Archbishop Raymond Burke is going to Rome:
VATICAN CITY -- St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke was named Friday to head the Catholic Church's highest court, a move that places an outspoken conservative in an important if not highly visible post.Burke, 59, will be the first American to serve as prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. The job usually comes with a cardinal's red hat, which would add another American to the conclaves that elect popes.
Burke has led the charge among a handful of U.S. bishops to discipline Catholic politicians who stray from church teaching. In 2004, he told Democratic presidential nominee Sen. John Kerry he could not receive Communion in St. Louis because of his support of abortion rights and in 2007 said he would refuse Communion to then-Republican candidate former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani for the same reason.
On the one hand, I think this is wonderful for the Catholic Church--Archbishop Burke has been one of the most courageous of the present day's Church leaders here in America, and knowing that he will put his not-inconsiderable talents at the service of the whole Church in his new role is vastly encouraging.
On the other hand, of course, I sympathize with the Catholics in St. Louis who are sad to lose him (and no, not with the progressive and dissident Catholics who are celebrating). It's so hard to face the uncertainty when you don't know who your next bishop will be, and are praying fervently that he will not be someone whose idea of the Church was unduly influenced by the last forty years of Church history.
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I sympathize with the Catholics in St. Louis who are sad to lose him
Think of it like a war - you always pull your best generals back just before the enemy overtakes those positions.
Smile, it's a joke.
I think.
You're scaring me, Mdavid.
Maybe there are others like him who can take his place in St. Louis.
They were looking for an excuse to get him out of the way before he landed the Church in serious hot water.
Look at this from the non-Catholic point of view. Can a non-Catholic, in conscience, vote for someone who would put the doctrine of a church, any church, not just Roman Catholic, against the desires and interests of his constituents, to say nothing of what might actually be in the best interests of the country itself?
Charles Cosimano:
Where and how are the doctines of the church inconsistent with the best interests of the country?
How is a pursuit of the truth about the world (both seen and unseen) and a call to personal and societal holiness ... inconsistent with the best interests of this country (or those of any other country, for that matter) ?
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