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Contentious prelate leaving St. Louis for Rome appointment
Publication date:
July 11, 2008
Section:
G1. News 
CNS/Mark Kempf: Archbishop BurkeClick the “Leadership” button on the Web site of the St. Louis archdiocese and Archbishop Raymond Burke is no longer on the list. That’s because June 27 he was appointed prefect of the church’s highest court, the Apostolic Signatura, and will be moving soon from his Midwest post to Rome. The Signatura generally handles conflicts between two Vatican offices; appeals against decisions by diocesan bishops and Vatican offices; and appeals against decisions by the Roman Rota.
Prior to this most recent appointment, Burke, 60, was named to two Vatican posts in May: the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts and the Congregation for Clergy. The archbishop said he will retain those positions.
The appointment, announced at a news conference, noted that as of 5 a.m. Central Time that day (the hour of the announcement in Rome) he had ceased to be archbishop of St. Louis.
Just ahead of that deadline, however, Burke, as one of his last acts as archbishop, issued severe canonical penalties against Sister of Charity Louise Lears. It was punishment for her open support of women’s ordination. It was a fitting final act for a church leader who had been in the spotlight repeatedly during his four-and-a-half-year tenure, mostly because of disputes with dissident Catholics; with politicians who didn’t vote in a way Burke considered in line with church teaching; with rock star Sheryl Crow, who supports stem-cell research and headlined a fundraiser for a local Catholic hospital; with members of the board of directors of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church; and with supporters of a Missouri stem-cell initiative.
He even tried to force St. Louis University to discipline its basketball coach, Rich Majerus, after the coach showed up at a Hillary Clinton rally and announced he was pro-choice and in favor of stem-cell research.
Burke was not merely a scholar of canon law. He appeared to use it regularly to discipline individuals he deemed in defiance of church authority or teaching. He excommunicated six members of the St. Stanislaus board and the priest who ministered to the parish. He also cited canon law in prohibiting Dominican Fr. Thomas Doyle, a canon lawyer, from defending excommunicated members of the parish.
If his tenure was controversial, it also attracted conservative young men as candidates for priesthood and attracted traditionalist groups to the archdiocese.
St. Louis is one of about 10 dioceses in the United States and only 50 in the world in which the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, an Italian-based society of apostolic life, operates. One of its principal missions is restoration of the traditional Latin Mass, which it uses exclusively. Its ceremonies are conducted in elaborate traditional attire.
Burke’s emphasis on increasing the number of priests has resulted in a significant jump in candidates and ordinations. In May, nine seminarians at Kenrick-Glennon Seminary were ordained, the largest class in St. Louis in 25 years and one of the largest in the United States, according to a report in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
In interviews with Post-Dispatch writer Tim Townsend, seminarians spoke of their attraction to Burke’s conservatism, which has led to more formal dress in the seminary and regular use of the Latin Mass.
Tom Roberts is NCR news director. His e-mail address is troberts@ncronline.org. Catholic News Service contributed to this report.
National Catholic Reporter July 11, 2008
I sincerely believe that if
I sincerely believe that if this traditional bent by the Church continues there will be an American schism.
Here is a possible different
Here is a possible different twist to the Burke situation. Many U.S. companies and non-profits, when faced with the embarassment of a high-profile executive who has stepped out-of-line once too often but who is too well-known to be dismissed, have found ways to "promote" the person to a meaningless, almost invisible position elsewhere in the organization. That way both the organization and the person "save face." Perhaps the Vatican is trying the same stategy. Given the obtuse job description of the Signatura, I doubt that we will ever hear of Burke again. Or, at least, so I hope...
What will happen to Sister
What will happen to Sister Louise and all of the other people Burke has 'officially' ex-communicated or reprimanded? Will Rome have to make that decision, sorting through hundreds of lives (files)? Or will this be the responsibility of the new bishop?
Until Tom Roberts' article I
Until Tom Roberts' article I did not know that the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest existed, or that it uses the traditional Latin Mass exclusively, apparently with the blessing of 50 dioceses worldwide and about 10 in the United States, including St. Louis under Archbishop Burke.
It is quite remarkable that any bishop would allow a group to use the old Latin Mass exclusively, since Pope Benedict XVI explicitly outlawed that in his letter of July 7, 2007, to all Catholic bishops, accompanying the issuance of his motu proprio Summorum Pontificum (on the use of the Roman liturgy).
In the sixth paragraph from the end of the letter, the pope insisted that both the post-Vatican II vernacular liturgies and the old Latin rite had to be respected. He wrote: "Needless to say, in order to experience full communion, the priests of the communities adhering to the former usage cannot, as a matter of principle, exclude celebrating according to the new books. The total exclusion of the new rite would not in fact be consistent with the recognition of its value and holiness."
The English translation is at http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/letters/2007/documents/hf...
Evidently Archbishop Burke is a stickler for canon law only when it suits his purposes. NCR would do the church a service if it would publish a list of all the dioceses that sanction this group that totally excludes the new rite, so that the Vatican could take appropriate corrective action.
A point well made. The Holy
A point well made. The Holy Father seems to admonish the communities that, in order to be in full communion, they MUST celebrate, "...according to the new books". When I have asked ICKSP priests (now known as, "Canons") why they do not celebrate in the Novis Ordo, their stock answer is, "I do not know it". It is a subject they are not willing to discuss.
I believe this institute must be very closely watched. They tend to celebrate the Mass in a 'Priest centric' way, making the priest - rather than Christ - the centerpoint of the church. Their previous North American Superior, Fr. Timothy Svea, abused this power in a very sinful way and was imprisoned for it.
God bless Archbishop Raymond
God bless Archbishop Raymond Burke... we need more like him!
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