Archbishop Burke Responds to the distortions of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch

The Post Dispatch, incapable of printing the truth when it comes to the Church, is taken to task again -this time by Archbishop Raymond Burke. The link is here, however, I will post the entire letter as printed in the Post. Because the source of this letter is the Post-Dispatch, we cannot be sure that Archbishop Burke's letter was printed in its entirety.

THE CATHOLIC CHURCH Editorial misstated facts, ignored efforts to address abuse
By RAYMOND L. BURKE
03/07/2004

I take strong exception to several statements made in the Feb. 29 editorial "Problem Priests: 'The Smoke of Satan.' " Three statements in particular must be corrected.

First, it stated that "one in every 25 American Catholic priests serving in the past five decades was a sexual predator." As I pointed out in my statement to the press on Feb. 27, the John Jay study did not distinguish between "credible" or "substantiated" and "unsubstantiated" allegations. As I also pointed out, a number of accusations go back several decades, and some have been made against priests who are deceased. In both cases, it is impossible to substantiate the accusations.

Certainly, there are false accusations. Therefore, it is wrong to state that all of the priests accused, in fact, were "sexual predators." That being said, the Church abhors even one act of child sexual abuse by a priest.

The editorial also stated that in Rome, "Church officials still regard the sex abuse question as an American preoccupation." Having served on a tribunal of the Holy See from September 1989, to February 1995, which dealt with such cases, I can assure you that the Holy See and Church law, in its long tradition, is committed to the discipline and eventual removal from priestly ministry of any person who commits such crimes. There is no naivete about the nature of the problem and its possible incidence in any nation or culture.

Lastly, I take great offense at the remark about Cardinal Justin Rigali, my predecessor. Since my arrival here, I have been deeply impressed with the thoroughness of the then-Archbishop Rigali in addressing the evil of child sexual abuse by the clergy. His efforts, which have all been designed to continue and develop, could not have addressed more fully the protection of our children and young people. Then-Archbishop Rigali and his staff, now my staff, always have been ready to meet with any individual or, in the case of a minor, with the parents, making an accusation of child sexual abuse or any form of sexual misconduct by a priest. He certainly developed a policy and procedures which protect fully the rights of alleged victims.

The Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke is archbishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis.

It seems to me from reading this letter to the Post that it appears to be incomplete. I suppose we will have to see if we can get clarification from Archbishop Burke about whether his letter was 'edited' by the Post or not.