In Defense of Archbishop Burke

While trying to make a proper evaluation of a particular issue, few things are more vexing in a public discourse than observing one side launch into accusations that simply don’t square with the facts. The troubles are amplified the moment those accusations turn into unwarranted, personal broadsides. Recently, Archbishop Raymond Burke has been on the receiving end of more than a little criticism for his objection to statements made by Rick Majerus, a successful basketball coach at Saint Louis University. Not too long ago, Majerus made it known that he is an ardent supporter of abortion-rights and embryonic stem-cell research. Now, it is no “Vatican Secret” that both practices are squarely at odds with Catholic teaching regarding the dignity and inviolability of human life. And yet, it never ceases to amaze me that such ballyhoo results when a Catholic prelate simply reiterates the perennial teaching of a 2,000 year-old institution, or when that prelate speaks out against individuals who support such practices. What’s getting folks so angry?

The issue here is really quite simple: Archbishop Burke is the appointed leader of the Saint Louis Archdiocese. He has a responsibility to publicly uphold and defend the Church’s teaching and further, to encourage Catholic individuals and institutions to similarly uphold and defend Church doctrine. The barely concealed intolerance, not to mention arrogance, of those caterwauling interminably about so-called “threats free to speech,” all the while shouting down the Archbishop with shrill plaints, is more than a little ironic. Objective observers will notice this inconsistency with rueful mirth, no doubt. But such is the vaunted tolerance of the Left that it extends no further than the narrow confines of its own small ideology. It seems that the freedom of speech I once had the temerity to believe was guaranteed to every American remains the exclusive province of Archbishop Burke’s fiercest critics. Certain gadflies in the local media, clearly more interested in fomenting acrimony than in objective reporting, are not much help either when it comes to deciphering the matter.

As I review what actually transpired these past few days, nowhere have I found a statement originating from Archbishop Burke claiming that Majerus cannot say what he believes. People can believe and profess what they wish. No one is calling for Majerus to be arrested but if I relied solely on the histrionics of the pundits and spin-doctors, I would be inclined to believe there was a warrant out for Majerus’ arrest. But back to the point: If a public figure wraps himself in the faith of the Catholic Church and at the same time takes up the cause of promoting morally objectionable practices, then he, not the Archbishop, is responsible for moving the issue into a different arena altogether. Then, it is no longer about “freedom of speech” but moral clarity. As an aside, the mewling on about threats to “free speech” is, frankly, getting old and is more than a little puerile. Mature thinkers in Saint Louis deserve better than the recycled, worn-out tactics of Archbishop Burke’s all-too-familiar critics. This issue at hand is about nothing less than a bishop’s responsibility as the public head of the local Church. For 2,000 years, bishops have been entrusted with the sacred duty of publicly witnessing to the Church’s teaching. He must be the primary source for moral clarity regarding Church teaching for Catholics entrusted to his pastoral care. This is his paramount responsibility. A good bishop simply cannot stand idly by as conflicting statements regarding issues of morality are tossed about under his watchful eye by people claiming to be Catholic. Confusion would be, and in many cases elsewhere has been, the inevitable result. Archbishop Burke is determined not to give free reign to confusion. As already has been intimated, what distinguishes this issue is the public dimension it entails. Catholics cannot be led into thinking, via statements such as Majerus’, that it is morally permissible to support abortion while at the same time publicly touting allegiance to the Catholic Church. Archbishop Burke sees it as his duty to make this very clear.

If someone doesn’t want to belong to the Catholic Church, he or she is free to leave. But once the decision has been made to join, it’s all or nothing when it comes to faith and morals because as Catholics see it, true freedom is tied to liberating the soul from sin. If you’re not interested in taking up that challenge, what’s the point in becoming Catholic? The ball is totally in the court of the individual, as to whether or not to come on-board. That’s why all this hue and cry about the Catholic Church not respecting the freedom of the individual has always struck me as absolute hokum. But upon entering the fold, don’t expect the Church to conform to personalized, “a little bit of this and a little bit of that” belief-systems. A spiritual delicatessen the Catholic Church is emphatically not.