More controversial work by Burke?

A St. Louis news site is reporting that a Democrat Senator who was invited to give the commencement speech at a Catholic high school her daughters attend has been informed she won't be allowed to give the speech. U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill, who supports abortion and embyronic stem cell research (sound familiar?), blames Archbishop Raymond Burke for the dis-invitation. The Archdiocese says it ain't so:

Officials with McCaskill's office and officials with the Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis, said that McCaskill (D-Mo.) was "uninvited" because she is pro-choice and a proponent of embryonic stem cell research.

But they disagree on just whose decision it was to rescind the invitation to McCaskill.

In a prepared statement, McCaskill said she was "thrilled" that she was invited to speak at the school and was "disappointed that (St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke) has made this decision."

However, an Archdiocese spokesperson and officials with the Catholic Education Office insist that it was not Burke who made the decision. In fact, they said he was never consulted on the matter.

Sue Brown, the director of marketing and community relations for the Catholic Education Office in the St. Louis Archdiocese, said the policy of the Catholic Education Office is that schools do not hire or extend invitations to speak when a person's publicly-held positions are contrary to Catholic church doctrine.

Meanwhile, a reporter for the News-Leader.com  newspaper asks a fair question:

Here's another interesting and unreported aspect to the story: Last year, McCaskill received $10,000 each from the NEA's PAC and the American Federation of Teachers PAC1, yet she chooses to send her child to a private school that teaches values with which she obviously disagrees. We wonder what message about public education is being sent by our senator? Perhaps a journalist will ask her... Or, more likely, perhaps not..

Comments

[Rick]

Archbishop Burke's nickname ought to be the "Bishop of Steel." I admire his courage and consistency and most of all, his charity toward those souls he shepherds.

[gregg]

“yet she chooses to send her child to a private school that teaches values with which she obviously disagrees”

Knowing nothing about St. Joseph’s Academy, I wonder if it actually teaches those values, or the writer assumes it teaches those values?

[jack flannery]

I'll echo Gregg and go a little further. Odds that the school caters to the very well-off with contacts at the "better colleges". Based on the reaction and words of the principal(a religious sister)--I'll be silent but read her statement.

[WestCoastCatholic]

I'm more willing to place my trust in the School and the Diocese than that of the Catholic Senator with a proven track record of voting for Stem Cell Research and Abortion rights.

I see more comments on the blogs that seem to chastise the Archbishop and now this school rather than I see support for the teachings of the church on this subject.

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[Daniel Fink]

Though we send our freshman daughter to St. Joseph Academy, my wife and I are certainly not "well off" or connected to "better colleges". To our knowledge, the school is no better (my daughter has had to defend Archbishop Burke to two classmates) or worse (Jeff Suppan, the ex-Cardinal pitcher, who publicly opposed Missouri's embryonic stem cell initiative, was an invited speaker last fall) than what we expected in light of the current Catholic culture in America.
Like any situation in which Catholic "professionals" are entrusted with supporting the Apostolic faith we wish to hand on to our children, we monitor closely what they are receiving. We hopefully encourage them to pursue excellence in their faith, rather than settle for "Catholic-Lite".
Thankfully, with Archbishop Burke as our sheperd, we have a living example to follow.

[jack]

My mouth ran way ahead of my sense of right/wrong. My sincere apologies to Mr. Fink and other parents of St. Josephs