Monday, April 12, 2010

Archbishop Burke cites “public and obstinate betrayal of religious life” by Catholic Nuns who supported Health Care Reform Bill

This weekend Archbishop Raymond Burke spoke at three-day conference put on by the Institute on Religious Life and was awarded the Pro Fidelitate et Virtute Award. The speech he delivered on Saturday was biting - even by Archbishop Burke standards. He called out the nuns who publicly supported the pro-abortion health care bill with phrases such as "public and obstinate betrayal of religious life," "defiance of the bishops," "contradicts their very nature," "knowingly and obstinately acting against the moral law,"grave scandal," and "cease identifying themselves as Catholics."

Below you can listen to the entire speech, but here are a few excerpts and some exclusive photos from the event.

Among the most poignant statements are:
(Today we are) "overshadowed by the public and obstinate betrayal of religious life by certain religious. Who ever could have imagined that religious congregations of pontifical right, would openly organize to resist and attempt to frustrate an apostolic visitation, that is, a visit to their congregations carried out under the authority of the vicar of Christ on earth, to whom all religious are bound by the strongest bonds of loyalty and obedience?"

"The spiritual harm done to the individual religious who are disobedient and also the grave scandal caused to the faithful and people in general are of incalculable dimensions."

"Now is the time for us all, and in particular for consecrated persons to stand up for the truth and to call upon our fellow Catholics and leadership to do the same, or to cease identifying themselves as Catholics."
Look for more on this story this afternoon on "Kresta in the Afternoon." A full written transcript is forthcoming.

UPDATE: You can read the transcript here.





13 comments:

  1. In the spirit of Archbishop Fulton Sheen

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  2. Wow! It's nice to hear a bishop do something besides mouth platitudes. Give it to us straight, Bishop Burke! We need guidance and truth in this day and age.

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  3. Please pray for the current bishop of Lansing and for the Adrian Dominicans - I was present when our bishop profusely thanked the Adrian Dominicans (a signer of the pro-Obamacare letter) for their service to the Diocese of Lansing at a packed Chrism Mass with dozens of priests present in St. Mary Cathedral on Holy Thursday, April 1, 2010. This was the only religious congregation of nuns that the bishop specifically thanked (to widespread applause) during the 10:30 a.m. Mass. The Adrian Dominicans are not the only religious order of nuns with their motherhouse in the Diocese of Lansing.

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  4. Thank you Bishop Burke. You are truly a pro life Bishop that I cannot say that for all Bishops sadly. Our Nuns have damaged the church, souls, and the nation, but their so called "social justice" accept for the unborn. God is not blind, nor deaf, he knows their true agenda.

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  5. Sorry, correction...should read, Our so called nuns have damaged the church, souls, and the nation, WITH their so called liberation theology, and so called "social justice" a social justice that doesn't include those least able to protect themselves. God is not blind, nor deaf, and he knows their true agenda.

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  6. I'm glad to see we have a bishop that has a backbone for a change!

    I think we're getting better bishops as time goes by. The new bishops have something the others seemed to lack: backbone!

    There used to be an old joke about bishops: How many cardinals does it take to make a bishop? Three. Two to hold him down, and one to remove his spine.

    We're also getting better priests, in general. Many of the young priests coming out of the seminaries in the last few years really have their spiritual heads on right! I'm hopeful now!

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  7. Is there any way to gently and prayerfully encourage the orders of nuns to fully cooperate with the Apostolic Visitation? Consider asking members of their orders whom you know: Has your religious order complied with the requests of the Vatican (Cardinal Franc Rode and Mother Mary Clare Millea) to return the completed questionnaire for the Apostolic Visitation of Institutes of Women Religious in the U.S. (originally due by Nov. 20, 2009)? If it was not done, does the person's religious order plan to complete the questionnaire and return it in a timely manner? Or, perhaps it is appropriate to use a step-by-step process: 1) Ask the nuns whose order is not cooperating if they are encouraging their order to comply; 2) If their order is refusing to comply, encourage their local bishop to strongly urge them to comply; 3) If their order is still refusing to comply, ask the local bishop(s) to impose sanctions on the religous order in the diocese(s) where the members of the religious order operate or serve.

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  8. These women bear no resemblance to the consecrated religious that earned our affection and trust in previous decades. These folks are professional, liberal, social workers. They would have had successful careers in Germany in the 30's doing there what they are promoting here. There are some good religious orders out there but this bunch should be dumped; they're not remotely Catholic. Take their 'pretend Catholic' careers away, their pensions away and let them function as ACORN employees. The USCCB has a responsibility here to act firmly.

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  9. When will Notre Dame stop calling itself catholic?

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  10. Thank you Archbishop Burke! My only question is why have we allowed this cancer within the Church to go on without the Bishops speaking up long ago.This stuff is not new!I live in So. California where we have a very liberal, anti-Catholic religous education conference that has been speaking and doing what they want without a concern for what is truly Catholic. No one does a thing to stop this craziness.This has been going on since the 1990s. Another thing,what about the priest, Fr.Pfleger? Where is the outrage regarding him? Also, the bishops involvment in the Health Care bill was, in my humble opinion, wrong! Charity, yes, but not to force all Americans to pay taxes for this system is wrong.We are forced into charity. That is NOT true charity. Again, I thank the Archbishop for speaking up. I fear it is toooo late.

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  11. Refreshing to see a Bishop standing for the Truth

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  12. The sisters that Archbishop Burke is attacking are the ones who are doing exactly as Jesus commanded, ministering to the poor, the sick, and those in prison, often in unhealthy and dangerous environments, with a level of courage which neither he nor I could never muster.

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  13. The Adrian Dominicans are, in my view, anything but a religious community. I cannot consider them relgious Sisters. Aging sorrority sisters, perhaps, nuns - absolutely not.

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