September 19th: Conscience, Justice & Equality
Father Roy Bourgeois is scheduled to speak at the Friday Forum, Latzer Hall, University YMCA on September 19, at 12:00 noon. His topic is "Conscience, Justice, and Equality".
Fr. Roy Bourgeois is a former Catholic priest who was removed from his position by the church for attending the ordination of a woman and speaking in favor of women's ordination. He will talk about his experience leading him to follow his conscience, from his call to priesthood, to battling the injustices of the School of Americas, to the support for ordination of women to the Catholic Priesthood.
About the speaker: After serving in Viet Nam, he joined the Maryknoll Missionaries and served among the poor in South and Central America, and was ordained to the priesthood in 1972. Based on his experience with "death squads" in his mission service, he was impelled to take an activist leadership role in opposing the training of armies in counter-insurgency at the Fort Benning Georgia School of the Americas. Six Latin American countries have withdrawn their contracts with the school.
In 2008 he decided he must also address an injustice closer to home that affects women throughout the world-- the exclusion of women from the Roman Catholic priesthood. His refusal to recant and deny the dictates of conscience eventually led to his canonical dismissal as a priest.
To quote Father Roy, "When there is injustice, silence is complicity". This philosophy extends to all areas of human justice.
He is also scheduled to speak on this topic at Allen Hall/ Unit One on campus at 7 p.m. on Thursday, September 18.
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