Father Roy Bourgeois, M.M. is an American priest in the Maryknoll order of the Roman Catholic Church and founder of the human rights group SOA Watch .

Early life and formal education

Bourgeois was born in Lutcher, Louisiana in 1938. He attended the University of Southwestern Louisiana and grauduated with a bachelor of science degree in geology.

Military career

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 one year in Vietnam. He received the Purple Heart during a tour of duty in Vietnam.

Seminary and ordination

After military service, he entered the seminary of the Maryknoll Missionary Order. He was ordained a Roman Catholic priest in 1972 and sent to Bolivia.

Activism

1972-1975 Fr. Roy spent five years in Bolivia aiding the poor, before being arrested and deported for speaking out against Bolivian dictator General Hugo Banzer, an SOA graduate.

1980 Fr. Roy became an outspoken critic of US foreign policy in Latin America after four American churchwomen, Sister Maura Clarke , Jean Donovan , Sister Ita Ford , and Sister Dorothy Kazel , were raped and killed by Salvadorian soldiers.

1990 Fr. Roy founded the School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch), an organization that seeks to close the School of the Americas, renamed Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (WHINSEC) in 2001, through nonviolent protest.

1998 Fr. Roy testified before a Spanish judge seeking the extradition of Chile's ex-dictator General Augusto Pinochet.

Awards and Recognition

1997 Pax Christi USA Pope Paul VI Teacher of Peace Award

External Links

School of the Americas Watch