WASHINGTON – Days before his expulsion from both his order and the Roman Catholic priesthood for ordaining women, the Rev. Roy Bourgeois sat in chilly spring sunshine staring at the White House, contemplating what life will be like after he’s defrocked.

He was hungry — the result of a weeklong fast as part of his perennial protest against the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation in Fort Benning, Ga. The institute, formerly known as the School of the Americas, trains police and military forces from Latin America. Opponents say the school’s graduates return to their home countries and use those skills to torture citizens.

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Protesters dressed as corpses lead a procession at Fort Benning, Ga., in 1999. The Rev. Roy Bourgeois is among those who say human rights abuses have been committed by graduates of the Army’s School of the Americas at the post. 1999 McClatchy-Tribune file

The Rev. Roy Bourgeois will be defrocked if he doesn't recant his support for women's ordination.

He was wistful. After all, Bourgeois’ 38-year career as a member of the missionary Maryknoll order has meant spending time in such countries as Bolivia and El Salvador, preaching the gospel and speaking out against the rape and torture of those nations’ citizens.

Bourgeois, 73, a resident of Columbus, Ga., helped lead the first protest at the school following the 1980 assassination in El Salvador of Archbishop Oscar Romero and four churchwomen, acts Bourgeois links to training at the School of the Americas.

Those protests began with 20 people and have grown to thousands.

Bourgeois was at peace. It’s been a long time coming for the native of a small, predominantly Catholic Louisiana parish who went on to serve in Vietnam and has spent nearly every year since he returned fighting policies he sees as oppressive.

In August 2008, in Lexington, Ky., he participated in a ceremony to “ordain” a Catholic woman, Janice Sevre-Duszynska, and was subsequently excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church after he didn’t recant.

“What happened with my works with the School of the Americas movement, speaking out against injustice, I discovered this injustice much closer to home in the Catholic Church, women who are saying they are being called by God to preach,” Bourgeois said.

“I really had to reflect on what they were saying. What I discovered was grave injustice against women, our church and our God who calls women to be priests. I broke my silence to go public.”

The Army considers the Fort Benning school as a valuable asset in its ability to help build partnerships with other nations, contribute to peace and stability and ensure the Defense Department will not have to expend additional resources in the region on peacekeeping efforts.

On Wednesday, the White House announced that U.S. and Colombian negotiators had reached agreement on protections for unions, and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was slated to meet with President Obama at the White House.

On Thursday, Bourgeois and other human rights activists gathered in front of the White House to protest both the planned Colombia Free Trade Agreement and the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation.

On Friday, Bourgeois publicly responded to Maryknoll leadership by stating that he cannot, in good conscience, recant his support for women’s ordination. Today was the deadline for him to publicly do so.

After that, he’ll get another warning as a formality, then be defrocked.

Amid the flurry of geopolitical and theological debate, he finds himself feeling quite centered.

“Maybe it took me this long to be a priest. This is what we should be doing,” he said of fighting what he considers injustice. “I actually, because of what I’m going through, feel like I’m getting closer to God. When we face a crisis, we have to go within to find that peace. I find my spiritual life is growing and I’m growing closer to God.”

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