Roy Bourgeois is becoming the Pete Rose of Catholicism.
He got booted for bad behavior and now he’s trying everything he can to weasel his way back in.
Bourgeois, you might recall, is the priest who was excommunicated for his public approval of the ordination of women and was subsequently stripped of his priestly duties. Not only did he publicly approve of female ordination, he reportedly took part in one such ceremony. And he’s reportedly “working with an attorney” to appeal his status because he’s thinking that Pope Francis might be a little more amenable to his point of view on things a bit more than Pope Benedict XVI was.
AJC reports:
With the election of new Pope Francis, Bourgeois said Friday he is working with an attorney to appeal the decision that expelled him from being a Catholic priest for the next 40 years.
“He signed the order in November and we are appealing it right now,” Bourgeois said of Benedict. “We hope the new pope will be more open to women in the church.”
Bourgeois, 74, said he was stripped of his position after he publicly supported the ordination of women priests. While actions were considered against him, Bourgeois said he was asked to recant his support and remain silent on women ordination, but he refused…
Bourgeois said he’s never met the new pope, Jorge Mario Bergoglio…
“I’m feeling better about this pope,” he said. “I’m feeling humble. He is much closer to the poor and he is calling for simplicity. I’m cautiously optimistic.”
Bourgeois has certainly been busy. Besides lawyering up, he spoke at a Call to Action conference earlier this year, he was in East Lansing last night to show a movie entitled “Pink Smoke in the Vatican,” and next month he’ll be in New York City along with Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin to push for female ordination as well as other issues at a number of different locations.
So you see, what he really wants is for the Catholic Church to change, not him.
