[ebb tide]

So what do you think of Cardinal Burke? A patsy? A pollyanna? A fool?

No, I consider Cardinal Burke to be an intelligent, obedient, holy, son of the Church.

It's the die-hard defenders of Francis whom I consider to be "patsies", "pollyannas" and "fools".

[Mrs. Don-o]

Burke is cetainly an intelligent, obedient, holy, son of the Church. He does not employ --- ever--- the kinds of detraction, rash judgment, calumny, scandal-mongering, and vulgar ridicule against our Holy Father which I see every day on the FR forum. I am not mentioning any names. But I could collect --- if I wanted to waste my time ---- hundreds of examples.

If we all maintained a tone of filial respect and focused our criticism to what is objective rather than speculative and tendentious-- in other words, if we all wisely emulated the intelligence, equitable judgment and piety of Cardinal Burke --- this would be a far more valuable and God-pleasing forum.

[Mrs. Don-o]

"It's the die-hard defenders of Francis whom I consider to be "patsies", "pollyannas" and "fools". "

Look what you're doing here. You've turned it into something personalized --- the issue is "Francis" --- are you for "Francis" o not ---- rather than focusing on particular policies, statements, actions, ISSUES.

This is not objective or just: it is making it thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the Holy Father, not thumbs-up or thumbs-down on the final Relatio of the Synod, the appointment of Kupich, the address to the Humanum conference, the World Meeting of Families, or whatever it is you want to discuss.

If we don''t make it a personal thing about Pope Francis, --- if we keep it on the level of doctrine, discipline, and policy, as Cardinal Burke does --- we will be doing well.

I admire Burke more and more every day. Really, what an admirable priest.