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Pax Christi Maine Backs Fr. Roy Bourgeois The Pax Christ Maine Council supports Fr. Roy Bourgeois, the Maryknoll priest founder of School of the Americas Watch. who is now under threat of removal from the Catholic Foreign Missionary Society of America (Maryknoll) for refusing to recant his support for the ordination of women. SOA Watch mounts huge annual protests at Ft. Benning, home of the now re-named School of the Americas, and lobbies in Washington, calling for the school's closure as a consequence of the long list of its graduates responsible for assassinations and massacres, including Archbishop Romero, the four American church women, and six Jesuit priests at the University of Central America. Pax Christi Maine is the Catholic and ecumenical peace and social justice movement in Maine and has sponsored several Bourgeois speaking appearances in Maine, the most recent a four-stop tour in collaboration with Veterans for Peace two years ago. On one occasion he was filmed preaching at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception for an SOA Watch film. Thirty-five years ago, the Pontifical Biblical Commission responded to a Vatican inquiry with a finding that nothing in Scripture precludes ordaining women. A decade ago, PCM embraced equality for women in the Church.
"We stand with Fr. Bourgeois because he must act on his conscience, after fully informing himself, which Vatican II makes clear has primacy over the views of Rome, which has presumed to redefine the Vatican II declaration of primacy of conscience as not doing what your heart tells you is right but what bishops and popes tell you should do." long-time PCM coordinator Bill Slavick explained, emphasizing that the Vatican has no right to demand that Roy violate his conscience. Slavick stepped down as PCM coordinator last fall.
The "First Canonical Warning" sent Fr. Bourgeois March 18th, which requires a reply by the first week of April, charges him with disobedience of the Magisterium, giving grave scandal, and teaching in opposition to the definitive teachings of John Paul II and the Magisterium. The November SOA protests have attracted many thousands and served as an entry point for Catholic youth in making a commitment to Catholic social justice work. Polls show most Catholics supporting ordination of women.
THE PCM STATEMENT OF SUPPORT FOR FR. ROY BOURGEOIS, MM
Fr. Roy Bourgeois has been a faithful and tireless voice of the thousands of voiceless victims of government assassins, trained with our tax dollars, in Central and South America, including the assassins of Archbishop Oscar Romero, Ita Ford, Maura Clark, Dorothy Kazel, Jean Donovan, the six Jesuit priests, their housekeeper and her daughter at the University of Central America, Bishop Juan Girardi, and numerous lay catechists, social workers, and union organizers--any who would exercise an option for the poor victims of oligarchies, dictators, and U.S. imperialism. Consistent with that faithful witness, Fr. Bourgeois has become a voice for the voiceless gender in Church leadership, faithful to his conscience, as the Second Vatican Council makes clear is every Christian's obligation, as it was St. Stephen's, Joan of Arc's, Franz Jagerstatter's, and Oscar Romero's, among others. The Vatican asks him to accept its revision of Vatican Council teaching to oblige Christians to obey Rome's directives rather than their informed consciences--what they know in their hearts is right. The Vatican has no right to make that demand and Father Roy is not obliged, as a faithful Christian, to accede to it. Fr.Bourgeois has repeatedly and generously served Pax Christi Maine and Veterans for Peace, founded in Maine, speaking at our Cathedral Eucharist and throughout Maine, calling for an end to our sponsorship of state terrorism south of the border. We honor him as we have honored School of the Americas martyrs. We celebrate him. We reject this injustice. We stand with him. He is in our prayers. Denise Dreher--PCM Council Chair and Coordinator 207-286-9747 Bill Slavick, Council member, 207-773-6562,
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