The controversy over Maryknoll’s Roy Bourgeois shows no signs of quieting down any time soon.

A group of nuns has now issued a statement of support for Bourgeois:

More than 100 Roman Catholic nuns from 22 religious congregations have written the Vatican protesting the threatened excommunication of Rev. Roy Bourgeois, a Maryknoll priest who publicly favors the ordination of women. In July, he participated in the ordination ceremony of a woman priest.

On October 21, 2008, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith gave Bourgeois 30 days to recant his belief and public statements supporting the priestly ordination of women or face excommunication. On Nov. 7, Bourgeois responded that he could not, in conscience, do so.

The nuns’ Dec. 12 letter says the Vatican’s action “has diminished our Church.” They believe that “excommunications depend not on edicts or laws, but on compliance” by the faithful. If the faithful do not exclude or shun someone from the community, they are not excommunicated. The letter asserts that Bourgeois is not outside the community because they “embrace him wholeheartedly.” The letter was organized by the National Coalition of American Nuns (NCAN).

“In the first century, Christians resolved their disagreements about following traditions such as circumcision and kosher dietary laws by dialogue and discussion,” said Sister Beth Rindler, speaking for NCAN. “We need to follow their example by promoting public discussion about the ordination of women,” the Franciscan Sister said.

“We hope the excommunication is not issued,” said Dominican Sister Donna Quinn, one of the coordinators of NCAN. “The medieval punishment of excommunication serves only to embarrass our Church in the eyes of the world and fuels further anger and resentment among the U.S. faithful.”

You can read the nun’s letter, and see who signed it right here.

H/T to Dave at Pontifications.