Archbishop Burke says Democrats may become “party of death”
In comments published over the weekend in a daily Catholic newspaper sponsored by the Italian bishops’ conference, former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke said the Democratic Party “risks transforming itself definitively into a ‘party of death.’”
According to a Catholic New Service story, Burke - now the head of the Vatican’s version of the supreme court - was told that musician Sheryl Crow played at the Democratic National Convention last month.
“That does not surprise me much,” the archbishop said. “At this point the Democratic Party risks transforming itself definitely into a ‘party of death’ because of its choices on bioethical questions as Ramesh Ponnuru wrote in his book, ‘The Party of Death: The Democrats, the Media, the Courts and the Disregard for Human Life.’”
Archbishop Burke said the Democratic Party once was “the party that helped our immigrant parents and grandparents better integrate and prosper in American society. But it is not the same anymore.”
Pro-life Democrats are “rare, unfortunately,” he said.
In 2007, Burke resigned from the foundation board at the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center after the rest of the foundation’s board refused to replace Sheryl Crow as the musical headliner benefiting the hospital’s Bob Costas Cancer Center. Crow is a supporter of embryonic stem cell research, which the Catholic church considers akin to abortion.
The newspaper also asked Burke “for his reaction to reports that his Vatican job was designed to get him away from St. Louis.”
“I have too much respect for the pope to believe that in order to move someone away from a diocese he would nominate him to a very sensitive dicastery like this one,” said the archbishop…”
Tim Townsend has been the religion reporter at the Post-Dispatch since June 2004. He previously covered personal finance and consumer news for The Wall Street Journal. He holds master's degrees from the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and Yale Divinity School. In 2005 he won the Templeton Religion Reporter of the Year Award, given by the Religion Newswriters Association. 
Do you people really not get it? Seriously. The Church considers many issues to be important and one should always let one’s faith inform him on these issues. Those like abortion, war, immigration, death penalty, human rights are important to the RCC. But abortion is different. Abortion is FOUNDATIONAL. This is because the right to life is the FOUNDATION on which all other rights rest. Without it, the other ones matter little. The RCC considers abortion to be INTRINSICALLY evil. It does not so consider war (which can sometimes be justified), the death penalty (which can be justified in certain cases and is a matter of prudential judgment), poverty (there are many theories from smart people on both sides on how to reduce it) and so forth. Abortion is a dealbreaker.
BTW, I was against Iraq war from the beginning as unjust but war can be justified and there are arguments to be made on the other side. Abortion is in a league of its own.
Burke is not endorsing Republicans. He was speaking specifically of Democrats because the statement about Sheryl Crow performing at their convention was put to him. His observations are correct. When a party advocates the intentional killing of unborn, defenseless children in the womb, assisted suicide, the manipulation of human embryos for scientific studies to which those embryos are sacrificed and from which they will never benefit, then yes, it is a party of death.
To the IRS objector: He is no longer in the United States and now has Vatican diplomatic immunity. Therefore, the IRS could not punish him or any Church entity in the U.S. for his comments even if they were in violation of IRS rules, which they are not.
And yes, the archbishop did protest the death penalty. He led and joined his fellow Missouri bishops in a Lenten letter calling for its abolition there. Wisconsin doesn’t have the death penalty, so it was unnecessary for him to say anything when he was there.
There is general hatred against the archbishop here because, as the wicked said in the Book of Wisdom “Let us beset the just man for he is obnoxious to us; he is a censure to our thoughts and sets himself against our doings…the very sight of him is a burden to us.”
“I’d love to see a point where it is irrelevant and could be repealed because abortion is no longer necessary,” McCain told the editors of the San Francisco Chronicle. “But certainly in the short term, or even the long term, I would not support repeal of Roe v. Wade, which would then force X number of women in America to illegal and dangerous operations.”
McCain is hardly a strong pro-life candidate. He certainly offers more pro-life statements than Obama, but it is clear that a McCain presidency would not push for an overhaul of abortion laws. This effectively takes this issue off of the table, bringing Catholic voters down to “second tier” issues: poverty, war, capital punishment. No good Catholic or Christian can argue that these issues are not important moral issues that can be approached via the loving teachings of Jesus Christ. Some devout voters will place the importance of these issues below the sanctity of unborn life, but they are important nonetheless. These issues can now be elevated to the top of the list for 2008’s morality voters.
I really enjoy these blogs where the tried and true “Real Catholics” come out. They like to claim they have the exclusive hold on the truth (or Truth), and seem to think that the apostles all wore red gowns at Pentecost and that the deposit of faith was immediate and unchanging. Many are so ignorant of their own history it is amazing…they refuse to acknowledge that Christological doctrine was not resolved until the fourth century, or that there is a complete other church who claims the same apostolic succession. Its sad, really.
And how do all of these Catholics feel about voting for a snake handling, witch hunting Christian whose church believes that the Catholic faith is evil???
Amazing.
It’s easy to deny communion to pro-choice politicians.
If Burke really wants to make a statement, why doesn’t he
denounce his U.S. citizenship?
Those that agree with him that abortion is an abomination
(worse than war!), should follow him to Rome.
Pro-Choice America: Love it or leave it!
I’m a pro-choice Catholic. Biden is a pro-choice Catholic.
Most of my Catholic friends are pro-choice.
Could it be something in the communion wafers that makes one
pro-choice? Palin is an anti-choice Catholic…but I don’t think
she ever received communion. (She doesn’t consider herself to be
Catholic, but in the eyes of the church, once baptized Catholic…
always a Catholic.)
Stanger-
What makes a Catholic, well, Catholic? Unity in doctrine, in worship and in discipline. You are obviously missing two of the three. If you want to be Catholic you should correct your conscience. Otherwise, you could always adopt another religion.
A pro-choice Catholic doesn’t exist. If you think it does and you espouse it, you are committing sacrilege every time you take communion. That is not my opinion, but doctrine.
Wowee,
There are lots of pro-choice Catholics and I’m one of them.
Different pro-choice Catholics have different attitudes toward
abortion. (Surprise!)
Some believe that abortion is wrong/immoral…but they don’t believe
that ANY religious group has the right to force its beliefs on
others. (Against abortion? Don’t have one!)
I, on the other hand, see nothing wrong with abortion. If you think
that somehow erases my baptism, so be it. But according to Church
doctrine, you’re wrong.
Stanger-
I never said that your beliefs “erased your baptism”. Voting for a pro-choice candidate is against what the Church teaches. Doing so is being an accomplice to abortion, which is a mortal sin. Receiving communion, without first going to confession and being absolved of that mortal sin, is committing sacrilege.
Part of being a Catholic is unity in doctrine. You can disagree over many issues. However, according to the pope, “There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.”
Also, if your friends really believed that abortion was immoral, they would not want it to continue. Example: I am against racism, but I don’t mind if the government permits and condones it! Sounds pretty silly to me.
Why would you belong to an organization whose rules you don’t agree with and disobey?
Wowee,
Lots of Church rules have changed over the years.
Pro-choice Catholics can be a force for change within the Church.
America is pro-choice.
If you’re not, why don’t you move to a country that is?
PS Voting for a pro-choice candidate in NOT a mortal sin. Not even
Burke believes that!
Stanger-
If you vote for a pro-choice candidate because they are pro-choice it is formal cooperation in making abortion legal. How about you simply google pro-choice and mortal sin and find out for yourself what Pope JPII, the USCCB, and numerous priests have to say about voting pro choice and mortal sin. However, some would argue that it is a venial sin bordering on a mortal sin.
Just remember what a mortal sin is:
1. it concerns a “grave matter”,
2. it is committed with full knowledge
3. it is committed with both deliberate and complete consent.
You can vote for a pro-choice candidate, but the reasoning must be proportional. However, I have yet to read a Catholic opinion stating a reason that would be proportional to abortion.
Finally, your “Why don’t you leave the country” bit is silly. Laws can change. The Church has made its views on abortion and euthanasia very clear and those will never change.
Good luck this November.