Former Priest's Talk, Moderated Forum to Focus on Catholic Crisis

By Jay Tokasz
Buffalo News
November 30, 2018

https://buffalonews.com/2018/11/30/former-priests-talk-moderated-forum-to-focus-on-catholic-crisis/

Two upcoming separate events — a former priest's talk Sunday and a parish-sponsored forum Monday — will address the clergy sex abuse crisis in the Catholic church and the Buffalo Diocese.

Roy Bourgeois, removed from the Catholic priesthood over his outspoken support for women's ordination, will discuss "Crisis in the Catholic Church: Clericalism or the Gospel," at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Center for Tomorrow on the North Campus of the University at Buffalo in Amherst.

Bourgeois, a Maryknoll order priest for more than 40 years, was dismissed from the priesthood in 2012 after he refused a Vatican order to recant his participation in a 2008 ordination Mass for a Lexington, Ky. woman. The Vatican determined his support for women’s ordination was a cause of “grave scandal."

Bourgeois responded by saying, "when Catholics hear the word 'scandal,' they think about the thousands of children who have been raped and abused by Catholic priests — not the ordination of women."

And on Monday, St. Joseph University Church at 3269 Main St. will host "Rebuild my House: Going Forward in Faith Together," a moderated discussion featuring insights from a church historian, a psychotherapist, a journalist and others on addressing the abuse crisis and how it has been mishandled by church leaders. The forum will run from 7 to 8:30 p.m.