WOW PROTESTS EXCOMMUNICATION OF MARYKNOLL PRIEST ROY BOURGEOIS - Nov. 24, 2008

PRESS RELEASE: For immediate release 24 November 2008

Worldwide network protests excommunication of Maryknoll priest Roy Bourgeois

Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) is deeply angered at the Vatican’s threatened excommunication of Father Roy Bourgeois, the Maryknoll priest who has spoken in support of the ordination of Roman Catholic women.

Father Roy, a priest for 36 years, served as a missionary in South America and is well-known for his opposition to the USA’s military activity in the former ‘School of the Americas.’ He is the latest in a distinguished line of courageous men and women who, over the years, have risked censure or disciplinary proceedings from the Roman Catholic hierarchy by speaking out on women’s ordination. At WOW’s first international conference in Dublin (2001), Vatican pressure forced the withdrawal of the keynote speaker, Aruna Gnanadason, of the World Council of Churches. Considerable distress was caused to two other speakers, Sister Joan Chittister OSB and Sister Myra Poole SND, who were threatened with serious consequences if they attended. WOW reminds the Vatican of the words of Chittister’s Prioress, Sister Christine Vladimiroff, who, in her statement of support for Chittister, wrote, ‘There is a fundamental difference in the understanding of obedience within the monastic tradition and that which is being used by the Vatican to exert power and control and prompt a false sense of unity inspired by fear.’

WOW has sent a strongly-worded letter on Fr Roy’s behalf to the American papal nuncio and to the Vatican, and has also written to the Maryknoll community. ‘Since Ordinatio Sacerdotalis, Roman Catholic women who feel called to ordained ministry, and those who support them, have been silenced,’ commented Jennifer Stark, coordinator of Women’s Ordination Worldwide. ‘They have no voice within the Church’s structures to make their views heard. In this context, as many others have pointed out, excommunication is a penalty out of all proportion to the supposed offence.’

The support that continues to flood in for Father Roy demonstrates that the Vatican is tragically out of touch with the people it is supposed to serve. It is also failing to uphold the Roman Catholic Church’s own teaching on the primacy of conscience. It is time to call a halt to this bullying of committed Catholics whose concern is to make the Gospel message of love, justice and compassion a reality for the world, and to enable the Church to serve all of humanity by enabling the gifts of men and women alike. Father Roy’s stance has grown out of a lifetime’s work on peace and justice issues, inspired by that very Gospel message. WOW urges the Maryknoll community to support his right to speak on this issue, and calls on the Catholic faithful, including bishops and church leaders everywhere, to oppose the decree of excommunication.

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Women’s Ordination Worldwide was founded in 1996 at the First European Women’s Synod in Gmunden, Austria. It is an ecumenical network of fifteen national and international organizations working for the full inclusion of women in all ordained ministries.

Timeline of Work for Women’s Ordination

WOW CHALLENGES POPE ON EXCOMMUNICATIONS AND SEXISM IN THE CHURCH - June 10, 2008

Worldwide network challenges Pope on excommunications and sexism in the church

Women’s Ordination Worldwide (WOW) expresses profound dismay at the recent decree by the Congregation for the Doctrine of Faith, which automatically excommunicates anyone involved in the ordination of women priests. With this decree, the Vatican attempts to reinforce its ban on the discussion of women’s ordination among faithful Catholics who are gravely concerned for the future of pastoral ministry.

In its obstinate refusal to test women's priestly vocations, the Vatican fails in its duty to ensure the faithful receive the sacramental pastoral care to which they are entitled. The conviction of the Church has always been that genuine vocations come from God. Though no one has the right to be ordained, the Vatican persists in its flagrant discrimination against women by refusing even to consider their call to priesthood. The fact that many responsible women, together with their communities, discern vocations to ordained ministry is a sign from the Holy Spirit. Vatican actions which block such a sign show nothing but contempt for the sensus fidelium and demonstrate that the hierarchy is tragically out of touch with the people it is called to serve.

In baptism, women and men share equally in the priesthood of Christ. Baptism implies a fundamental openness to all sacraments, including Holy Orders. The history of the Church documents the ordination of women.  Jennifer Stark, coordinator of WOW, commented, ‘This is a global issue. In many countries around the world, the exclusion of women from ordained ministry, and thus from the decision-making structures of a worldwide church, has profound effects for their position and well being, and that of their children. It signals that they are lesser beings in the eyes of God.’

WOW calls on all to act against the unjust laws that exclude women from the sacrament of Holy Orders. We ask Pope Benedict XVI to follow Christ’s gospel imperative by liberating the church from the sin of sexism. We urge bishops throughout the world to recognize and act on their episcopal responsibility to their people. We further urge them to use their voice to challenge the legitimacy of this decree and the ban on discussion of women’s ordination.

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Women’s Ordination Worldwide was established during the First European Women’s Synod in Gmunden, Austria in 1996. It is a network of national and international organisations working for the inclusion of women in all ordained ministries. WOW has hosted two international conferences (Dublin 2001 and Ottawa 2005) and plans to hold a third conference in California in 2010.

Timeline of Work for Women’s Ordination

WHY IS THE CHURCH SO AFRAID OF US? - July 14, 2005

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 
JULY 14, 2005 

CONTACT: Women's Ordination Worldwide 
Marie Bouclin, 705-524-5418, mbouclin@tyenet.com
Virginia Lafond, 613-728-6908, virginialafond@rogers.com
Joanna Manning, 416-599-1244, jmanning@sympatico.ca

Women Reject Attempts to Silence Discussion on Ordination
Why is the church so afraid of us?

OTTAWA - July 14 - Local committee organizers of the WOW conference are saddened by the negative remarks of Archbishop Marcel Gervais and other local clergy denouncing the upcoming WOW Conference to be held at Carleton University, July 22-24 and forbidding Catholics to talk about women’s ordination.

“The hierarchy’s attempt to shut down any discussion on women priests is a reaction that does not manifest confidence in their arguments,” says Marie Bouclin, spokesperson for WOW. “It’s too bad they don’t take this as an opportunity to celebrate the great contribution of women in all the churches. The Catholic priesthood,” she adds, “would have so much to gain from women’s leadership and experience.”

A recent article in the Ottawa Citizen contained a statement from a member of the clergy to the effect that because men can’t have babies then women can’t be Fathers in the Church. “To build the theology of priesthood around this level of argument is quite pathetic,” says Virginia Lafond of the WOW hosting committee. “We would love to have the clergy come to the conference, listen to our highly qualified speakers, and celebrate our unity as women and men, equal members of the one Body of Christ.”

Several women priests from other denominations will participate in the WOW conference. 420 men and women from several continents have registered so far.

Timeline of Work for Women’s Ordination

WOW CHALLENGES VATICAN ON DECLARATION AGAINST WOMEN IN DIACONATE - Oct. 3, 2001

Press release from WOW
re Vatican declaration against the training of women for the diaconate.

" The harvest is plentiful..." How long more can the Church afford to turn away the workers God sends to do the reaping ?

This declaration by men in positions of authority in the Roman Catholic Church forbidding women to train for the diaconate is another painful example of the entrenched sexism which afflicts the church. It is both a serious attack on the personal dignity of women , their sisters in Christ, and an attack on the Church who cannot fulfil her mission unless ALL the gifts of her members are put to the service of her mission to the world. A church in which women are not allowed to fulfil their God-given calling to serve as deacons and priests alongside their brothers is not a credible sacrament of the God of Jesus Christ, in whose image both women and men are equally made.

Women who have a calling to serve as deacons and priests will continue to develop the rich gifts God has entrusted to them for the sake of the community .It is both their responsibility and their duty to which they are bound in conscience. We call on Church leaders to remember the words of John XXIII in" Pacem in Terris ":"Becoming ever more conscious of their dignity as human beings, women will not tolerate being treated as goods and chattels. Instead they demand to exercise the rights and duties belonging to a human being, both in the home and in the civic life." This applies also , and even more so, in church life: Women will not accept to be degraded by declarations which would make them the passive objects of decisions which concern them in the first place. Now is the time to urgently put an end to all that prevents women from taking their rightful place in the church . Women's Ordination Worldwide therefore will continue to seek to implement those resolutions passed at its international conference in Dublin last June:

1. We call on the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church to restore the diaconate to women as was the practice in the early church.

2. We encourage women who feel called to study for the diaconate and the priesthood and support the establishment of suitable training courses where they are not available to women at present.

Soline Vatinel 
WOW spokesperson

Timeline of Work for Women’s Ordination

NOW IS THE TIME: A CELEBRATION OF WOMEN'S CALL TO A RENEWED PRIESTHOOD IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH - July 2, 2001

Now is the Time:
A Celebration of Women's Call to a Renewed Priesthood in the Catholic Church
Dublin, Ireland, 29th June to 1st July 2001

PRESS RELEASE issued 2 July 2001

1. 370 participants from 26 countries and 6 continents gathered in Dublin for this conference titled 'NOW IS THE TIME - A Celebration of Women's call to a Renewed Priesthood in the Catholic Church'.

2. The main speakers wer

   • Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Nobel Peace Prize Winner from Belfast

   • Rose Hudson-Wilkin, Church of England Vicar from London

   • Joan Chittister, Benedictine Sister from Erie, PA., USA.

   • John Wijngaards, Theologian & www.womenpriests.org Webmaster.

3. Resolutions: 11 Resolutions for future actions to further women's ordination were voted on and approved by the Conference. One resolution, narrowly missing the 60% approval rate, was not approved. This resolution had called for Peter's Pence payment to Rome to be withheld and redirected to organisations supporting women's ordination. Attached to this release is a full list of all the resolutions which were approved, starting with a call to the Pope to revoke the ban on the discussion of women's ordination.

4. Aruna Gnanadason, from the World Council of Churches, was to have been the key-note speaker on the Friday evening, but was forced to withdraw due to pressure from the Vatican.

5. International Panel: Six representatives from countries with 'lesser heard voices' addressed the conference, sharing some of the realities of the position of women in both state and church.......

   • Velisiwe Mary Mkhwanazi from South Africa

   • Theresa Trujillo from Mexico and the USA

   • Yury del Carmen Puello Orozco from Colombia & Brazil

   • Apollonia Lugemna from Uganda

   • Naoko Iyori from Japan

   • Kornélia Buday from Hungary

6. Myra Poole who has been a Notre Dame sister for forty two years and who, for the past three years has been the International Coordinator for WOW (Women's Ordination Worldwide), was forbidden by the Vatican to attend this conference. She was told that if she attended this conference she would be expelled from her Order. After much prayer and reflection, she arrived at the Conference on Saturday afternoon, to great acclamation from all the participants.

7. Joan Chittister of the Benedictine Order in Erie, Pensylvania, and honoured worldwide for her contributions to Spirituality and Theology, was likewise warned by the Vatican not to attend this conference. 135 sisters of the Benedictine Order signed letters of support for the monastic practice of personal responsibility and Joan's decision to attend. Joan insists that "the Benedictines do not adopt a hierarchical approach to obedience, but have a monastic charism that sees discernment and individual responsibility as the basis of an adult obedience." She received a huge standing ovation for her talk.

8. Soline Vatinel, spokesperson for the WOW conference, declared that "it's success had exceeded our wildest dreams." The packed timetable included prayers, talks, discussions, drafting of resolutions. The conference concluded with a very moving and spiritual Liturgy of Thanksgiving.

9. Copies of the talks given at the conference are available at www.wow2001.org

Further information contact Soline Vatinel at Tel +353-1-288 5520 and basic@indigo.ie

Timeline of Work for Women’s Ordination

WOW INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE DUBLIN 2001

WOMEN's ORDINATION WORLDWIDE CONFERENCE DUBLIN

Billboards advertising the first international conference on the ORDINATION OF WOMEN in the Catholic Church will go up on Monday 18th June in 5 Irish cities ( Dublin, Belfast, Cork, Galway, Limerick ).

The billboards feature a painting of the LAST SUPPER by Polish artist Bohdan Piasecki , which depicts Jesus surrounded by male AND female disciples and children. It is a symbolic representation of a church community which is inclusive and doesn't exclude .

The primary purpose of the billboards is to give public visibility and expression to what is being denied and suppressed in the Catholic Church: The good news of God's call to many women .

The title of the International conference is :
NOW IS THE TIME! A CELEBRATION OF WOMEN'S CALL TO A RENEWED PRIESTHOOD IN THE CATHOLIC CHURCH

The International conference will be held in the O'Reilly Hall, UCD, Belfield from 29th June to 1st July . It will be opened by Mairead Corrigan Maguire, the Nobel peace laureate . The main speakers include Rev Rose Hudson Wilkin, Sr Joan Chittister OSB, and John Wijngaards. Over 300 people have already registered, from 25 countries.

The conference is being organised by WOW (Women's Ordination World wide ) and hosted by BASIC (Brothers and sisters in Christ ). BASIC was set up in Ireland in 1993 to bring about the ordination of women through prayer and action. WOW was started in 1996 as an international umbrella group to link the different national organisations.

SOLINE VATINEL,
Spokesperson WOW 2001 DUBLIN
01 2885520
basic@indigo.ie
www.iol.ie/~duacon/basic.htm
www.wow2001.org

Timeline of Work for Women’s Ordination