Maryknoll priest involved in woman’s ‘ordination’ receives canonical warning, does not recant

August 20, 2008

Father Roy Bourgeois, who participated in the attempted "ordination" of women priests earlier this month, met on August 18 with superiors of his Maryknoll religious order. The rebel priest reports that the meeting was "productive," and that he was told he shouldn't do it again. (Father Bourgeois concelebrated the "ordination" Mass, delivered the homily, and placed his hands on the women candidates, simulating ordination.)

The Maryknoll order will send a report to Rome about the episode, but apparently will not discipline the wayward priest. A statement issued jointly by Bourgeois and the order claimed: "Contrary to popular understanding, participants in the ceremony, such as Father Bourgeois, were not automatically excommunicated."

That statement appears to be a direct contradiction of a decree issued by the Vatican in May, which read in part: "Both the one who attempts to confer a sacred order on a woman, and the woman who attempts to receive a sacred order, incurs excommunication latae sententiae."

 

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Further information:

• National Catholic Reporter article