Sunday, September 25, 2011

Pink Smoke Over the Vatican-coming to Atlanta 10/29/11

DOCUMENTARY “PINK SMOKE OVER THE VATICAN” TO BE SHOWN IN ATLANTA Saturday, October 29 at 1:30 PM, PushPush Theater, East Decatur Station, 121 New Street, #4, Decatur, GA 30030.

Q/A WILL FOLLOW WITH ORDAINED ROMAN CATHOLIC WOMAN PRIEST JANICE SEVRE- DUSZYNSKA OF LEXINGTON, KY & LOCAL ARCWP DEACON, DIANE DOUGHERTY, WHO WILL BE ORDAINED IN ATLANTA, FALL 2012.  

LINKS TO TRAILERS OF DOCUMENTARY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VOJYlK4kefA

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-Y1TWLbj-4


Press Release: September 24, 2011
From the Association of Roman Catholic Women Priests (ARCWP)

Contacts:
Diane Dougherty, ARCWP, 770-683-8101 add57@numail.org (ordained deacon, metro-Atlanta)
Janice Sevré-Duszynska,  ARCWP, 859-684-4247 rhythmsofthedance@msn.com (ordained priest, Lexington, KY)
Bishop Bridget Mary Meehan,
ARCWP, 703-671-6712, 703-505-0004, sofiabmm@aol.com (ordained priest and ARCWP Bishop, Sarasota FL and Falls Church VA)
Roy Bourgeois, 706-682-5369 (former Maryknoll priest, excommunicated by the Vatican for attending Janice’s ordination and for speaking out in favor of ordaining women in the Roman Catholic Church, Columbus GA)
Jules Hart (Eye Goddess Films) 831-915-0188 (documentary film maker)
Dorothy Irvin, PhD, 612-387-3784, (Roman Catholic Theologian & Biblical Archaeologist, Minneapolis, MN)


"Pink Smoke Over the Vatican," an award-winning documentary about the struggle for justice and equality for women in the Roman Catholic Church -- and how it affects women worldwide -- will be shown  in Decatur, GA, Saturday, October 29 at 1:30 PM at PushPush Theater, East Decatur Station,  121 New Street, #4, Decatur, GA 30030. 

Janice Sevré-Duszynska, ARCWP, a Roman Catholic Woman Priest whose journey toward priesthood is featured in the documentary, will introduce the movie and answer questions afterwards, with Diane Dougherty, ARCWP, who plans her Atlanta ordination in Fall 2012.  

The film was shown on July 23 in Cincinnati at the Esquire Theater to a sell-out crowd of over 200 and in Lexington in August, 2011.

Janice was ordained on Aug. 9, 2008 at the UU Church in Lexington, KY.  Maryknoll priest Fr. Roy Bourgeois participated in the Eucharist with the women priests and bishop at the table. He also laid hands on Janice in blessing and gave a prophetic homily in support of women priests.  The Vatican informed Fr. Roy that he had 30 days to recant his support of women’s ordination or he would be excommunicated. He refused to recant.

Fr. Roy was sent a letter from Maryknoll Superior General Edward Dougherty on July 27th, 2011, stating that Fr. Roy had 15 days to recant his support of women priests. Fr. Roy sent a response to Fr. Dougherty saying that he would not recant. On Aug. 8, 2011 it was announced that because of his excommunication for participating in Janice's ordination and refusing to recant his support of women priests, Fr. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest of 38 years, would be dismissed from his Maryknoll community unless he recants his support for women priests. Fr. Roy has maintained his refusal to recant. As of this date, he has been given a second canonical warning, which may lead to a dismissal from the order.

The letter from Fr. Roy included this statement: "I firmly believe that the exclusion of women from the priesthood is a grave injustice against women against our Church, and against our God. My brothers, in God's eyes there is neither male or female. We are one. Just as you and I were called to be priests by our loving God, women are also being called to serve our Church as priests. Let us welcome them and give thanks to God.”  
(See: http://bridgetmarys.blogspot.com/ )

Fr. Roy is featured in the film countering the Vatican’s view on women’s ordination. Since his public support of women priests, hundreds of male priests, several bishops and a cardinal, as well as theologians, have publically expressed their support of female priests. 
(See: ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-642949)

The ordination of women in the Roman Catholic Church is viewed by many as a keystone to the empowerment of women worldwide. The women interviewed in Pink Smoke have made the connections between sexism in the Roman Catholic Church and discrimination and violence toward women and children in our world.  These concerns include traditional prejudice, education, employment, female genital mutilation, hunger, poverty, and reproductive safety.
 
In "Pink Smoke Over the Vatican" film maker Jules Hart tells the story of the women priest movement in the Roman Catholic Church. “It is not every day that you meet people who give up everything for what they believe in,” says Hart, who is not Catholic. Her film features the women priests and supporters that inspired her to make this documentary. She points out that the Vatican insists that women who are ordained -- and any supporters in attendance – automatically   “excommunicate themselves.” Catholic theologians say this is not possible. If women priests work for the Church, they lose their jobs (and membership in their religious communities). Supporters spotted at ordinations of women have suffered the same punishment – merely for attending. Male priests who want to support the equality of women remain silent out of fear of losing their jobs and pensions. Most Catholics are unaware of this controversy, due to decades of forced silence on the matter of women’s ordination.

The film chronicles the history of the women's ordination movement in the Roman Catholic Church, beginning with the secret 1970 ordination of Ludmila Javorova, during Czechoslovakia's communist rule. The Roman Catholic Women Priests movement began when three male bishops ordained seven women on the Danube in 2002. In 2003, two of the original seven women were elevated as bishops. More women were ordained near Ottawa, Canada in 2005. The the first ordination of women in the U.S. was held in Pittsburgh, in 2006. Today over 120 women have been ordained Roman Catholic Women Priests or are candidates for ordination. Currently, they are in 24 states in the U.S. and in nine other countries, in Latin America, Canada and Europe.


People who have seen “Pink Smoke” say that it is a prophetic grassroots story, which speaks truth to power.  


and

Documentary of Ordination to Diaconate, featuring Diane Dougherty, ARCWP
Monica Pearson, WSB Atlanta, April 18, 2011

Local Woman Defies Vatican, Works To Become Priest
http://www.wsbtv.com/video/27590829/index.html






No comments: