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teeheeheePosted on 08/26/2004 3:38:43 PM PDT by corpus
BISHOP TAKES QUEEN Raymond Burke is highly traditional. That's why he received the final vows of a transgendered nun. By Malcolm Gay
Archbishop Raymond Burke might be a favored son of the Vatican, but interviews with more than a dozen priests reveal that as father to his former flock in La Crosse, his neo-conservative eccentricities alienated a large number of the clergy and the laity alike. "He's left a presbyterate that's demoralized and divided," says one former diocesan priest who spoke to Riverfront Times on condition he not be named in print. "For many years the priests in La Crosse were very unified. We didn't agree with one another, but anybody could sit down with anybody and carry on a civil conversation. That's history now, and I lay that at the doorstep of Ray Burke."
So strongly did some priests feel about Burke that at least two left the diocese in protest. "I can no longer minister as a priest in this diocese and retain a sense of integrity," writes Richard Dickman, former pastor of St. Mary Parish in Tomah, Wisconsin, in a letter to parishioners explaining his departure in 2001. "I find that my conscience is in conflict with the vision of ministry characterized by the bishop I have promised to obey. I am in an impossible position."
Certainly, Burke's construction of the $25 million Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe drew wide opposition, and his abrupt withdrawal from Church World Services' annual Crop Walk made him more than a few enemies. But it was his gathering of fringe religious orders to the diocese that alienated many priests.
"He brought in any number of people -- hermits we called them, or consecrated virgins and religious orders of one and two and three people," says the priest who requested anonymity. "They were just -- forgive me for saying so -- but to most of us they were wackos. They're just psychologically not well equipped, and he brought these people in because theologically they agree with him."
At times his theological allegiance with these orders placed Bishop Burke in some compromising positions. Most striking, perhaps, was the case of Sister Julie Green, a member of the Franciscan Servants of Jesus:
"Julie Green is living a lie!" writes Mary Therese Helmueller in an October 25, 2002, letter to Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Papal Nuncio to the United States. "[She] is a transsexual, a biological male. He is really Joel Green, who had a sex operation to make him physically appear as a woman.... I fear that The Church in America will suffer another 'sex scandal' if Julie Green continues to be recognized as a Catholic Religious Sister, and if Bishop Raymond L. Burke receives his final vows, as a religious sister, on November 23rd, 2002."
Montalvo forwarded the letter to Burke, who on November 20, 2002, replied to Helmueller. "With regard to Sister Julie Green, F.S.J., the recognition of the association of the faithful which she and Sister Anne LeBlanc founded was granted only after consultation with the Holy See," he writes. "These are matters which are confidential and do not admit of any further comment.... I can assure you that Sister Julie Green in no way espouses a sex change operation as right or good. In fact, she holds it to be seriously disordered. Therefore, I caution you very much about the rash judgments which you made in your letter to the Apostolic Nuncio."
Adds Burke: "I express my surprise that, when you had questions about Sister Julie Green, you did not, in accord with the teaching of our Lord, address the matter to me directly."
Green and the Franciscan Servants weren't the only controversial religious order with which Burke allied himself. In the late 1990s, the bishop combined the parishes of St. Mary and St. James in Wausau, Wisconsin. The two parishes formed the Resurrection Parish at what was formerly St. James' Parish.
St. Mary's was sold. Burke then asked the conservative Latin-rite religious order, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, to perform the Tridentine Mass at what was formerly St. Mary's. In February 2002, the order's superior, Monsignor Timothy Svea, pleaded guilty to exposing himself to and molesting teenage boys.
"What never really got any attention was that Bishop Burke brought them in," says a second priest who asked not to be named. "That's really a sore point for a lot of people in Wausau."
END
Well, I can't. How does Joel Green become Julie Green without a nip here and a tuck there?
This is really that important, sitetest, and we've spent far too much time on it already.
I'm not as big a fan of Burke as everybody else is around here, but that's probably obvious. I'm not wild about $25 million shrines, or Cathedral refurbishments, or $200 million Cathedrals. They are extravagances that are usually monuments to the bishops who build them.
Dear sinkspur,
Well, your imagination isn't as active as mine. ;-)
I would merely state that there are several chromosomal disorders that leave their sufferers in a state of less-than-fully-determined sex. Correcting those disorders, as best one can, is radically different from "transgendering" a man who is clearly a man into a "woman" or vice versa.
I don't really have a problem with $25 million shrines, or $200 million cathedrals. I have a problem with $200 million wasted on architectural monstrosities that make one naturally recoil in horror rather than wish to give praise and glory to God.
I know that the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception here in Washington cost a great deal of money, in 2004 dollars. Not for a moment do I considered that money to have been poorly-spent.
I'm sure that in its day, the Temple in Jerusalem cost a pretty penney, but I don't recall our Lord remonstrating against the cost of the project; rather, He called it His Father's House.
I think that generally, the distaste for expensive ecclesial building projects betrays a somewhat limited view of the right use of material wealth.
But heck, I drive a Benz, so you know on which side of the argument I'll be found. ;-)
sitetest
Hey, I kinda like t ... never mind.
In a more serious note, it seemed to me that the article was rather short for a lead story. Sure enough, if you go to the link you'll see that this is only a sidebar article. The main article, written by the same author, is titled "Immaculate Deception". That's the other thing. They always come up with cute, catchy titles.
concerning thiS INfo, Keep Yaps shut!
I saw what can happen when people fed with half truths,some lies,some facts,preconceived notions and imagination decide to expose an unwary,unprepared, relatively innocent fellow employee. It was brutal.
I can only say,that if there is one Catholic on this thread, knowing all the facts,who would not have understood and prayed and fought for that hermaphrodite,then that catholic does not know,love or serve God.
I cannot know that the nun in the case in point mirrors the case I have described but reading what Archbishop Burke said,and looking at how he has carried out the duties and responsibilities of his office,I would say the Archbishop was following Christ, just as the Successors of the Apostles were asked to do by Christ Himself.
I reserve the right, as do you, to bitch, as long as there's some intellectual rationale to do so.
It's OK--nobody pays attention, anyway.
One other thing which MAY have played into this.
The American Spectator revealed that Joe Lockhardt is now part of the Kerry campaign and that he has reverted to form: smear the enemies. It is CERTAIN that the dirt-diggers are working on the Swifties (there's already been a minor and ineffective 'hit' published in Milwaukee on Adm. Hoffman.)
Why not the same treatment for Burke, who certainly is a visible and prominent 'enemy?'
The real question here isn't whether or not the source of the story has an axe to grind, its pretty obvious they do, Burke certainly didn't want this story to come out.
But the question is whether or not the RCC is currently consecrating transexuals as nuns. Its either true or it ain't, and if its true it shows a huge amount of moral corruption on part of the hierarchy including Burke.
Regardless of the viewpoint of the Riverside site .
This kind of thing needs brought forward if true.
Forget it. Burke's gone, the case is closed. Someone suggested this woman may have been a hermaphrodite, except that she was known at one time as Joel Green.
We'll never know.
Dear sinkspur,
"Someone suggested this woman may have been a hermaphrodite, except that she was known at one time as Joel Green."
The second clause is a non-sequitur.
There are many persons who have had confused sexual identities due to genetic and congenital deformities who lived much of their lives as either men or women who eventually decided that the wrong choice had been made for them.
These folks are different from "transgendered" persons.
The archbishop alludes to facts not in evidence. Giving the same benefit of the doubt I have allowed for much less-worthy bishops, I must conclude there is no evidence other than that archbishop has acted properly.
So should you.
sitetest
"Facts not in evidence" cannot be considered facts.
teeheeheeIt means it's fruitless to continue to speculate. I have my opinions; others have theirs.
Hold for further developments. Turns out I have a pretty good source who will enlighten all of us on this--and it will be interesting.
Unfortunately, I haven't heard back from my sources.
Maybe because they don't WANT to talk on this one. It's a mess.
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