CHURCH AND STATE: Burke's law

The Post Dispatch has noticed that a polarization exists in the Church and that it becomes readily apparent when the teachings of the Church are pronounced faithfully and unabiguously:

To judge from comments on radio talk shows and the near-record amount of letters to the editor this issue has generated, the controversy has deeply divided and greatly troubled the Catholic community in St. Louis. Either that or it has illuminated a division that was already there between traditionalists and nontraditionalists.

It's rather naive to make reference to Trads and Nontrads as this is really not the division that exists. Rather, it is a division based upon one's acceptance of Church doctrine and moral truths. It is the fact that many "left" the Church years ago but have failed to honestly admit to themselves that they are "Catholic in Name Only" (CINO) - they do not give the assent of the mind and will to the doctrines of the Church. These CINOs pick and choose what to believe (if in fact, they actually believe anything that the Church professes as necessary).

As an internal church issue and a deeply personal matter of faith, Archbishop Burke's teachings are not a matter for editorial comment. As the spiritual leader of St. Louis' 555,000 Catholics, he has the right and obligation to explain and uphold his beliefs.

The writer of this article fails to grasp the fact that Archbishop Burke's 'teachings' are not his own but those of the Catholic Church. While they are also his beliefs - his beliefs are the Church's beliefs.

...he is more closely aligned with doctrinal advocates in Rome who bemoan the "moral relativism" of the American church than with many of his colleagues in the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. That group recently affirmed its opposition to abortion but left the question of sanctions up to individual bishops in their own dioceses.

In all truthfulness, he is faithfully aligned with the Church and her teachings, despite the fact that many of his 'colleagues' appear to be "moral relativists".

Thus, Archbishop Burke's stance may not cause much actual public or political disruption. What it is causing is soul-searching among individual Catholics torn between their archbishop and their consciences. Their conclusions are their own and should be honored.

It's well past time after nearly 40 years of chaos in the Church that a faithful bishop is evoking the soul-searching referred to in the article. The consciences of far too many people are malformed and, when confronted with the unamiguous teaching of the Church as presented by Archbishop Burke, these afflicted individuals tend to react negatively because truth and reason cannot coexist distortions and irrational thought.

PD article here.