Unfortunately, I am not in St. Louis.....I am in the NYC area, and affiliated with the Archdiocese of NY, which has similar problems of its own.
I only know AB Burke through his much lauded appearances on EWTN. In my opinion - he made a wonderful performance.....a first class acting job! He has persuaded all that he is a "conservative" - whatever that much hackneyed phrase is supposed to mean nowadays.
So...Burke made a similar public display of his "conservatism" by participating in some pro-life activities? So have the "Groeschelites" (Franciscan Friars of the Renewal)........but nobody in their right mind (who knows of them)would seriously consider them to be Catholic, much less orthodox in faith & practice.
Talk is cheap. So are photo-ops. Any idiot can appear on EWTN, and seem "orthodox". Or perhaps by slpashing around a bit of Latin and what seem to be smatterings of tradition. Many are easily fooled by sich third rate actors.
Retired Bishop Timilin of Scranton, PA comes to mind.......readily worthy of a Golden Globe award to his performances.
Without being cruel, or overy critical of every little facet of a priest's life and personality - we must examine the whole person to see if he is truly orthodox. Not to catch him in sin, or chide him for past mistakes, but rather to see that what seems apparant on the surface, is what dwells within the heart.
My personal example of a real bishop - whom I met and dealt with face to face - was BP Austin Vaughn of NYC. He was a scholar, and a former seminary professor. But he was a decent & simple man. He did not merely give lip servie to the Pro-life cause for a photo-op, he lived it. He was jailed for it more times then I can remember. And did it all because he wanted to - because to the core of his being he believed in it.
One memory I have of him is at the funeral of a priest. I was informing him beforehand of the music to be used. It was to be the traditional Gregorian Requiem mass setting. His face lit up, and like a little child, with great glee he asked: "Credo in Unam Deo"? He wanted to sing the Creed in Latin. He was simple nad childlike in his faith - this clearly shown through him. He outclassed all his contemporaries in this regard. Because he truly was in love with God - and it showed.
I have no wasy of knowing AB Burke interiorly. But what I perceive is not the stuff of which the late Austin Vaughn was made of.
Burke - in my personal opinion - is cut from the same mold as Egan.
I know that Bp. Vaughn was one of the most courageous bishops we have had in recent years. Just yesterday I listened to his talk from a Fatima tape series from 1991.
You and I can both agree about Bishop Vaughn being a great Bishop and one whom we would follow into battle.
As an update for your consideration , Archbishop Burke has expanded the availability of the Latin Mass for those of us in the archdiocese. Requests made prior to his arrival here were denied. There was one Latin Mass in the archdiocese on Sunday at it was located in south St Louis City. It was some 40-45 miles for me. We now have the Institute of Christ the King and the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem in St. Louis, both of whom celebrate the Tridentine Mass, exclusively.
You should know that both the Prior of the Canons and the Superior General of the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest speak so highly of Archbishop Burke that I cannot ignore them or their counsel.
You should also know that the late Fr. John Hardon personally selected Archbishop Burke to carry on his work of Director of the Marian Catechist Apostolate before he died. There is no other priest I would trust more than Fr. Hardon.
Although we should be cautious of placing too much in men, I can state categorically from my limited encounters with Archbishop Burke and from these and others that know him, that he is a very humble and holy servant of God.
I hope and pray that this may help you and others learn more about him and the good he is doing here in St. Louis.