Background
Callahan was born in Scituate, Massachusetts on September 5, 1931. He was raised as a Catholic by his father"s parents following the death of his mother when Callahan was 6 months old.
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William Reed
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Review William Reed "Bill" Callahan was an American Roman Catholic priest whose activism on behalf of changes in Vatican policy regarding the ordination of women, his ministry to gay Catholics and his activities on behalf of social justice led to his expulsion from the Society of Jesus in 1991, forbidding him to act as a priest.
Education
He attended Boston College, where he earned bachelor"s and master"s degrees in physics, and earned his Doctor of Philosophy in the subject in 1962 from Johns Hopkins University.
Career
Together with Dolly Pomerleau, he founded the Quixote Center in 1976. During the 1980s, the center raised $100 million towards humanitarian aid to the Sandanista-led government of Nicaragua. During the visit of Pope John Paul II to the United States in 1979, Callahan implored priests "to refuse to help the pope in celebrating Mass" in the hope that "more lay women would then have to be enlisted to assist at the services." After the pope declared that the church"s position opposing the ordination of women was not a human rights issue, Callahan wondered that "perhaps this is not a human rights issue because women are not human or they do not have rights".
In a 1980 article in The New York Times title "Equal Rights on the Altar of God", Callahan opined that the church"s policy against the ordination of women was driven by the desire among the exclusively male clergy for power, which is "sexually satisfying a certain act of love and passion all its own, and priests cherish it as one game they can play", questioning "why should they share their little playing field" with women? These public challenges to Roman Catholic teaching led to a rebuke from the Church in 1979 and a removal from his post in Washington, District of Columbia In an April 1989 press conference, Callahan stated that he had been told he would be dismissed by the Jesuits if he didn"t drop his activities with the Quixote Center and the groups Priests for Equality and Catholics Speak Out that it sponsors.
Forbidden to act as a priest, he continued to be called "Father" or "Reverend" and continued his ministry to dissident Catholics. Callahan insisted that he was simply "following the example of Jesus, who was never willing to shut up".
A resident of Brentwood, Maryland, Callahan died at age 78 on July 5, 2010, due to complications of Parkinson"s Disease.
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Born
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Died
July 5, 2010 (aged 78) -
Nationality
American -
Religion
Roman Catholic Catholics