Georgia priest faces excommunication (supports women priests)

[IndianaGreen]

Georgia priest faces excommunication

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois was at Kentucky ceremony to ordain female priest

Associated Press

Friday, November 14, 2008

VATICAN CITY — A Roman Catholic priest faces excommunication for attending a ceremony to ordain a woman in the United States, a Vatican official said Friday.

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois of Columbus, Ga., joined a June ceremony in Lexington, Ky., to ordain Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a member of a group called Roman Catholic Womenpriests.

His excommunication would likely be automatic, requiring no further action from the Holy See, said the chief Vatican spokesman, the Rev. Federico Lombardi.

Bourgeois told The New York Times, however, that he recently received a letter from the Vatican’s doctrinal watchdog, the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith, offering him a chance to recant within 30 days to avoid excommunication, the newspaper reported Friday.

Lombardi said he did not know of such a letter. The Times said Bourgeois informed the Vatican he would not repent.

Recent popes have said the Roman Catholic Church cannot ordain women because Christ chose only males as apostles. Excommunication is the most severe penalty under church law, cutting off a Catholic from receiving or administering sacraments.

http://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/stories/2008/11/14/georgia_priest_excommunication.html

On edit, here is the website for women priests:

Roman Catholic Womenpriests (RCWP) is an international initiative within the Roman Catholic Church. The mission of Roman Catholic Womenpriests North America is to spiritually prepare, ordain, and support women and men from all states of life, who are theologically qualified, who are committed to an inclusive model of Church, and who are called by the Holy Spirit and their communities to minister within the Roman Catholic Church.

History

The Roman Catholic Womenpriests movement is an initiative within the Church that began with the ordination of seven women on the Danube River in 2002. Reclaiming our ancient spiritual heritage, womenpriests are shaping a more inclusive, Christ-centered Church of equals in the twenty-first century. Women bishops ordained in full apostolic succession continue to carry on the work of ordaining others in the Roman Catholic Church. We advocate a new model of priestly ministry united with the people with whom we serve. We are rooted in a response to Jesus who called women and men to be disciples and equals living the Gospel.

http://www.romancatholicwomenpriests.org/