How One Word Has Defined Raymond Burke

By Tim Townsend
ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH
05/05/2007

Just as St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke was holding a news conference last month to announce his resignation from the board of the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center Foundation, his video statement was being posted on the archdiocese’s website.

The archbishop explained that he had no choice but to resign from the foundation after its board refused his demands to drop musician Sheryl Crow from a hospital fund-raising event because of her support for embryonic stem cell research.

It was a public repudiation of a public figure, broadcast across a wide spectrum of media — from print and television to radio and Internet.

“It is not a matter of Miss Crow’s personal beliefs, but a matter of her public stance in favor of abortion rights and in favor of embryonic stem cell research,” Burke said into the cameras. “As archbishop of St. Louis, I have a very serious responsibility to avoid giving scandal.”

Scandal, as defined by the catechism of the Catholic church, is “an attitude or behavior which leads another to do evil.”

The scandal, in this case, was the hospital foundation aligning itself with a celebrity who had publicly supported an issue contrary to church teaching. Such an association was untenable to Burke, and he decided to make a very public response and disassociate himself from the foundation. Had he not acted, in Burke’s view, the faithful would have assumed the church condoned, and in fact was ready to profit from, Crow’s views on embryonic stem cell research.

Burke has been vocal about scandal involving Catholic politicians in the past, but his actions last month suggest he might be broadening his condemnation of other influential public figures — including Hollywood celebrities — whose activism runs contrary to church teaching. Burke declined to answer questions last week.

But how far is Burke willing to push this principle? If, for instance, a St. Louis church was holding a fundraiser for a new gym by showing “The Third Miracle” about a priest’s renewed faith, starring Ed Harris — an abortion-rights activist — would the pastor get a phone call from the archdiocese? Should parishioners stay away from the fundraiser? Will Catholic movie stars who are publicly supportive of issues like gay marriage or embryonic stem cell research be denied Communion by their local bishops?

Only if bishops perform their duties, earnestly attempt to teach, and when all else fails, follow Canon 915 as they are required! But alas, it seems far too many bishops are weak and have so little faith - if they have any at all. Too many of these seems to have become his own modern day "Judas", a traitor to Christ, having forsaken the Cross for human respect.

Given Burke’s history with the issue of scandal, it would have been more surprising had he not protested the hospital foundation’s choice of Crow, observers say.

(Burke’s) logic, but it’s also true that he’s reducing Sheryl Crow to her opinion about embryonic stem cell research,” said John McGreevy, a history professor at Notre Dame and expert on American Catholicism. “She might be in favor of other parts of the Catholic agenda, but that issue trumps everything.”

McGreevy doesn't seem to get it - bets are that he never listened to the Archbishop or read what he said...

Recent meditations on this blog (here) have focused on the evils of priestly scandal and the effects of scandal. Yet many are too concerned with earthly things to be bothered with the eternal.

Burke’s zeal about scandal can be traced all the way back to the Gospel of Matthew and a scene in which Jesus curses those who would give scandal. “If any of you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me,” he says, “it would be better for you if a great millstone were fastened around your neck and you were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

In Burke’s three years in St. Louis, it has been the archbishop’s overwhelming desire to avoid “giving scandal” that has made him, alternately, a champion and a pariah among Catholics here. His heart-felt responsibility to explain controversial church teaching — and demand it be followed by the faithful — despite frequent disapproval of a secular society, has kept his name in the headlines.

In 2004, barely two weeks into his tenure in St. Louis, Burke made a statement that ricocheted around the world, saying if Sen. John Kerry, then the presumptive Democratic presidential candidate, were to present himself at the Basilica Cathedral, “I would have to admonish him not to present himself for Communion.”

That same year, speaking to St. Louis Catholics, Burke said they would be committing a mortal sin if they voted for a candidate who supports abortion rights. He later clarified his statements by saying a person would have to be voting for an abortion rights candidate because of his or her stance on abortion in order for the sin to be grave.

The following year, Burke declared excommunicated six board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka church and a Polish priest they had hired after a two year battle over control.

These people committed a public act of schism. They fashioned for themselves, their own church.

In each instance, the archbishop explained his position as consistent with church teaching about scandal. For Burke, each of these moments was an opportunity for him to rise to the pastoral occasion and explain why he had to do what he did.

But that’s not to say his point of view is always shared by other Catholic leaders.

Catholic leaders? Where are these Catholic leaders of which he speaks? Share their names with us, please.

“It’s clear that a small group of bishops — and Archbishop Burke is one of a very small group — take a ... belligerent, attitude toward the culture,” McGreevy said. “The vast majority of Catholics may support embryonic stem cell research, but (Burke) doesn’t want anyone who supports that position to get any sort of recognition. It’s a very aggressive counter-cultural position.”

Catholics must be "counter-cultural" since we live in a "culture of death." And the mere fact that there is a largel group of bishops who are unwilling to act courageously in upholding the teachings of the Church does not, in any way, indicate the this small group of bishops are wrong. This is obvious to anyone who watches the bishops' meetings.

Not all bishops are as stringent as Burke on the issue of scandal. At a fundraiser last month, San Francisco Archbishop George Niederauer helped honor the late California Lt. Governor Leo McCarthy, whose views on homosexuality were more nuanced than his church’s, while raising $2 million for Catholic Charities.

Some might question whether Niederauer is, in fact, still Catholic.

Actor Mike Farrell, well-known for his television role as Capt. B.J. Hunnicut on “M*A*S*H,” has not been a practicing Catholic for some years. Farrell is an activist, and his views on abortion rights and gay marriage are contrary to church teaching.

And yet, Farrell has been honored in the past by Catholic organizations, including a “lifetime achievement” award given by the Catholics In Media Association in 2000. A photograph on CIMA’s website shows Farrell and his wife, Shelley Fabares, at the Beverly Hilton Hotel with Cardinal Roger Mahony, archbishop of Los Angeles.

And again, some might legitimately question whether Mahony is, indeed, still Catholic.

In an e-mail message, Farrell said he was “never asked about my relationship with the church,” before being honored by Catholic organizations with ties to the church in the past.

The church’s catechism says scandal “is grave when given by those who by nature or office are obliged to teach and educate others.” Education is at the heart of Burke’s constant drumbeat about scandal, and there are recent indications his approach is working.

Sen. Claire McCaskill’s invitation to speak at her daughter’s graduation from St. Joseph’s Academy was rescinded last month after complaints that her support of abortion rights and embryonic stem cell research were counter to the church’s teaching.

St. Joseph’s president, Sr. Michaela Zahner, said she was told by the archdiocese’s education office that by inviting McCaskill to speak she was violating archdiocesan policy and was “strongly urged to reconsider.” Zahner said she’d “rather not” repeat what she was told would happen if she refused the archdiocese’s request.

Hmmm...she would “rather not” repeat what would happen if she refused the archdiocese’s request? Sounds pretty serious...Could it be The rack? Thumbscrews? Boiling Alive?

Though a McCaskill aide blamed Burke directly, the archdiocese said he did not give the order to revoke the invitation. Zahner said the archdiocese called after receiving phone calls from St. Joseph’s parents, students and other area Catholics, complaining about McCaskill’s invitation.

Zahner said she didn’t believe McCaskill’s appearance at St. Joseph’s would have been scandalous, “but I was threatened with demonstrations and heckling,” she said. “I was not going to turn a private ceremony into public confrontation and that’s why I backed down. We teach our students dialogue, not confrontation.”

Zahner doesn't believe McCaskill's appearance would be scandalous? How is it possible, then, that she is qualified to be president of the school? Maybe someone should send her the Catechism and perhaps she should take a remedial education course on the Church's teachings.

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