Vatican Defrocks Activist American Priest Over Ordination Of Female Clergy

The Vatican has formally excommunicated an activist priest for his ordination of female priests. Via a press release published today by Christian Newswire:

The Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, on October 4, 2012, canonically dismissed Roy Bourgeois from the Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America, also known as the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers. The decision dispenses the Maryknoll priest from his sacred bonds. As a priest during 2008, Mr. Bourgeois participated in the invalid ordination of a woman and a simulated Mass in Lexington, Kentucky. With patience, the Holy See and the Maryknoll Society have encouraged his reconciliation with the Catholic Church. Instead, Mr. Bourgeois chose to campaign against the teachings of the Catholic Church in secular and non-Catholic venues. This was done without the permission of the local U.S. Catholic Bishops and while ignoring the sensitivities of the faithful across the country. Disobedience and preaching against the teaching of the Catholic Church about women's ordination led to his excommunication, dismissal and laicization.

Bourgeois is a hero to the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests, a group of female clergy who have likewise been excommunicated for bucking the Vatican patriarchy.  Bourgeois is also a renowned peace activist who has spent a total of four years in federal prisons for various anti-war protests. In 2010 he was nominated by the Nobel Peace Prize for his anti-war work.