Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 1:47 PM
Subject: video
Getting catholics aware of whats about to come with the Freedom of Choice Act and how to fight it!
Category: News & Politics
Tags:
freedom choice act life Pro-life catholics evil abortion obama politics FOCA
http://i4.ytimg.com/vi/_cwYKnVgITs/default.jpg
Friday, November 21, 2008
Catholic Culture
Sent: Friday, November 21, 2008 10:14 AM
Subject: Fw: Fr. Tom Euteneuer: Election Part II - Catholic Culture and theElection of Barack Obama
The degradation of Catholic culture is largely, but not exclusively, the fault of the clergy. For four decades in the Catholic Church in America we have seen:
Liturgical abuses run rampant, aided and abetted by those in charge
Two or three generations of Catholics left un-catechized or taught with flimsy, Protestantized fluff passed off as Catholic education
Sexual abuse by clergy excused and unaddressed by the hierarchy
A blind eye turned to high profile dissent and political class heretics
Wholesale attacks on sacred teachings that receive virtually no response from our pastors (and if it weren't for Catholic Answers, EWTN and the Catholic League we would have no defense whatsoever)
The succumbing of our Catholic institutions of higher education to the ravages of political correctness, and the list goes on.
In the face of all this, should we be surprised that 54% of "Catholics" voted for Barack? Hardly.
The battle for Catholic culture begins with us, and there is no time like the present to don the armor of spiritual warfare. We either believe and practice what the Church teaches or we live as part of the shadow church, falsely trading on the Name Catholic for its benefits without at the same time shouldering the crosses that this entails.
There is, however, great hope for the future because the battle has already been engaged: new Catholic colleges are springing up to replace the old decrepit houses of heresy, new religious orders with abundant vocations and orthodoxy have arisen, home schooling families and strong lay movements are abundant now. Only when we take back our beloved Church from the false Catholics and clerics will our Church be able to stand up and rebuke the storm winds of paganism that are building faster than we care to admit. This project is not without its price, however. The cost of being a true believer will undoubtedly be much higher than ever before in our lifetime. Starting now and into the next generation we as Catholics will have to show the world not only what we believe but that we are willing to lay down our lives for it as a witness to the truth.
SL Links
About the Author
SL Archives
Donate
Tell Us About Yourself
SL Action Items
Catholic bishops will fight Obama on abortion
Cardinal: Abortion undermines common good
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Subject: Fw: Fr. Tom Euteneuer: Election Part II - Catholic Culture and theElection of Barack Obama
The degradation of Catholic culture is largely, but not exclusively, the fault of the clergy. For four decades in the Catholic Church in America we have seen:
Liturgical abuses run rampant, aided and abetted by those in charge
Two or three generations of Catholics left un-catechized or taught with flimsy, Protestantized fluff passed off as Catholic education
Sexual abuse by clergy excused and unaddressed by the hierarchy
A blind eye turned to high profile dissent and political class heretics
Wholesale attacks on sacred teachings that receive virtually no response from our pastors (and if it weren't for Catholic Answers, EWTN and the Catholic League we would have no defense whatsoever)
The succumbing of our Catholic institutions of higher education to the ravages of political correctness, and the list goes on.
In the face of all this, should we be surprised that 54% of "Catholics" voted for Barack? Hardly.
The battle for Catholic culture begins with us, and there is no time like the present to don the armor of spiritual warfare. We either believe and practice what the Church teaches or we live as part of the shadow church, falsely trading on the Name Catholic for its benefits without at the same time shouldering the crosses that this entails.
There is, however, great hope for the future because the battle has already been engaged: new Catholic colleges are springing up to replace the old decrepit houses of heresy, new religious orders with abundant vocations and orthodoxy have arisen, home schooling families and strong lay movements are abundant now. Only when we take back our beloved Church from the false Catholics and clerics will our Church be able to stand up and rebuke the storm winds of paganism that are building faster than we care to admit. This project is not without its price, however. The cost of being a true believer will undoubtedly be much higher than ever before in our lifetime. Starting now and into the next generation we as Catholics will have to show the world not only what we believe but that we are willing to lay down our lives for it as a witness to the truth.
SL Links
About the Author
SL Archives
Donate
Tell Us About Yourself
SL Action Items
Catholic bishops will fight Obama on abortion
Cardinal: Abortion undermines common good
Sincerely Yours in Christ,
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Big Three automakers
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 4:28 PM
Subject: Big Three automakers beg for $25 billion lifeline - Yahoo! News
When these companies were making there millions and enjoying big pay-outs for their executives--we weren't there with our hand-out looking for some of the reward--so why would be giving them money since the opposite is happening?? Makes no sense!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/congress_autos
Subject: Big Three automakers beg for $25 billion lifeline - Yahoo! News
When these companies were making there millions and enjoying big pay-outs for their executives--we weren't there with our hand-out looking for some of the reward--so why would be giving them money since the opposite is happening?? Makes no sense!
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/congress_autos
For DC, Bishop Barry
Tuesday, November 18, 2008
For DC, Bishop Barry
Soon to receive a new president, this morning the nation's capital has a bishop-elect, to boot: Pope Benedict has named Washington's moderator of the curia, Msgr Barry Knestout, as an auxiliary of the archdiocese.
Ordained in 1989, the 46 year-old bishop-elect served as private secretary to the late Cardinal James Hickey from 1994 until his 2004 death; as Hickey's closest aide, Knestout succeeded now-Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, to whom the younger cleric bears the most astonishing of resemblances. After a two-year stint as pastor of a parish in the 560,000-member archdiocese's Maryland suburbs, Archbishop Donald Wuerl recalled Knestout to the Pastoral Center, tapping him for the DC church's top administrative slot on Bishop Kevin Farrell's transfer to the helm of the diocese of Dallas last year.
Seven months following the papal visit to the capital, the new auxiliary is the first given it since Wuerl took the reins of the Washington church in June 2006. On a ceremonial note, the Pope assigned Knestout the titular see of Leavenworth, the mother-diocese of Kansas founded in 1877; its seat was moved to Kansas City seven decades later.
In accord with the norms of canon law, the bishop-elect must be ordained within four months of this morning's appointment. When the day comes, however, it'll be a family affair in more ways than one -- Knestout's younger brother, Fr Mark, will be the liturgy's chief planner in his capacity as head of the archdiocesan worship office.
As always, more to come.
SVILUPPO: Mark your calendars -- ordination scheduled for 29 December... and, later today, the traditional mid-morning presser has been called at the DC Pastoral Center.
-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 06:05
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
For DC, Bishop Barry
Soon to receive a new president, this morning the nation's capital has a bishop-elect, to boot: Pope Benedict has named Washington's moderator of the curia, Msgr Barry Knestout, as an auxiliary of the archdiocese.
Ordained in 1989, the 46 year-old bishop-elect served as private secretary to the late Cardinal James Hickey from 1994 until his 2004 death; as Hickey's closest aide, Knestout succeeded now-Bishop William Lori of Bridgeport, to whom the younger cleric bears the most astonishing of resemblances. After a two-year stint as pastor of a parish in the 560,000-member archdiocese's Maryland suburbs, Archbishop Donald Wuerl recalled Knestout to the Pastoral Center, tapping him for the DC church's top administrative slot on Bishop Kevin Farrell's transfer to the helm of the diocese of Dallas last year.
Seven months following the papal visit to the capital, the new auxiliary is the first given it since Wuerl took the reins of the Washington church in June 2006. On a ceremonial note, the Pope assigned Knestout the titular see of Leavenworth, the mother-diocese of Kansas founded in 1877; its seat was moved to Kansas City seven decades later.
In accord with the norms of canon law, the bishop-elect must be ordained within four months of this morning's appointment. When the day comes, however, it'll be a family affair in more ways than one -- Knestout's younger brother, Fr Mark, will be the liturgy's chief planner in his capacity as head of the archdiocesan worship office.
As always, more to come.
SVILUPPO: Mark your calendars -- ordination scheduled for 29 December... and, later today, the traditional mid-morning presser has been called at the DC Pastoral Center.
-30-
posted by Rocco Palmo at 06:05
http://whispersintheloggia.blogspot.com/
Coffee and donuts at St. Joan’s
Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2008 9:04 AM
Subject: I have heard about gum chewing during Mass but this would be ridiculous
Coffee and donuts at St. Joan’s in Minneapolis
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:24 pm
I have on more than one occasion quipped that while many parishes have coffee and donuts on Sundays after Mass, St. Joan of Arc in my home town of Minneapolis was the only place I had ever seen coffee and donuts during Mass.
Now comes this from Fr. Jim DeBruycker, the pastor, writing to his flock in the Sunday bulletin of 16 Nov 2008.
Please read this while giving Father the benefit of the doubt, imagining what he has to contend with there, after all the years of looniness:
1. Using the Egan room as a hospitality room for coffee and cookies has become quite successful, too much so I fear. A number of people are bringing coffee and cookies to mass, which is not polite and is often messy, it makes it hard to sing and makes a mockery of the communion fast. Please no refreshments during the liturgy.
2. Intinction, dipping the host, is not part of the Latin rite. But what is bothering the communion distributors even more are people dipping their fingers in as well. I am ordering new chalices with wider brims. Please be careful and, when at all possible, drink from the cup.
3. Finally, the communion ministers who stand in front of the gym exit to the school building are complaining that they have to wrestle with parishioners leaving mass early. Communicants are being jostled out of line as early leavers try to reach the school doors. If you are leaving early, please leave by the parking lot doors. Thanks for your courtesy! – JRD
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subject: I have heard about gum chewing during Mass but this would be ridiculous
Coffee and donuts at St. Joan’s in Minneapolis
CATEGORY: SESSIUNCULUM — Fr. John Zuhlsdorf @ 4:24 pm
I have on more than one occasion quipped that while many parishes have coffee and donuts on Sundays after Mass, St. Joan of Arc in my home town of Minneapolis was the only place I had ever seen coffee and donuts during Mass.
Now comes this from Fr. Jim DeBruycker, the pastor, writing to his flock in the Sunday bulletin of 16 Nov 2008.
Please read this while giving Father the benefit of the doubt, imagining what he has to contend with there, after all the years of looniness:
1. Using the Egan room as a hospitality room for coffee and cookies has become quite successful, too much so I fear. A number of people are bringing coffee and cookies to mass, which is not polite and is often messy, it makes it hard to sing and makes a mockery of the communion fast. Please no refreshments during the liturgy.
2. Intinction, dipping the host, is not part of the Latin rite. But what is bothering the communion distributors even more are people dipping their fingers in as well. I am ordering new chalices with wider brims. Please be careful and, when at all possible, drink from the cup.
3. Finally, the communion ministers who stand in front of the gym exit to the school building are complaining that they have to wrestle with parishioners leaving mass early. Communicants are being jostled out of line as early leavers try to reach the school doors. If you are leaving early, please leave by the parking lot doors. Thanks for your courtesy! – JRD
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Sunday, November 16, 2008
CHD
Sent: Sunday, November 16, 2008 12:26 PM
Subject: CHD
Which brings me, finally, to another and related matter that will surely be discussed in Baltimore and deserves to be on the agenda. The Campaign for Human Development (CHD) [BEWARE of CHD.] is an annual collection in parishes, usually on one of the last two Sundays in November. It used to be called the Catholic Campaign for Human Development but the Catholic was dropped, which is just as well since it has nothing to do with Catholicism, except that Catholics are asked to pay for it. Some bishops no longer allow the CHD collection in their dioceses, and more should not allow it. In fact, CHD, misbegotten in concept and corrupt in practice, [HEAR! HEAR!] should, at long last, be terminated.
Ten years ago, CHD was exposed as using the Catholic Church as a milk cow to fund organizations that frequently were actively working against the Church’s mission, especially in their support of pro-abortion activities and politicians. Now it turns out that CHD has long been a major funder of ACORN, a national community agitation organization in support of leftist causes, including the abortion license. ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is under criminal investigation in several states. In the last decade CHD gave ACORN well over seven million dollars, including more than a million in the past year. It is acknowledged that ACORN, with which Sen. Obama had a close connection over the years, was a major player in his presidential campaign. The bishops say they are investigating the connection between CHD and ACORN. They say they are worried that it might jeopardize the Church’s tax-exemption. No mention is made of abusing the trust of the Catholic faithful.
What most Catholics don’t know, and what would likely astonish them, is that CHD very explicitly does not fund Catholic institutions and apostolates that work with the poor. Part of the thinking when it was established in the ideological climate of the 1960s is that Catholic concern for the poor would not be perceived as credible if CHD funded Catholic organizations. Yes, that’s bizarre, but the history of CHD is bizarre. The bishops could really help poor people by promptly shutting down CHD and giving any remaining funds to, for instance, Catholic inner-city schools. In any event, if there is a collection at your parish this month, I suggest that you can return the envelope empty—and perhaps with a note of explanation—without the slightest moral hesitation.
After this week’s elections, we must brace ourselves for very difficult times, keeping in mind that difficult times can be bracing. As for the meeting of bishops next week: Let the Church be the Church, and let bishops be bishops.
Richard John Neuhaus is editor in chief of First Things.
Very well expressed. Kudos to Fr. Neuhaus.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/11/fr-neuhaus-on-obama-and-the-bishops
Subject: CHD
Which brings me, finally, to another and related matter that will surely be discussed in Baltimore and deserves to be on the agenda. The Campaign for Human Development (CHD) [BEWARE of CHD.] is an annual collection in parishes, usually on one of the last two Sundays in November. It used to be called the Catholic Campaign for Human Development but the Catholic was dropped, which is just as well since it has nothing to do with Catholicism, except that Catholics are asked to pay for it. Some bishops no longer allow the CHD collection in their dioceses, and more should not allow it. In fact, CHD, misbegotten in concept and corrupt in practice, [HEAR! HEAR!] should, at long last, be terminated.
Ten years ago, CHD was exposed as using the Catholic Church as a milk cow to fund organizations that frequently were actively working against the Church’s mission, especially in their support of pro-abortion activities and politicians. Now it turns out that CHD has long been a major funder of ACORN, a national community agitation organization in support of leftist causes, including the abortion license. ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) is under criminal investigation in several states. In the last decade CHD gave ACORN well over seven million dollars, including more than a million in the past year. It is acknowledged that ACORN, with which Sen. Obama had a close connection over the years, was a major player in his presidential campaign. The bishops say they are investigating the connection between CHD and ACORN. They say they are worried that it might jeopardize the Church’s tax-exemption. No mention is made of abusing the trust of the Catholic faithful.
What most Catholics don’t know, and what would likely astonish them, is that CHD very explicitly does not fund Catholic institutions and apostolates that work with the poor. Part of the thinking when it was established in the ideological climate of the 1960s is that Catholic concern for the poor would not be perceived as credible if CHD funded Catholic organizations. Yes, that’s bizarre, but the history of CHD is bizarre. The bishops could really help poor people by promptly shutting down CHD and giving any remaining funds to, for instance, Catholic inner-city schools. In any event, if there is a collection at your parish this month, I suggest that you can return the envelope empty—and perhaps with a note of explanation—without the slightest moral hesitation.
After this week’s elections, we must brace ourselves for very difficult times, keeping in mind that difficult times can be bracing. As for the meeting of bishops next week: Let the Church be the Church, and let bishops be bishops.
Richard John Neuhaus is editor in chief of First Things.
Very well expressed. Kudos to Fr. Neuhaus.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/2008/11/fr-neuhaus-on-obama-and-the-bishops
Wednesday, November 12, 2008
Maryknoll Fr.has been threatened with excommunication
Sent: Wednesday, November 12, 2008 8:11 PM
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
My emphases and comments.
Roy Bourgeois threatened with excommunication [I am tempted simply to cite the Nike motto… but…]
By NCR Staff
Published:
November 11, 2008
Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois has been threatened with excommunication by the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith for his support of women’s ordination, according to a letter made public today. [He has defied something definitively taught by the Church and done so publicly.]
The letter was written by Bourgeois and addressed to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. It was distributed via e-mail by Bill Quigley, a New Orleans lawyer who represents Bourgeois. [So, B. has decided to drag it all out into the public eye. Okay!]
According to Bourgeois’ letter, which is dated Nov. 7, the congregation has given him 30 days to recant his “belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or (he) will be excommunicated.” [Anyone wanna give odds?]
The letter indicates that Bourgeois received notification from the congregation Oct. 21.
Bourgeois, a priest for 36 years, attended the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska in Lexingon, Ky., Aug. 9 and preached a homily. [Attending is one thing. Preaching is another.]
If Bourgeois is excommunicated at the end of 30 days, it would come just before the mass rally and protest against the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., [yawn] that Bourgeois has organized for 19 years. In recent years, more than 15,000 people, many of them Catholic university students, have joined the three daylong rally and demonstration.
Bourgeois was not immediately available for comment. The text of Bourgeois’ letter follows.
———————————————————————————————————-
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. [But, Roy, that doesn’t really make any difference when you have been a public heretic who won’t be corrected. It is perhaps because you have been a priest for a long time that the CDF has given you 30 days rather than 10 or 3.]
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, [Watch this: he corrects the CDF] I believe our Catholic Church’s teaching on this issue is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny. [Now he instructs the CDF, in case they forgot about this stuff. But wait… he is really grandstanding … so never mind.] 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, [Used somewhat equivocally?] 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. [But clearly not with equal roles: cf. Genesis.] The current [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. [Lousy theology. The Church’s teaching does not imply any such thing. God cannot be limited. What he ignores is that God didin’t will to call women to the priesthood. This is what Holy Church tells us.]
Women in our Church are telling us that God is calling them to the priesthood. [So what? They are deluded.] 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. [No… uh uh… I’m sorry. Don’t give this guy 30 days. Would that we could excomm’ guys like this for being thick.] 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. [There could be no priests anywhere. We still couldn’t ordain a woman.] Yet there are hundreds of committed and prophetic women telling us that God is calling them to serve our Church as priests. [THEY say so, after all.]
If we are to have a vibrant, healthy Church rooted in the teachings of our Savior, [What I find so offensive about this is the way he instrumentalized the Savior for the sake of weasely manipulation.] we need the faith, wisdom, experience, compassion and courage of women in the priesthood.
[NEWS FLASH….] 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. [Can you believe this guy?] Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. [He is painting himself as a martyr and a prophet.] 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. [Okay. Then GET. OUT.]
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. [Yah… that tells us a lot about Vatican Radio back then too.] 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 [Stupid. No one is worthy.] to be Catholic priests, but women are not.
According to USA TODAY [Another great source.] (Feb. 28, 2008) in the United States alone, nearly 5,000 Catholic priests have sexually abused more than 12,000 children. [What a slime this guy is.] Many bishops, aware of the abuse, remained silent. [So? That can’t justify another wrong, attempting to ordain a woman.] 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
Okay.
Sure… we have to pray for this deluded soul. That is all very pious and proper.
But at a certain point we have to say:
Roy…. GET. OUT. NOW.
There is a church ready made for you and your friends.
Go join the Anglicans.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
Subject: What Does The Prayer Really Say?
My emphases and comments.
Roy Bourgeois threatened with excommunication [I am tempted simply to cite the Nike motto… but…]
By NCR Staff
Published:
November 11, 2008
Maryknoll Fr. Roy Bourgeois has been threatened with excommunication by the Vatican’s Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith for his support of women’s ordination, according to a letter made public today. [He has defied something definitively taught by the Church and done so publicly.]
The letter was written by Bourgeois and addressed to the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith. It was distributed via e-mail by Bill Quigley, a New Orleans lawyer who represents Bourgeois. [So, B. has decided to drag it all out into the public eye. Okay!]
According to Bourgeois’ letter, which is dated Nov. 7, the congregation has given him 30 days to recant his “belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church, or (he) will be excommunicated.” [Anyone wanna give odds?]
The letter indicates that Bourgeois received notification from the congregation Oct. 21.
Bourgeois, a priest for 36 years, attended the ordination of Janice Sevre-Duszynska in Lexingon, Ky., Aug. 9 and preached a homily. [Attending is one thing. Preaching is another.]
If Bourgeois is excommunicated at the end of 30 days, it would come just before the mass rally and protest against the U.S. Army’s School of the Americas at Fort Benning, Ga., [yawn] that Bourgeois has organized for 19 years. In recent years, more than 15,000 people, many of them Catholic university students, have joined the three daylong rally and demonstration.
Bourgeois was not immediately available for comment. The text of Bourgeois’ letter follows.
———————————————————————————————————-
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. [But, Roy, that doesn’t really make any difference when you have been a public heretic who won’t be corrected. It is perhaps because you have been a priest for a long time that the CDF has given you 30 days rather than 10 or 3.]
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, [Watch this: he corrects the CDF] I believe our Catholic Church’s teaching on this issue is wrong and does not stand up to scrutiny. [Now he instructs the CDF, in case they forgot about this stuff. But wait… he is really grandstanding … so never mind.] 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, [Used somewhat equivocally?] 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. [But clearly not with equal roles: cf. Genesis.] The current [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. [Lousy theology. The Church’s teaching does not imply any such thing. God cannot be limited. What he ignores is that God didin’t will to call women to the priesthood. This is what Holy Church tells us.]
Women in our Church are telling us that God is calling them to the priesthood. [So what? They are deluded.] 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. [No… uh uh… I’m sorry. Don’t give this guy 30 days. Would that we could excomm’ guys like this for being thick.] 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. [There could be no priests anywhere. We still couldn’t ordain a woman.] Yet there are hundreds of committed and prophetic women telling us that God is calling them to serve our Church as priests. [THEY say so, after all.]
If we are to have a vibrant, healthy Church rooted in the teachings of our Savior, [What I find so offensive about this is the way he instrumentalized the Savior for the sake of weasely manipulation.] we need the faith, wisdom, experience, compassion and courage of women in the priesthood.
[NEWS FLASH….] 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. [Can you believe this guy?] Conscience is what compelled Rosa Parks to say she could no longer sit in the back of the bus. [He is painting himself as a martyr and a prophet.] 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. [Okay. Then GET. OUT.]
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. [Yah… that tells us a lot about Vatican Radio back then too.] 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 [Stupid. No one is worthy.] to be Catholic priests, but women are not.
According to USA TODAY [Another great source.] (Feb. 28, 2008) in the United States alone, nearly 5,000 Catholic priests have sexually abused more than 12,000 children. [What a slime this guy is.] Many bishops, aware of the abuse, remained silent. [So? That can’t justify another wrong, attempting to ordain a woman.] 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
Okay.
Sure… we have to pray for this deluded soul. That is all very pious and proper.
But at a certain point we have to say:
Roy…. GET. OUT. NOW.
There is a church ready made for you and your friends.
Go join the Anglicans.
http://wdtprs.com/blog/
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