The Wanderer Interview With Cardinal Burke… Be Transformed And Put On The Mind Of Christ

(Editor’s Note: His Eminence Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, recently paid a visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis. His Eminence graciously allotted time in his demanding schedule to grant The Wanderer an extensive interview and provided many illuminating insights. Among the topics he addressed is the troubling situation in which the Church finds herself and how the faithful can best respond. Part one of this important interview appeared in last week’s Wanderer.)
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Q. High-placed members of the hierarchy, including Pope Francis, seem to attribute the underlying cause of the clerical sexual abuse crisis to “clericalism.” It seems as if the findings of the 2002 John Jay Study commissioned by the Dallas Charter — which found that over 80 percent of clerical abuse cases were related to homosexuality — clearly indicates otherwise. [Note: Even Gerhard Cardinal Mueller was recently quoted to reaffirm his position that “homosexuality and clerical abuse are clearly linked.”]
Can you explain exactly what the term “clericalism” means? Do you think it can accurately be portrayed as the underlying root cause of the clerical sexual abuse and cover-up problem that plagues the Church?

A. Clericalism is the using of the clerical state for other than its true purpose, namely, to teach correct doctrine and to lead the Church in her correct discipline. Clericalism is typically present when a person uses his authority for his own personal gains or to exercise undue power over people.
I do not think it is accurate to say that the sexual abuse of minors is owed to clericalism. That would be to give the impression that there is something about the clerical state that involves the sexual abuse of minors. The problem lies in the fact that over 80 percent of these acts are committed with male adolescents or young male adults, a fact that is very clear from the John Jay Study.
The root cause is sin, lust, disordered sexual desire in which one indulges to the great harm of the one who suffers this abuse.
I just do not see where it has anything to do, in particular, with clericalism. You could say that it is related to an abuse of authority because a young person would be more susceptible to think that a priest is doing something which can be justified that clearly cannot be.
But I do not think it has anything to do with clericalism at all. In fact, the more firmly and solidly a priest is identified with being a cleric, the more sense he has that he belongs to Christ. In former times it was signified by the tonsure, the cutting of the hair of a young man prior to receiving the Sacrament of Orders, to show that he belongs totally to Christ.
This is diametrically opposed to any kind of abuse of others.

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The Wanderer interviews Cardinal Burke on Synod on the Family

Q. Several weeks have passed since the Synod on the Family, and I presume you have now had time to study carefully the final report. In your view, what are the main fruits of the Synod, and how best can the Church take advantage of them?

A. The final report is a complex document and is written in a way in which it is not always easy to understand the exact import of what is being affirmed. For example, three paragraphs (nn. 84-86) suggest that the last session of the Synod found a way whereby people who are in irregular matrimonial unions can still receive the sacraments. To address the lack of clarity in the document, I have written a brief commentary on those paragraphs to clarify what the Church actually teaches.

Since the close of the Synod, Fr. Antonio Spadaro, a Jesuit who was one of the Synod Fathers and on the drafting committee of the Synod, has published an article in which he gives as a central highlight of this Synod something the prior one was unable to accomplish, namely, to open up a way for reception of Holy Communion and Penance by those who are divorced and civilly remarried. In conscience, I felt I had to publish a clarification about what he wrote.

There are many good things in the final report, but there are many other things that I intend to write about, in order to make clear the Church’s teaching. For example, I do not think the statement about parental responsibility for education is adequately stated. It could give the impression that parents are not the first ones who are responsible for the education of their children.

full interview at The Wanderer

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The Wanderer interviews Cardinal Burke

(Editor’s Note: Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke, Patron of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta, who previously served as Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura in Rome from June 2008 until November 2014, recently visited the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in La Crosse, Wis. Prior to that he served as Archbishop of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, Mo., and as Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse, during which time he founded the Shrine. His Eminence granted an interview to The Wanderer on the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe during which he shared his insights on a variety of topics, including the recently concluded Extraordinary Synod on the Family and on the New Evangelization. Part 2 will appear in next week’s print issue. See details below as to how you can access the complete interview NOW!)

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Q. Several weeks have passed since the Extraordinary Synod of Bishops on the Family. What do you see as the lasting impact of the disturbing midtermrelatio? Do you think the subsequent changes made in the final relatio went far enough? What will take place in preparation for the General Synod next fall and who will participate?

A. The very disturbing midterm relatio, which I have openly said was not a relatio or report but a manifesto, served to wake up the Synod Fathers to an agenda that was at work which touches upon the truth about marriage. In the period between the midterm report and the final relatio, the small groups worked very diligently to try to repair the serious damage done by the midterm relatio — and much progress was made.

For example, the midterm relatio had practically no foundation in Sacred Scripture or the extremely rich teaching of the Church’s Magisterium on marriage — even if one considers only St. John Paul II’s Familiaris Consortio [his 1981 apostolic exhortation “On the Role of the Christian Family in the Modern World”].

continue at The Wanderer