Archbishop Burke seeks to keep priest in prison

St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has written a letter to three churches warning that one of their former pastors, the Rev. James Beine, will soon be released from prison - and asking anyone who might be able to put him back behind bars to come forward.

Burke asked the pastors of St. Peter in St. Charles, St. Andrew in Lemay and St. Francis de Sales in St. Louis to read his letter at all Masses next weekend. Beine served in the three parishes between his ordination in 1967 and his removal from ministry in 1977.

The letter will be printed in next week's archdiocesan newspaper, the St. Louis Review, and Web site, according to spokesman Jamie Allman. It is the first time Burke, as the leader of the St. Louis archdiocese, has taken such public action against a priest.

"I offer my heartfelt apologies to any victim of James Beine," Burke wrote in the letter, "and I encourage anyone who has been a victim of James Beine, or of any other member of the clergy, to contact the Archdiocese or the law enforcement authorities."

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