Roy Bourgeois Roy Bourgeois ( born 27 January 1938 in Louisiana ) is a laicized Roman Catholic priest ; and an American activist and founder , in 1990 , of the human rights group School of the Americas Watch ( SOA Watch ) . Ordained to the priesthood in 1972 in the Roman Catholic Church ' s Maryknoll society of apostolic life ' s Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers ( The Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America ) , Bourgeois was canonically dismissed forty years later , on October 4 , 2012 , from both the Maryknolls and the priesthood , because of his August 9 , 2008 participation in what the Church said was the invalid ordination of a woman and " a simulated Mass " in Lexington , Kentucky . Early life . Bourgeois was born in Lutcher , Louisiana . He grew up in a conservative working - class family , and 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 two tours of duty during one year in Vietnam , during the first of which he was injured and received the Purple Heart . After military service , he entered the Maryknoll Society in 1966 ; then entered the seminary of the Catholic missionary society of Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers ( Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America ) , and was ordained as a Catholic priest in 1972 . Activism . 1972 – 1975 Sr . Bourgeois began the work of his priesthood in La Paz , Bolivia aiding the poor . In 1975 he was accused of , and was arrested for , attempting to overthrow Bolivian dictator General Hugo Banzer Suarez , a 1958 graduate of the School of the Americas ( SOA ) at Fort Benning , in Columbus , Georgia . Bourgeois was eventually deported from Bolivia and returned to the United States . 1980 Fr . Bourgeois moved to a Catholic Worker house in Chicago where he continued his work with the poor . He became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America after four American churchwomen ( three of them nuns , and two of them personal friends of Bourgeois ) were killed by a death squad consisting of soldiers from the Salvadoran National Guard , some of whom had been trained at the SOA / WHINSEC . Killed were Sister Maura Clarke , Jean Donovan , Sister Ita Ford , and Sister Dorothy Kazel . 1989 Fr . Bourgeois ' s criticism of US foreign policy in Latin America intensified on November 16 , 1989 when six Jesuit priests , their housekeeper , and the housekeeper ' s daughter were massacred on the campus of Universidad Centroamericana " José Simeón Cañas " ( UCA ) in San Salvador , El Salvador . Armed men in uniform burst into their shared residence and indiscriminately gunned - down everyone within . The massacre was performed by the Atlacatl Battalion , an elite unit of the Salvadoran Army , and a rapid - response , counter - insurgency battalion created in 1980 at SOA / WHINSEC . 1990 Fr . Bourgeois founded the School of the Americas Watch ( SOA Watch ) , a not - for - profit organization that seeks to close the SOA ( since 2000 known as WHINSEC ) and to change U . S . foreign policy in Latin America by educating the public , lobbying Congress and participating in creative , nonviolent resistance such as demonstrations and nonviolent protest . The SOA / WHINSEC has long maintained that it does not teach tactics that can be used on civilians but , rather , simply sharpens the military skills of soldiers from participating countries . Its website says it " provides professional education and training for civilian , military and law enforcement students . " SOA Watch claims its work caused the Pentagon to respond to the growing anti - SOA movement with a PR campaign to give the SOA a new image . " In an attempt to disassociate the school with its horrific past , " the SOA Watch website claims , " the SOA was renamed the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation ( WHINSEC ) in January of 2001 . " 1998 Fr . Bourgeois testified before a Spanish judge seeking the extradition of Chile ' s ex - dictator General Augusto Pinochet . 2008 In August 2008 , in keeping with his belief that women should be ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood , Fr . Bourgeois was a celebrant 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 . 2011 Fr . Bourgeois was briefly detained by police at the Vatican on 17 October when he tried to deliver a petition to the Holy See with a number of women priests , who were dressed in their liturgical garments . 2012 Fr . Bourgeois was part of a panel discussion at the New York premiere of the documentary Pink Smoke Over the Vatican . The film features activists for women ’ s ordination in the Catholic Church , and included clips of an interview with him . Controversy . Federal prison . Fr . Bourgeois has spent over four years in Federal prisons for non - violent protests , including entering Fort Benning . He and over 240 peace activists have been tried and jailed for peacefully demonstrating at the gates of the SOA / WHINSEC . Excommunication . The Vatican ' s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith issued a decree in May 2008 formally declaring that a woman who attempts to be ordained a Catholic priest , and the persons attempting to ordain her , are automatically excommunicated . Three months later Fr . Bourgeois was a celebrant in , and delivered the homily during the ordination of Janice Sevre - Duszynska under the auspices of the group Roman Catholic Womenpriests , which rejects the Church ' s teaching on the all - male priesthood . The ceremony was not recognized by the Vatican ; and its May 2008 declaration meant that Bourgeois was excommunicated latae sententiae . Instead , Bourgeois received a letter from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which explained what the letter called his " errors " along with " a genuine concern for his salvation . " It gave him 30 days from October 21 , 2008 to recant his " belief and public statements that support the ordination of women in our Church , or ( he ) will be excommunicated . " Bourgeois refused ; and so was , at least technically , excommunicated latae sententiae on November 24 , 2008 . For the next nearly four years Bourgeois continued to both act and be recognized as a priest , and to do the work of his calling , while he and Dominican Fr . Tom Doyle , a canon lawyer acting on Bourgeois ' behalf , asked for discussions and negotiatations on the matter with the Maryknoll Society and , through it , the Holy See . At no time , during any of it , did Bourgeois recant his position on women ' s ordination to the priesthood . Many devout Roman Catholics , though , insist that there ' s nothing to discuss ; that on May 22 , 1994 , the Venerable John Paul II released an apostolic letter , addressed to the Bishops of the Catholic Church , entitled " On Reserving Priestly Ordination to Men Alone ( Ordinatio Sacerdotalis ) , " which closes as follows : " Arguments against this clear and authoritative teaching , " wrote Keith Fournier on " Catholic Online " , " sometimes come from people who do not understand that the priesthood is not a job and have succumbed to the ' rights ' mentality of the current age . Other times they come from people who have no understanding of the sacramental nature of the Church . Both groups may include among them Catholics who , as in too many other areas of doctrine , have not been properly catechized . " Holding that the Roman Catholic church has no authority to ordain women , Pope Benedict XVI reaffirmed the church ' s ban on women priests at the Vatican ' s 2012 Holy Thursday chrism Mass . Maryknoll expulsion . On March 18 , 2011 , Fr . Bourgeois was given a letter from Fr . Edward M . Dougherty , Maryknoll ' s Superior General , and Edward J . McGovern , its Secretary General , warning Bourgeois that he had 15 days to recant his support for women ' s ordination or he would face expulsion from the society . Bourgeois responded in a letter dated April 8 , 2011 , stating that he could not recant without betraying his conscience . On July 22 , 2011 , 157 Catholic priests signed a letter , addressed to Dougherty , in support of Bourgeois ' s priesthood and work , and his right to conscience . While the letter did not specifically address the issue of women ' s ordination , it did indicate the signees ' support of the right of priests to speak from conscience without being in danger of sanction . Following his refusal to recant , the society issued Bourgeois a second canonical warning ; the final notice of pending removal from the Maryknoll Society , on July 27 , 2011 . In his August 8 , 2011 letter of response , Bourgeois wrote , in part : On August 16 , 2011 , Bourgeois ' s canon lawyer Fr . Thomas Doyle wrote a letter to the Maryknoll Society asking that " reputable theologians " be brought in to examine the case " in order to look much more deeply " into two central issues : the church ' s claim that the teaching on women ' s ordination is infallible , and the right of a Catholic " to act and think according to the dictates of his conscience " even if the conclusions put one in conflict with the church ' s highest authorities . In February 2012 , Maryknoll ' s U . S . regional superior , Fr . Mike Duggan , told both Bourgeois and Doyle , over the phone , that the order ' s general council , which consists of its superior general and three assistant generals , would be voting , in March 2012 , on whether to dismiss Bourgeois from the Maryknoll Society . In March 2012 , the four - person general council met to vote , but because canon law mandates that at least five people must vote on issues of dismissal from religious orders , Duggan had told Doyle that an unnammed fifth person from the order had been brought in to join the general council in the vote . The Maryknoll Society ' s official statement about the vote was that it was a split decision , with no clear outcome . However , both Bourgeois and Doyle said , after the vote , that Duggan told them that only two of the five general council members voted for Bourgeois ' s dismissal , while three abstained . The general council then sent a letter to the Vatican containing the results of the vote . On June 6 , 2012 Bourgeois and Doyle met with Dougherty and a mediator at the society ' s headquarters in New York . Bourgeois and Doyle said no mention was made of the dismissal vote ; and Bourgeois added that the two - hour meeting focused on the issue of conscience and " the importance of people of faith and members of Maryknoll to be able to speak openly and freely without fear . . . of being dismissed or excommunicated . " Doyle said the outcome of the meeting was " far different than we expected and far more positive . " Laicization . On Monday , November 19 , 2012 , the Maryknoll Society ' s " Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers " issued an official statement indicating that the Vatican ' s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith had ruled , on October 4 , 2012 , that Bourgeois had been canonically dismissed from both the Maryknolls , and the Roman Catholic priesthood , thereby laicizing him . The full statement from the Maryknoll Fathers and Brothers : Dominican Fr . Thomas Doyle , Bourgeois ' s canon lawyer , said he was surprised , especially after he and Bourgeois met with Maryknoll ' s superior general , Fr . Edward Dougherty , in June , and the issue of dismissal had not been discussed . " The idea then was that things would continue and they would not dismiss Roy and they would continue to dialogue , " Doyle said . " And then this just happened , unilaterally . We had no idea . " In response , Bourgeois issued the following official statement : Support . In its November 20 , 2012 statement , Erin Saiz Hanna , Executive Director of the Women ' s Ordination Conference wrote of Bourgeois : " While he is devastated to lose his community , and saddened by the harshness of this final step , he remains steadfast in his faith and conscience . He has asked for solitude and prayers during this time of transition . " In its December 3 , 2012 editorial column , the National Catholic Reporter stated that " the call to priesthood is a gift from God , " and came out unequivocally in support of Roy Bourgeois and his campaign in support of women ' s ordination to the Catholic priesthood . The editors concluded :