Roy Bourgeois
Encyclopedia
Roy Bourgeois is an American
activist. He was ordained a priest
in the Maryknoll
order
of the Roman Catholic Church
and is founder of the human rights
group SOA Watch or the School of the Americas Watch.
Father Bourgeois was excommunicated
latae sententiae
for his participation in a women's ordination
ceremony in August 2008.
, Louisiana
in 1938. He attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana and graduated with a bachelor of science
degree in geology
.
After graduation, Bourgeois entered the United States Navy
and served as an officer
for four years. He spent two years at sea, one year at a station in Europe, and one year in Vietnam. He received the Purple Heart
during a tour of duty in Vietnam
.
After military service
, he entered the seminary
of the Catholic missionary order of Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America). He was ordained
a Catholic priest in 1972 and sent to Bolivia
.
Fr. Bourgeois spent five years in Bolivia
aiding the poor
before being arrested and deported for attempting to overthrow Bolivian dictator
General Hugo Banzer
.
1980
Fr. Bourgeois became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America
after four American
churchwomen, Sister Maura Clarke
, Jean Donovan
, Sister Ita Ford
, and Sister Dorothy Kazel
, were raped and killed by a death squad
consisting of soldiers from the Salvadoran
National Guard.
1990
Fr. Bourgeois founded the School of the Americas Watch
or (SOA Watch), an organization that seeks to close the School of the Americas, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
(WHINSEC) in 2001, through nonviolent protest.
1998
Fr. Bourgeois testified before a Spanish
judge seeking the extradition of Chile's
ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet
.
2008
In August 2008, Fr. Bourgeois participated in and delivered the homily
at the ordination
ceremony of Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a member of Womenpriests
, at a Unitarian Universalist church in Lexington, Kentucky
. Fr. Bourgeois received a 30 days' notice as of October 21, 2008 regarding possible excommunication for this action. He was excommunicated latae sententiae
.
2011
On March 18, 2011, Fr. Bourgeois was given a letter from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers notifying him that he had 15 days to recant his support for women's ordination or he would face expulsion from the order. 157 Catholic priests have signed a letter that supports his priesthood and his right to conscience. It was delivered on 22 July to the Superior General Fr. Edward Dougherty.
Fr. Roy Bourgeois has spent over four years in federal prison for peacefully crossing into Ft. Benning. He and over 240 peace activists have been tried and jailed for peacefully demonstrating at the gates of the WHINSEC, or School of the Assassins as it's referred to by the activists.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
activist. He was ordained a priest
Priest
A priest is a person authorized to perform the sacred rites of a religion, especially as a mediatory agent between humans and deities. They also have the authority or power to administer religious rites; in particular, rites of sacrifice to, and propitiation of, a deity or deities...
in the Maryknoll
Maryknoll
Maryknoll is a name shared by three organizations that are part of the Roman Catholic Church and whose joint focus is on the overseas mission activity of the Catholic Church in the United States...
order
Religious order
A religious order is a lineage of communities and organizations of people who live in some way set apart from society in accordance with their specific religious devotion, usually characterized by the principles of its founder's religious practice. The order is composed of initiates and, in some...
of the Roman Catholic Church
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
and is founder of the human rights
Human rights
Human rights are "commonly understood as inalienable fundamental rights to which a person is inherently entitled simply because she or he is a human being." Human rights are thus conceived as universal and egalitarian . These rights may exist as natural rights or as legal rights, in both national...
group SOA Watch or the School of the Americas Watch.
Father Bourgeois was excommunicated
Excommunication
Excommunication is a religious censure used to deprive, suspend or limit membership in a religious community. The word means putting [someone] out of communion. In some religions, excommunication includes spiritual condemnation of the member or group...
latae sententiae
Latae sententiae
Latæ sententiæ is a Latin term used in the canon law of the Catholic Church meaning literally "given sentence".Officially, a latae sententiae penalty follows automatically, by force of the law itself, when the law is contravened....
for his participation in a women's ordination
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
ceremony in August 2008.
Early life
Bourgeois was born in LutcherLutcher, Louisiana
Lutcher is a town in St. James Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the East Bank of the Mississippi River. The population was 3,735 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Lutcher is located at ....
, Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
in 1938. He attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana and graduated with a bachelor of science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree in geology
Geology
Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...
.
After graduation, Bourgeois entered the United States Navy
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
and served as an officer
Comparative military ranks
This article is a list of various states' armed forces ranking designations. Comparisons are made between the different systems used by nations to categorize the hierarchy of an armed force compared to another. Several of these lists mention NATO reference codes. These are the NATO rank reference...
for four years. He spent two years at sea, one year at a station in Europe, and one year in Vietnam. He received the Purple Heart
Purple Heart
The Purple Heart is a United States military decoration awarded in the name of the President to those who have been wounded or killed while serving on or after April 5, 1917 with the U.S. military. The National Purple Heart Hall of Honor is located in New Windsor, New York...
during a tour of duty in Vietnam
Vietnam War
The Vietnam War was a Cold War-era military conflict that occurred in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. This war followed the First Indochina War and was fought between North Vietnam, supported by its communist allies, and the government of...
.
After military service
United States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
, he entered the seminary
Seminary
A seminary, theological college, or divinity school is an institution of secondary or post-secondary education for educating students in theology, generally to prepare them for ordination as clergy or for other ministry...
of the Catholic missionary order of Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers (Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America). He was ordained
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
a Catholic priest in 1972 and sent to Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
.
Activism
1972-1975Fr. Bourgeois spent five years in Bolivia
Bolivia
Bolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
aiding the poor
Charity (practice)
The practice of charity means the voluntary giving of help to those in need who are not related to the giver.- Etymology :The word "charity" entered the English language through the Old French word "charité" which was derived from the Latin "caritas".Originally in Latin the word caritas meant...
before being arrested and deported for attempting to overthrow Bolivian dictator
Dictator
A dictator is a ruler who assumes sole and absolute power but without hereditary ascension such as an absolute monarch. When other states call the head of state of a particular state a dictator, that state is called a dictatorship...
General Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer
Hugo Banzer Suárez was a politician, military general, dictator and President of Bolivia. He held the Bolivian presidency twice: from August 22, 1971 to July 21, 1978, as a dictator; and then again from August 6, 1997 to August 7, 2001, as constitutional President.-Military and ideological...
.
1980
Fr. Bourgeois became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America
Latin America
Latin America is a region of the Americas where Romance languages – particularly Spanish and Portuguese, and variably French – are primarily spoken. Latin America has an area of approximately 21,069,500 km² , almost 3.9% of the Earth's surface or 14.1% of its land surface area...
after four American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
churchwomen, Sister Maura Clarke
Maura Clarke
Sister Maura Clarke, M.M., was an American Roman Catholic Maryknoll Sister, who served as a missionary in Nicaragua and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and refugees in Central America from 1959 until her death in 1980...
, Jean Donovan
Jean Donovan
Jean Donovan was an American lay missionary who was murdered with three nuns in El Salvador by a military death squad while volunteering to do charity work during the civil war there.-Life:...
, Sister Ita Ford
Ita Ford
Ita Ford, M.M. was a Roman Catholic Maryknoll Sister missionary to Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador. She worked with the poor and war refugees. On December 2, 1980, she was tortured, raped, and murdered, along with fellow missionaries Maura Clarke, M.M., laywoman Jean Donovan, and Dorothy Kazel,...
, and Sister Dorothy Kazel
Dorothy Kazel
Dorothy Kazel was an American Ursuline nun and missionary to El Salvador. On December 2, 1980, she and fellow missionaries Ita Ford, Jean Donovan and Maura Clarke were raped and murdered by members of the military of El Salvador.-Life and work:Kazel was born Dorthea Lu Kazel to Lithuanian American...
, were raped and killed by a death squad
Death squad
A death squad is an armed military, police, insurgent, or terrorist squad that conducts extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and forced disappearances of persons as part of a war, insurgency or terror campaign...
consisting of soldiers from the Salvadoran
El Salvador
El Salvador or simply Salvador is the smallest and the most densely populated country in Central America. The country's capital city and largest city is San Salvador; Santa Ana and San Miguel are also important cultural and commercial centers in the country and in all of Central America...
National Guard.
1990
Fr. Bourgeois founded the School of the Americas Watch
School of the Americas Watch
School of the Americas Watch is an advocacy organization founded by Maryknoll Father Roy Bourgeois and a small group of supporters in 1990 to protest the training of mainly Latin American military officers, by the United States Department of Defense, at the School of the Americas...
or (SOA Watch), an organization that seeks to close the School of the Americas, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation
The Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation , formerly the United States Army School of the Americas is a United States Department of Defense educational and training facility at Fort Benning near Columbus, Georgia in the United States...
(WHINSEC) in 2001, through nonviolent protest.
1998
Fr. Bourgeois testified before a Spanish
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
judge seeking the extradition of Chile's
Chile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte, more commonly known as Augusto Pinochet , was a Chilean army general and dictator who assumed power in a coup d'état on 11 September 1973...
.
2008
In August 2008, Fr. Bourgeois participated in and delivered the homily
Homily
A homily is a commentary that follows a reading of scripture. In Catholic, Anglican, Lutheran, and Eastern Orthodox Churches, a homily is usually given during Mass at the end of the Liturgy of the Word...
at the ordination
Ordination of women
Ordination in general religious usage is the process by which a person is consecrated . The ordination of women is a regular practice among some major religious groups, as it was of several religions of antiquity...
ceremony of Janice Sevre-Duszynska, a member of Womenpriests
Roman Catholic Womenpriests
Roman Catholic Womenpriests is an Independent Catholic international group that asserts a connection to the Catholic Church. They are descended from the Danube Seven, a group of women who claim to have been ordained as priests in 2002 by Rómulo Antonio Braschi, an independent bishop...
, at a Unitarian Universalist church in Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky
Lexington is the second-largest city in Kentucky and the 63rd largest in the US. Known as the "Thoroughbred City" and the "Horse Capital of the World", it is located in the heart of Kentucky's Bluegrass region...
. Fr. Bourgeois received a 30 days' notice as of October 21, 2008 regarding possible excommunication for this action. He was excommunicated latae sententiae
Latae sententiae
Latæ sententiæ is a Latin term used in the canon law of the Catholic Church meaning literally "given sentence".Officially, a latae sententiae penalty follows automatically, by force of the law itself, when the law is contravened....
.
2011
On March 18, 2011, Fr. Bourgeois was given a letter from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers notifying him that he had 15 days to recant his support for women's ordination or he would face expulsion from the order. 157 Catholic priests have signed a letter that supports his priesthood and his right to conscience. It was delivered on 22 July to the Superior General Fr. Edward Dougherty.
Fr. Roy Bourgeois has spent over four years in federal prison for peacefully crossing into Ft. Benning. He and over 240 peace activists have been tried and jailed for peacefully demonstrating at the gates of the WHINSEC, or School of the Assassins as it's referred to by the activists.
Awards
- Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace AwardPax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace AwardThe Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award is given out annually by the organization Pax Christi USA, a Catholic peace organization, to an individual who has exemplified Pope Paul VI's World Day for Peace message: "To reach peace, teach peace."...
(1997) - Thomas Merton AwardThomas Merton AwardThe Thomas Merton Award has been awarded since 1972 by the Thomas Merton Center for Peace and Social Justice in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. It is named after Thomas Merton and is given annually to "national and international individuals struggling for justice."-Award recipients:The Thomas Merton...
(2005)