What Cardinal Burke Really Said About Men and the “Feminization” of the Church

ChurchPOP ^ | 2015 | Matthew Sewell

[millegan]

To quote a friend of mine, “Trying to understand Church issues through mainstream secular media is like trying to understand global economics through a 13-year-old girl’s Instagram account.”

In short, it just won’t happen. The personnel aren’t equipped, and likely don’t want to take the time to become equipped, to speak well and foster understanding about nuanced issues in the Church. They’re only after eyes, likes, and shares, (and I don’t know that they deny it) so why, OH WHY do we fall for this every. single. time?

A bit of background: Cardinal Raymond Burke, former bishop of the Dioceses of La Crosse, Wisconsin and St. Louis, respectively, and recognized defender of more traditional practices within the Church, gave an exclusive interview recently to a website dedicated to fostering the growth and strength of Catholic men–the New Emangelization. Find the full text of that interview here.

What happened next, to quote my wife: “Catholic figurehead says something. Media misinterprets. Internet explodes.”

[Mercat]

Later

[Mercat]

The absolutely horrible substitute priest we had yesterday quoted from the Kansas City Star about Cardinal Burke and apologized to the altar girls in the audience. I have already sent a SWE (strongly worded email) to our pastor. I’m going to drop this article off at the office this evening.

[SpirituTuo]

The corollary to this statement “Catholic figurehead says something. Media misinterprets. Internet explodes.” is:

Pope says something. Media (Freepers) misinterprets. Internet (FreeRepublic) explodes.

Cardinal Burke is a man with an exceptionally strong intellect, as well as a highly trained orator. If it doesn’t sound like Cardinal Burke or the teachings of the Church, then it probably isn’t.

[Salvation]

**The introduction of girl servers also led many boys to abandon altar service. Young boys don’t want to do things with girls. It’s just natural. The girls were also very good at altar service. So many boys drifted away over time. I want to emphasize that the practice of having exclusively boys as altar servers has nothing to do with inequality of women in the Church.

I think that this has contributed to a loss of priestly vocations. It requires a certain manly discipline to serve as an altar boy in service at the side of priest, and most priests have their first deep experiences of the liturgy as altar boys. If we are not training young men as altar boys, giving them an experience of serving God in the liturgy, we should not be surprised that vocations have fallen dramatically.**

Both true.

[Salvation]

**We can also see that our seminaries are beginning to attract many strong young men who desire to serve God as priests. The new crop of young men are manly and confident about their identity. This is a welcome development, for there was a period of time when men who were feminized and confused about their own sexual identity had entered the priesthood; sadly some of these disordered men sexually abused minors; a terrible tragedy for which the Church mourns.**

Many do not know that Pope Benedict sent emmisaries to the seminaries to check them out. They WERE cleaned out. Now the regimen to enter a seminary includes a two day psyche test, multiple interviews, parents are interviewed, parish priests are interviewed as well as friends are interviewed. It’s a long drawn-out process.

[Salvation]

**Unfortunately, the radical feminist movement strongly influenced the Church, leading the Church to constantly address women’s issues at the expense of addressing critical issues important to men; the importance of the father, whether in the union of marriage or not; the importance of a father to children; the importance of fatherhood for priests; the critical impact of a manly character; the emphasis on the particular gifts that God gives to men for the good of the whole society.**

Absolutely true.