As pastors go, St. Louis deserved better
Colleen Carroll Campbell may think that Archbishop Burke is a wonderful example of a pastor, but in all my years as a Catholic, I have never experienced a more rigid, authoritarian, law-driven leader. The Pharisees knew all about laws, but little about Christian Love. Jesus came to lead the way back to Love for which he was promptly crucified (you could say an extreme case of excommunication).
The Archbishop was barely off the plane in St. Louis when he started his campaign to “set things right”. His interference in political matters was so flagrant that it could have been cause for the Church to lose its tax-exempt status (as should any denomination which engages in politics). The Founding Fathers knew from experience how important it was to keep Church and State separate and gave us guidelines to achieve that standard. The clergy should stay strictly away from telling any U. S. citizen for whom they should or should not vote. A bishop can and should guide the laity in matters of faith and morals and then leave it to each person’s conscience to decide what is right and responsible decision for them. No bishop will be standing next to any of us at our final judgment. We alone will be judged on our life choices.
Archbishop Burke has put an amazingly faithful and responsible group of Catholics at St. Stanislaus Church in north St. Louis through hell for the last few years and for what…….because he could? This Church would not even be there no if it were not for the faithfulness, love and stewardship of the people of that parish. The Archdiocese would have written St. Stanislaus off years ago and it would be just one more abandoned Catholic Church building among others throughtout the city.
Say what you will Ms. Campbell, while Archbishop Burke may be warm, self-deprecating and kind on a personal and private level, that is not what I saw on a day-to-day basis. Many lifelong Catholics, and I’m sure you have no idea how many, have been alienated from the church to which we proudly belonged, supported and loved before you were even born. Seminary enrollment may be “bursting at the seams”, but you can hardly say that about many of our churches. It would be interesting to question these new seminarians to find out how they see their roles as priests in the coming years. Shepherd or Lawyer?
I can’t speak for “left-leaning theologians at American Universities”, but I dare say they may have some points to make. After all, the “stogy old guys in Rome” have not always handled things perfectly; the sex-abuse scandals for example and and who knows what else?
As pastors go, St. Louis deserved better!
Mary Lou Pandorf
Creve Coeur
Archbishop Burke was an awesome pastor and leader for the St. Louis community because he stood up for Catholicism……….and as a result, many complained because he was actually asking Catholics to stand up for Catholic teachings! Imagine that!
As for political matters, some Catholics didn’t like him because he was reminding them that as a Catholic, we are against abortion. The archbishop was standing up for Catholic teaching and because of that, this letter writer and others didn’t care for him because he was ruining their cafeteria Catholic position.
“Archbishop Burke has put an amazingly faithful and responsible group of Catholics at St. Stanislaus Church…”
Faithful? Responsible? Hardly!
If this group was faithful, they would have listened to their bishop.
If this group was responsible they would have no problem being audited!
If this group was faithful they would not have hired a priest-a priest who’s views are so renegade that within a couple months he will no longer be a priest!
The St. Stans bunch knowingly broke the rules, and Archbishop Burke enforced the rules as a responsible Archbishop would have done.
“Many lifelong Catholics, and I’m sure you have no idea how many, have been alienated from the church…”
Alienated? The only people who have been alienated were cafeteria-Catholics—-Catholics who were sketchy to begin with.
“As pastors go, St. Louis deserved better”
Better being what?
An archbishop who lets his parishes go un-audited?
An archbishop who when someone breaks the rules just smiles and lets it go?
An archbishop who when Catholic teaching is severely crossed just lets it go and lets the Church deteriorate into a bunch of “feel-good people” like many other Christian denominations?
Mary Lou Pandorf, the Church you want must be a feel-good place where rules are broken and everyone just basks in the feel-goodness.
When Jesus saw his Father’s temple turned into a marketplace, he didn’t just smile and sing Kum bye Ah. Although you seem to certainly want him to.
I have a question.
Let’s assume Burke was pushing Catholic teaching, not just the portion he found convenient.
The Church opposes capital punishment as well as abortion. How many pro-death penalty politicians were publicly told they could not receive communion?
It appears the state executioner for MO is in the St. Louis area and is Catholic:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080815/ap_on_re_us/execution_doctor;_ylt=ApEljsTxNsfxGginGJznngys0NUE
Just asking.
Simian
Simian, are you a Catholic? Do you know the Church is against capital punishment 100% of the time, especially when we are talking about someone like Timothy McVeigh? Are you sure?
As far as the article you posted, it is dated 8/15. Are you saying the Archbishop should have known about this before now? How could he? Bozek and his cronies at St. Stan’s didn’t call a press conference to let him and the world know about it.
Born and raised Catholic. I am much better now, in my humble opinion. I am no longer religious.
I was, however, a very serious Catholic when I was Catholic. It was clear the Church was against the taking of human life, be it abortion, murder, war, or execution.
If the Church is serious about enforcing it’s teachings, they cannot pick and choose which teachings to enforce. Please point out politicians being told they cannot receive communion because they support capital punishment. Or judges, for that matter - there is at least one on the Supreme Court that is Catholic and pro-death penalty.
Simian
Simian, I am open to correction, but I think you are incorrect. The Church teaches that abortion and murder always take the life of an innocent human being and are always evil acts. However, war and execution can be just (but are not always so). From the Catechism of the Catholic Church regarding capital punishment:
2267 Assuming that the guilty party’s identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against an unjust aggressor. If, however, non-lethal means are sufficient to defend and protect people’s safety from the aggressor, authority should limit itself to such means, as these are more in keeping with the concrete conditions of the common good and more in conformity with the dignity of the human person.
The last time I checked, the US is more than capable of imprisoning people for life. Presumably that is an adequate non-lethal means. There is not a Catholic justification for capital punishment in the US or other stable (and most unstable) countries.
Simian
Ecce sacerdos magnus, qui in diebus suis, placuit Deo (Behold the great priest, who in his days, pleased God).
Ecce sacerdos magnus. Thank you Archbishop Burke for being our shepherd. As our bishop, thank you for being Christ for us. Ad multos annos (Many years)!
The above quotes were excerpted from an article from the Friday, 8-15-08 edition of “The St. Louis Review.”
As a True Believer in the church of Rome, how else would anyone expect
Ms. Campbell to feel? She is extremely consistent in her views and loyalty,
and is all I have come to expect from Catholic Orthodoxy.
Eagle Eye,
WHAT RULES DID ST. STANS BREAK ??
Did we break rules because we didn’t roll over like a little girl when Burke demanded our property ?
Did St. Stans break the 1891 bylaws that were created by AB Kenrick to run the church? (No)
Did St. Stans leave the Archdiocese? (N0)
Did the St. Stans priest that was an agent of Burkes STEAL 60K dollars (Yes)
Did St. Stans file a law suit in civil court (N0)
Did Burkes agent steal items from St. Stans and took them to St Agatha’s (Yes)
Eye- Wake up……..This AGAIN isn’t an issue of faith, who has it or who dosen’t have it, it’s an issue over money, greed and CONTROL