Cardinal Burke on Voting

And it came to pass, as he spoke these things, a certain woman from the crowd, lifting up her voice, said to him: Blessed is the womb that bore thee, and the paps that gave thee suck. But he said: Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it.
 -- Luke 11:27-28

This interview with Cardinal Raymond Burke appears to be from 2010 but it is more relevant now than ever.



  + + +

Today, October 13th, is the anniversary of the Miracle of the Sun at Fatima, Portugal. Pray to Our Lady of Fatima to protect the world from the continued spread of the "errors of Russia" whether it is in the form of atheism, socialism, marxism or humanism.

And as Cardinal Burke states in this video, pray also to Our Lady as she appeared in Guadalupe to protect the unborn and bring an end to abortion. And beyond that to defeat the anti-life forces which are spreading their poison throughout the world in the form of contraception, euthanasia and the destruction of the sacrament of marriage.

These are attacks on the Church that use the power of the government to undermine Church teaching and to ultimately defeat the Church herself. It is sadly obvious that their are many American bishops that are part of this movement. How else can we explain the silence or ambiguity from the American Church hierarchy when it comes to guiding Catholics in these elections?

I have not been a fan of Cardinal Dolan, head of the US Bishops, as you can easily tell by looking at my past articles here. I remained silent during the latest controversies with regards to his invitation of Obama to the Al Smith Dinner, but I cannot continue to remain silent.

My observation of Cardinal Dolan's past performance on the life issues including his abysmal performance in regards to the passing of legislation legitimizing "homosexual marriage" in New York leads me to conclude that he is not wholeheartedly defending Catholic teaching as he is called to do as a bishop of his flock. If the past is any guide then we will hear the most ferocious attacks on Obama after the elections -- if Obama wins reelection. I pray that this won't happen.

Abp. Dolan's tendency seems to be to do too little too late. If only he would speak out forcefully now when it makes a difference. If only he would instruct the local bishop in Albany, New York (Bishop Hubbard) to refuse communion to Governor Cuomo as Cardinal Burke states is required according to Canon Law.

As Cardinal Burke informs us in this video, the public scandal caused by openly pro-abortion and pro-"homosexual marriage" Catholic politicians and judges being continued to be allowed to receive communion leads others to the mistaken conclusion that the Church has changed its pro-life teachings or at the least does not consider them to be all that important. But what other conclusion can anyone draw from this inaction?

Cardinal Dolan needs to offer a response to Cardinal Burke without injecting so many ambiguous statements that the answer becomes open to interpretation. But then I suppose we already have his response in the form of the "Faithful Citizenship" guide for voters for 2012 from the US Catholic Bishops. This document is so ambiguous and so open to interpretation that one can only conclude that this is a deliberate act in order to misrepresent Church teaching in the area of abortion and "homosexual marriage" and in order to offer a false moral shield for American Catholics to vote for anti-life candidates -- especially those from the Democratic Party.

It is just this sort of "passive" resistance to Church teaching by the American Bishops that has brought us to the point that we are at today where American society is morally crumbling. The "errors of Russia" have spread to America and through our global leadership they have spread around the world.

As we enter into the Year of Faith as declared by Pope Benedict XVI let us pray that there will be an end to this folly. And that the Catholic Church in America will become a shining light on a hill as Christ asked of all of his followers.