Father Roy Bourgeois’ Journey

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/13767/father_roy_bourgeois_journey


Father Roy Bourgeois went from silence to solidarity. (Courtesy of Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill)

I should begin this review of Roy Bourgeois’ eloquent pamphlet, My Journey from Silence to Solidarity, which is both autobiography and polemic, with a disclosure—that, after interviewing Bourgeois at length on several occasions, I consider him a friend. For me, an angry ex-Catholic atheist, Roy Bourgeois represents all that is admirable in Christian moral witness, more often than not honored in the breach by professed Christians. Indeed, far too many Catholics would much rather look the other way rather than disagree with a bishop or—heaven forbid!—the Pope. Yet that is precisely what Bourgeois has done, and done courageously: stand up publicly to Vatican sexism, as a matter of conscience.

Bourgeois writes this little pamphlet in a direct, unassuming style. My Journey from Silence to Solidarity begins with Bourgeois’ recounting of the times he did remain silent in the face of injustice, of the times he stood on the sidelines rather than demonstrate solidarity with the oppressed. Born and raised in Louisiana, young Roy took for granted that the Catholic parish he was a member of was segregated, along with the public schools he attended. He accepted the usual rationalizations, “It’s just our tradition” and “separate but equal.” Following high school graduation, he attended college in Louisiana, desiring to be a geologist and become rich oil prospecting. The civil rights movement of the 1960s was just getting underway, but he paid that no mind either.

After one year Roy dropped out of college and enlisted in the Navy, opting to go to Vietnam, a starry-eyed patriot who believed it was necessary to “stop communism” over there lest we have to fight it in California. But his eyes were opened in Vietnam, where he volunteered at an orphanage directed by Father Lucien Oliver, a man he calls “a peacemaker, a healer who would have tremendous influence on my life.” At the orphanage, which held over 300 children, he began to see the reality of U.S. policy in Vietnam, and wrote in My Journey from Silence to Solidarity, “Their parents had been killed in the war, most by our guns and bombs. Life at the orphanage was a real struggle for survival…and brought conflict and sleepless nights. Seeing the suffering of the children at the orphanage forced me to question our presence in Vietnam, and I started to discuss this with my fellow officers.” (Bourgeois was a naval lieutenant.)

For this he was directly reprimanded by his commanding officer, who told Bourgeois bluntly, “Lieutenant, your job in the military is to implement our country’s foreign policy, not to question or discuss it.” When Bourgeois brought up the orphanage, the commanding officer shouted at him and walked out.