Kudos to Fr. Lawrence Brennan

...Vice Rector and Academic Dean, Kenrick-Glennon Seminary, whose letter to the Post takes the editors to task for their elitist views and denigration of Archbishop Burke. He voices many of the same objections a number of people have made regarding the innuendos of the Post writers. Here is his letter:

Archbishop gets our attention
An Oct. 6 editorial asks, "Will the flock pay any attention to the shepherd?" Hello? What city does this editorial writer live in? The flock has read the pastoral letter.

Some of the flock are consoled by its courage and clarity, some are confused by the change of values that it urges, some are outraged that it confronts their equivocation on the paramount social issue of our time - but most of them are talking about it.

The results of the "referendum" on Archbishop Raymond Burke's influence are in already. He has posed the question of voting responsibilities in a way that has compelled attention, and even if electoral numbers remain unchanged, the fact that the conversation is taking place at all is to his credit. It should have started decades ago, when the "personally opposed but can't impose" political subterfuge was first made to seem statesmanlike.

"Burke's Law," the Post-Dispatch sneers - his attempt to "settle" the question, his "absolutist position" - amount to nothing more than "his interpretation" or "his own conscience and opinion." What's more, he keeps iterating it. How could he not know, for instance, that only the media settle questions and render absolute verdicts, and that they did so to him some time ago?

In the Post-Dispatch summary of Catholic theology, bishops interpret God's will for man, and conscience simply complies. This is a caricature, of course, meant to alarm anyone concerned about autonomy. But why bother with nuance when the intention is to get liberal voters to the polls? To arms, citizens! Those priest-ridden Catholics are at it again.

The Rev. Lawrence C. Brennan
Vice Rector and Academic Dean,
Kenrick-Glennon Seminary
Shrewsbury

Source.