Saint Burke isn't being martyred because his hand is forced by canon law. The same canon existed for the 100 plus years when nobody had yet gotten a hair and decided to annex what they had no hand in sowing.
The diocese needs the assets, either as padding to their net worth or to sell off to cover debt. Most likely the latter being that Burke refuses to agree that the parish won't be sold outright.
Stewardship of this parish was legally given in good faith to this community, now the "good" bishop wants it back and is causing spiritual harm to these people because of his financial troubles caused by the rot within the Church.
And your sources for this enlightening bit of news is ???? Maybe the Board members who profess to be Catholic?