Archbishop Raymond Burke has gone beyond leading his own flock in the Archdiocese of St. Louis; he is out in the main stream culture reaching those that may not be inclined to go outside the Sunday Mass for their catechesis. He approaches current issues head on with a superior knowledge of Cannon Law to support the Church when She comes in conflict with today’s culture. Many, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, have heard of the Archbishop due to his very public stances that uphold the core values of the Catholic religion. The two most often sited are:
1) Archbishop Burke made a public statement that John Kerry (when he was running for President) and all other politicians who are pro-abortion should not receive the Eucharist. Also, if you vote for a pro-abortion candidate because you support their stance on abortion, you are committing a grave sin.
2) After learning that Sheryl Crow, who is a notorious abortion advocate, would be performing at a benefit concert for Cardinal Glennon Children’s Hospital, the Archbishop resigned from the hospital’s board of directors. He did not want to create a scandal or send a confusing message to the public due to the differences between Crow’s view on human life and the pro-life teaching of the Church. Below is a YouTube video of the statement that the Archbishop Burke released during the controversy.
What many don’t know about Archbishop Burke is that beyond the highly politicized defenses of his religion, he is a very intelligent and educated man. He received his licentiate and doctorate from the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and is one of the leading experts in Cannon Law. In June of 2008, Pope Benedict XVI asked the Archbishop to serve as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (the highest judicial court in the Catholic Church). This would make him the first American assigned to head the office. This is the equivalent of being head of the U.S. Supreme Court in American.
Archbishop Burke is a man up to the challenge and I do not doubt that he will do an outstanding job in his new role. But the down side is that we are loosing a voice among the American Bishops. With Burke working in Rome, he will no longer have the St. Louis Archdiocese as a platform to publicly voice the Catholic perspective on current issues. Courageous voices like Burke’s are not something we see in many American Bishops. And this lack of representation does hurt the Catholic message in the media. The upside is that we are not completely loosing Archbishop Burke, because his influence will now be felt in Rome for the good of the entire Universal Church.