Cardinal Burke praying fervently that the Synod-caused confusion will stop
31 October 2014
Cardinal Raymond Burke, the Church’s top canon lawyer, has given another admirably strong interview about the Synod, this time to CNSNews.com. Do listen or read the interview in full on the CNSNews.com website. Here are some key extracts from the remarkable words of a remarkable pastor of the family:
Cardinal Burke: “The priests and bishops are called to be faithful to the truth. Our office is to teach this truth and to assist the faithful to live it, but we can never even under some supposed pastoral approach either alter or deny the truth about marriage.”
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Cardinal Burke: “…we have descended and gone away from the truth of our faith and the truth of the moral law in society in general. But the fact that these kinds of questions are being seriously discussed in the church should shock us all and awaken us to the need today to give an heroic witness to the truth of the indissolubility of marriage from attacks from within the church herself.”
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[interviewer]: “Do you think there’s a threat or a risk that in the near future the Catholic Church may face another such situation even in Western nations, where some leaders of the Church, some bishops, decide to side with Caesar rather than with God? Take the side against the truth of the Church? Is there a risk of that?”
Cardinal Burke: “I think that’s a real challenge today […]”
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[interviewer]: “Do you think that some of the bishops who were participating in the synod and were pushing the Catholic Church away from Christ’s teaching on marriage were at risk of committing scandal?”
Cardinal Burke: “Well, certainly it happened with the publication of the midterm report from the synod.”
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Cardinal Burke: “[H]ow can [one] say that there are positive elements in an act which is gravely sinful, namely to engage in the marriage act when you’re not married? There can’t be any positive element to that. It’s against the divine, natural and revealed law.”
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[interviewer]: “Can the Catholic Church teach that people should quote unquote “value” homosexual orientation?”
Cardinal Burke: “No, it’s not possible because we treasure, we value, something that is a good and homosexual relations are not good.”
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[interviewer]: “And people who are cohabitating out of wedlock and living that lifestyle, or who are living a homosexual lifestyle, should they receive, should they go to communion?”
Cardinal Burke: “[I]f you confess the sin of having sexual union outside of marriage, or if you confess the sin of engaging in homosexual acts, and you do not have the firm purpose to change your life to avoid those acts in the future, you can’t receive absolution. And, in the same way, too, then you would not be disposed to receive Our Lord in Holy Communion because your life is a contradiction to the truth that He teaches us.”
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[interviewer]: “And if a politician advocates the legal taking of innocent human life in an abortion and the funding of it and the continuation of that, is that a grave sin in the view of the Catholic Church?”
Cardinal Burke: “Oh, of course. It’s not only grave in itself to advocate for acts against the moral law, but then to do it in a public way and as a leader, a political leader, increases the gravity of the sin.”
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Cardinal Burke: “…so-called Catholic–false Catholic—movements, which have in fact promoted a way of life in contradiction to the church’s teaching. And I saw it, too, in some of the very confused language of the, for instance, of the midterm report, and I would say that it exactly would be guilty of the fault which the document on the care of persons suffering from the homosexual condition indicated in 1986.”
[interviewer]: “In sum, do you believe the bishops and the pope have a duty to avoid confusing Catholics about the church’s inalterable teachings on marriage and homosexuality?”
Cardinal Burke: “Oh, absolutely…” … “To in any way contribute to the confusion about it, is grossly irresponsible and it’s a betrayal of the pastoral office.” … “And, so, I’m praying very fervently that this coming year that this confusion will stop…”.
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