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November 18, 2008 at 21:27:44
Fr. Roy Bourgeois may be excommunicated for supporting female ordination by Rabbi Michael Lerner Page 1 of 7 page(s) |
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The Network of Spiritual Progressives wishes to be a place in which progressives from various religious communities (as well as "spiritual but not religious" people) can feel safe in coming together to work for a New Bottom Line to replace the materialism and selfishness in the world with an ethos of love, kindness, generosity,caring for others, ethical and ecological sensitivity,and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe. 1. Write to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith at the Vatican, Rome, Italy and protest. 2. Write to your local newspapers and protest. 3. Write to your local Catholic church and priests and protest. 4. Write to the National Catholic Reporter, Commonweal, and to national news sources like the NY Times and Washington Post and CNN and NPR and let them know that the NSP is protesting this move against Father Bourgeois and re-affirming our commitment to equal rights for women plus our commitment to strengthen the demonstrations in Fort Benning until the training of this sort is stopped and made illegal in the U.S. Also, people in Southern Florida may wish to attend a similar talk I'll be giving next Monday night in Palm Beach, Florida (details will be on our website of the NSP www.spiritualprogressives.org by Thursday). Roy Bourgeois threatened with excommunication
But what do we do if one of our religious communities is directly involved in racist, sexist, homophobic, anti-Semitic or attacking "the Stranger" (whoever the demeaned Other of any given society happens to be at a particular historical moment, when the Bible actually commands us not only to love our neighbor, but specifically and unequivocally to "love the Other" (the stranger, in Hebrew: ger).
This has come into particular highlight this very week, because the Inquisition office (now renamed the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith) has sent a letter to Father Roy Bourgeois threatening him with ex-communication (which effectively means an end to his income and to his teachings inside the church) for daring to publicly support the ordination of women and to offer remarks in a ceremony ordaining a woman as priest.
Roy Bourgeois isn't just any priest. He is, along with John Dear and Sister Joan Chittister, one of the most courageous Catholic voices for peace and non-violence and the founder and leader of the School of the Americas Watch (SOAW). The ultimatum and ex-communication would be effective the day before the annual
demonstration of the SOAW at Fort Bennings where the School of the Americas is housed and where it trains South and Central American police forces in the techniques of torture, repression, and counter-insurgency. We at the Network of Spiritual Progressives have been calling for support for this demonstration which begins on Friday and goes till Sunday (if you happen to be coming to the demonstration and would help us distribute information or sit at our table to help us get the word out about our Global Marshall Plan campaign, please let us know by email).
So the Inquisition will now in one fell swoop be able to rid itself of the progressive Catholic who has created the most important spiritual progressive demonstration taking place anywhere in the country for peace and against torture, and simultaneously terrify other priests into not daring to question the Church's doctrines of women. It should be noted that the very progressive teachings of the Church against war and poverty have not served as a basis for the excommunication of any priest or other church officials who have publicly supported the US war in Iraq or Afghanistan or supported the notion of a violent war against terror. The Inquisition answers to no one,and so its arbitrary power is used against those who support progressive causes, but not against those who support authoritarian and reactionary and violent causes.
We urge all those who feel strongly opposed to this attempt to silence dissent within the Church and to oust its most celebrated peace-priest to take the following steps:
Now here's the key: we want to communicate this message in a respectful way to the Catholic world. We are not anti-Catholic. Our organization contains many faithful Catholics and is co-chaired by Sister Joan Chittister (Benedictine Sister). We seek to recruit faithful Catholics into the NSP, and we do not wish to give them the impression that we are challenging their entire faith. Moreover, at the SOAW demonstration this weekend you'll be able to meet many Catholics who have anti-war, anti-violence and pro-peace and generosity perspectives--and they represent a major part of American Catholicism.So please help us communicate our outrage at the attempt to silence or excommunicate Father Roy Bourgeois without doing so in a way that indicates respect and genuine caring connection to the many Catholics who remain committed to peace and social justice but who may be afraid to speak out on this issue for fear of losing their connection with the Church (including many many Jesuits, for example, who share our progressive peace-oriented and social-justice oriented perspectives and would be part of the NSP, but are fearful that they too would be thrown out of their livelihood should they speak out clearly on these topics).
Please read the materials below so that you can see more documentation of the issues discussed here.
Love and blessings,
Rabbi Michael Lerner
P.S. If you ARE coming to the SOAW demonstrations this weekend, please note that I will be leading a workshop on the topic of How to Best Support our new PResident and how to raise the issues connected to the Global Marshall Plan--sometime on Saturday in the convention center in Columbus Georgia, and you are invited! And that we will have a table at the actual demonstration on Sunday. We need help in distributing our information and person-ing a table at the demonstration, so please let us know if you'd be willing to donate a little time for that.
Catholic News Service photo/Paul Hering
http://www.tikkun.org
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| 6 comments |
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catholic church stinks
The Catholic church has once again become the most regressive,unchristian church around with the exception of the fundamentalist.One has to remember the Catholic church is now run by a Nazi,excuse me ex nazi,This man was the chief advisor to the pope before him.Just recently one of their archbishops or whatever they call them in one of the southern states said anyone who voted for Obama was not a Christian and should not be given communion.The pope before told priest to stop getting involved with deposing dictators who murdered and tortured the people in central and south Amaerica.This church supports torture and child abuse so not wanting women priest does not supprise me.Also remember all the carddinals with liberal inclinations were demoted by the pope so the hieracy is totally conservative.Write all the letters you want the Catholic church is totally corrupt noiw and won't change by liberalsrock (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 257 comments [53 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 at 9:28:46 AM  (0+)
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Reply: I second that opinion
I was born a catholic but since I will certainly not condone any system that treats me as a second class citizen because of my sex, I removed mysef from the flock a long time ago. Then I learned about the horrors of the widespread sex abuse of children by priests, and the shameful cover up organized by the Church to protect its own. I am so disgusted by this whole spiritual ripp off that I am thinking of asking to be "debaptized", removed officiallly from the ranks of the faithfuls. by francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 385 comments) on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 at 10:49:38 AM (0+)
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Reply: Francine
You do not have to be debaptized. As you did not have to be baptized to begin with. Ritual does not remove the choice you have already made within your own soul. Your spiritual life is yours. Always. peace by mikel paul (14 articles, 1 quicklinks, 11 diaries, 570 comments [13 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 at 1:15:36 PM (0+)
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Reply: mikel
Thanks for your comment mikel. The debaptizing is just a symbolic gesture done here to express one's disaproval of one's church when you were born a catholic. As far as I am concerned, baptism is meanigless anyway, an empty ceremony serving no purpose whatsoever and done without my consent. People write to the Vatican to indicate that they no longer consider themselves as members of the Catholic church. Oviously, it does not change anything concretely, it's just a way to let your opinion be known by the Catholic hierarchy. If enough Catholics (women in particular, based on their discriminated status) wrote the Vatican to tell they are leaving the Church and want nothing to do with it in the future, maybe- I say maybe--these guys would start worrying about losing their customers. by francine (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 385 comments) on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 at 4:34:24 PM (0+)
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church
If his church won't treat him with respect then he should leave the church and create his own church. by Ty (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 0 diaries, 888 comments [2 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Wednesday, Nov 19, 2008 at 4:35:58 PM (0+)
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Let the Roman Catholic Church wither away
The RC church has suffered greatly from a lack of priests, and behind the times popes. I once described the previous pope, Karol Wotyla, as trying to drag the church into the 19th century. This crisis has been widely publicized since well before the pedophile scandal hit the newspapers. (That scandal was well known within the laity that early as well, at least those paying any attention.) If the next pope doesn't wake up, each priest will have to function as a bishop. Even now, many duties of priests are carried out by lay volunteers, including giving sacrements. The church is well on its way to extinction if it will not reform. by Richard Pietrasz (0 articles, 0 quicklinks, 1 diaries, 49 comments [4 recommended, 0 rejected]) on Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 at 1:47:34 AM (0+)
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