM

Donna Quinn, OP

Susan Rakoczy IHM

Diane Rapozo, BVM

Marie Regine Redig, SSND

Roberta Richmond, IHM

Carol L. Ries, SNJM

Marie Romejko, SND

Dolores Russo, SCH

Christine Seghetti, RSM

Gerry Sellman, SCMM

Ann Shaw, CSC

Maureen Sinnott, OSF

Julie Slowik, IHM

Rita Specht, RSM

Florence Speth, SC

Mary Sugrue, SC

Lenore Sullivan, IBVM

Maureen Tobin, OSB

Susan Vickers, RSM

Jacquie Wetherholt, CSJ
Rebecca White, OSU

Alice Zachmann, SSND

Joanne Marie Zavadsky, SSND