Saturday, February 28, 2004

Hedonistic Culture is factor in Church's Problems

Burke cites "hedonistic culture" as a factor in church's problems
By Aisha Sultan
Of the Post-Dispatch
02/27/2004

Archbishop Raymond Burke blamed society's "hedonistic culture" as the most significant cause of sexual abuse within the church.....(my emphasis)

I watched Archbishop Burke on EWTN and I did not hear him say this although he did mention the problem with the culture as far as chastity is concerned - nor did he indicate this in the St Louis Review article he wrote...From what I could gather he wants to spend more time reviewing it. He did say that he thought some primary reasons for these problems is failure to teach doctrinal truths and a lack of a proper ascetical prayer life. So it seems to me the above sentence and implication may be out of context, if not out of line....But then again, consider the source, The P-D, self-proclaimed defender of truth.

Aisha Sultan's article continues:
"My own conclusion is we have not taken seriously enough the influence of our culture," he said. When pressed to explain these aspects of the culture, Burke offered the example of pornography. He added that society, as a whole, does not properly address the problem of sexual abuse, which he repeatedly described as a grave evil.