Joseph F. O'Rourke (May 15, 1938 – July 24, 2008) was a laicized

Catholic priest The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in common English usage ''priest'' refe ...

and

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pro-choice Abortion-rights movements, also self-styled as pro-choice movements, are movements that advocate for legal access to induced abortion services, including elective abortion. They seek to represent and support women who wish to terminate their ...

activist Activism consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived common good. Forms of activism range from mandate build ...

Biography

Joseph F. "Joe" O'Rourke was born in 1938, two days after the death of his father, in

Hudson, New York Hudson is a Administrative divisions of New York#City, city in and the county seat of Columbia County, New York, United States. At the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, it had a population of 5,894. On the east side of the Hudson River, f ...

.Becker, Joseph M. ''Re-Formed Jesuits: A History of Changes in Jesuit Formation During the Decade 1965-1975''. Ignatius (1992)
p. 380
/ref> He joined the

Jesuit Order The Society of Jesus (; abbreviation: S.J. or SJ), also known as the Jesuit Order or the Jesuits ( ; ), is a religious order of clerics regular of pontifical right for men in the Catholic Church headquartered in Rome. It was founded in 1540 by ...

of the Roman Catholic Church in 1958, and was ordained to the priesthood around 1971. O'Rourke was an activist against the Vietnam war and was one of nine people who broke into Dow Chemical offices in Washington, D.C. in 1969 and destroyed some of the company's files. Dow Chemical was the primary manufacturer of

napalm Napalm is an incendiary mixture of a gelling agent and a volatile petrochemical (usually gasoline or diesel fuel). The name is a portmanteau of two of the constituents of the original thickening and gelling agents: coprecipitated aluminium ...

. During this period O'Rourke worked closely with

Philip Berrigan Philip Francis “Phil” Berrigan (October 5, 1923 – December 6, 2002) was an American peace activist and Catholic priest with the Josephites (Maryland), Josephites. He engaged in nonviolent, civil disobedience in the cause of peace an ...

. O'Rourke was one of the early board members of

Catholics for a Free Choice The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international instituti ...

. In August 1974, CFFC President Joan Harriman asked him to travel with her to

Marlboro, Massachusetts Marlborough is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. The population was 41,793 at the 2020 census. Marlborough became a prosperous industrial town in the 19th century and made the transition to high technology industry in th ...

, to baptize a baby whose local priests refused to perform the rite. The baby's mother, 20-year-old Carol Morreale, had been interviewed regarding an "abortion-information clinic" that was proposed for Marlboro by Bill Baird, an activist from New York City. Morreale told a newspaper reporter that she did not advocate abortion herself but that she was in favor of free choice for others and thus she supported Baird's proposal. Because of her statement in the newspaper, and the town's polarization over the issue of abortion clinics, Morreale's local priest would not baptize her three-month-old son Nathaniel, and

Humberto Sousa Medeiros Humberto Sousa Medeiros (October 6, 1915 – September 17, 1983) was a Portuguese-American clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church. He served as Archbishop of Boston from 1970 until his death in 1983, and was created a cardinal in 1973. An ecc ...

, the

Archbishop of Boston The Metropolitan Archdiocese of Boston () is a Latin Church ecclesiastical territory, or archdiocese, of the Catholic Church in eastern Massachusetts in the United States. Its mother church is the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston. The archd ...

, said that he would not allow any other priest to perform the rite. O'Rourke and Harriman spoke with local priests but could not convince them to lift the stated baptism ban. On August 20, 1974, O'Rourke publicly baptized the baby on the steps of the parish church, Immaculate Conception Church, in front of its locked doors and 300 onlookers including Morreale family members and friends, and news reporters. In this, he acted against his superiors' express orders, and was dismissed from the Jesuit Order in September.Priest Expelled for Forbidden Baptism
''Sarasota Herald-Tribune'', p. 4b, Oct. 18, 1975 O'Rourke continued to live with his order and appealed his dismissal to Rome on the grounds that he had a right to baptize the baby. His appeal was rejected. Later, he was also laicized. Although O'Rourke was very critical of Catholic Church teaching in matters of sexuality, he remained committed to Catholic advocacy of religious liberty, and for constitutional, economic, political and human rights.Chihara, Michelle. (July 31, 2002)
"Father Figures"
. ''Colorado Springs Independent.'' Retrieved 2011-07-16. O'Rourke later married and had a child.Becker, Joseph M. (1992). p. 385 He died in

Oak Park, Illinois Oak Park is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, adjacent to Chicago. It is the List of municipalities in Illinois, 26th-most populous municipality in Illinois, with a population of 54,318 as of the 2020 census. Oak Park was first se ...

, in 2008.

References

External links

* * * (click View Issue) * * (fee required for full article) * (fee required for full article) {{DEFAULTSORT:Orourke, Joseph 1938 births 2008 deaths 20th-century American Jesuits 21st-century American Jesuits American abortion-rights activists American Roman Catholic priests Catholic feminists Former Jesuits Laicized Roman Catholic priests