Burke Sets the Record Straight

When I first read about Archbishop Burke's interview with Randall Terry, I thought, "This will not go as the Archbishop thinks it will."  And it didn't. 

Archbishop Burke is a smart man.  What's more, he is a good man. Upon learning that his interview was not being used as he expected it would be, that he was being made to appear to be doing something he in fact was not doing, he set the record straight.  Here is his statement:

“Recently, Mr. Randall Terry and some of his associates visited me in Rome and asked to videotape an interview with me to share with pro-life workers for the purpose of their encouragement. The interview was conducted on March 2, 2009.

“Sadly, Mr. Terry has used the videotape for another purpose which I find most objectionable.

“First, Mr. Terry issued a media advisory which gave the impression that I would be physically present at the press conference during which he played the videotape, when, in fact, I was in Rome.

“Second, I was never informed that the videotape would become part of a press conference.

“Third, I gave the interview as a Bishop from the United States to encourage those engaged in the respect life apostolate, not as the Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura.

“Fourth, I was never informed that the videotape would be used as part of a campaign of severe criticism of certain fellow bishops regarding the application of Canon 915 of the Code of Canon Law.

“If I had known what the true purpose of the interview was, I would never have agreed to participate in it.

“I am deeply sorry for the confusion and hurt which the wrong use of the videotape has caused to anyone, particularly, to my brother bishops.”

(Most Rev.) Raymond L. Burke

March 26, 2009

I hope this incident does not confuse people about the force of Archbishop Burke's argument regarding Canon 915.  He has not withdrawn the argument and his case for the meaning and the application of the canon remains as cogent as ever.  The attempt to hijack that argument in favor of another argument and someone else's agenda should not be seen as having any effect on Burke's case.  Whether it will or not remains to be seen.  That is one of the many problems the abuse of the Archbishop in this recent incident has brought with it.

Comments

[Ed Peters]

This isn't the first time (http://www.canonlaw.info/2008/08/randall-terrys-dumb-stunt.html), but I sure hope it's the last, that RT's imprudence messes up the message that responsible voices are trying convey these days.

[Brian Schuettler]

I especially enjoyed Father John Tragilio's comments regarding Archbishop Burke's interview in his column at Catholic Action for Faith and Family’s web site:

(excerpt)

"Archbishop Burke mentions two essential goods Canon Law seeks to preserve: the good of the person and the common good of the entire Church. When a Catholic is banned from receiving Holy Communion it is meant to be a medicinal penalty, i.e., it is hopefully a temporary state which the person repents of their evil ways. The penalty seeks to convince the perpetrator that their sinful behavior has unpleasant consequences. Moreover, Holy Mother Church so loves the wayward sinner that she does not want him or her to dig a deeper hole by compounding their sins. Sacrilegious Communion occurs whenever a person KNOWINGLY and DELIBERATELY receives the Holy Eucharist unworthily, i.e., in the state of mortal sin. The Church prefers the person to wait until he or she goes to confession and can repent. This is the private good sought. The public, common good is the integrity of the Sacraments. When public sinners or infamous pro-abortion politicians blatantly defy Church discipline banning them from Holy Communion, not only are they harming themselves individually but they also hurt the Mystical Body of Christ."...
"Archbishop Burke aptly points out that banning notorious unrepentant sinners and notorious politicians who support abortion from Holy Communion is motivated out of love. Love Holy Mother Church has for each individual son or daughter as well as love for all her children in general. She must discipline the wayward and correct him or her for their own sake AND for the sake of the rest of her family. It would be an injustice to the sinner and to us all if there were no restrictions in canon law regarding Holy Communion made irreverently. One sacrilegious Communion offends God greatly, harms the spiritual welfare of the culprit and can lead the weak astray by bad example. Far from being unfair and nasty, this response by the Church is what any good and responsible parent does for one and for all their children."

[Rich Leonardi]

Randall Terry has done a tremendous amount of damage to Archbishop Burke's credibility on this issue. The Church will suffer for it. Shame on him.

[Joe Sims]

Do we prolifers seriously think it did the Church harm for Randall Terry to publicize his interview with AB Burke?

Burke knew he was being videotaped; knew Terry runs a daily radio show, and is by no means a low-key character.

Did anyone read Terry's Press Releases? They all stated that it was a taped interview.

Burke was acting out of character, not Terry here. Why would Burke agree to a taped interview with an already well known radical prolifer, and then turn around and say "Well, we shouldn't be telling the secular world what we think about abortion and the Eucharist."

The USCCB is to blame here.

If abortion is really murder, then publicizing Burke's words from the rooftops is needed.

But, maybe it's not really that bad, and the church 'saving face' is much more important than bishops who cannot understand the command of Canon 915.

Meanwhile, in every clinic across the country fetuses are ground up and flushed into the sewer. As Mother Teresa wrote in support to Randy Terry when he was in prison while she was still alive, "Abortion is the greatest destroyer of peace today", not Randall Terry.

Are you men or something less?

[Mark Brumley]

Joe, if you can't discuss things with people who disagree with you without questioning their manhood, then you will not be allowed to post here.

[Stanley D. Williams, PhD]

Mark,

I side with Randall Terry on this one. The Church has marginalized its message because it wants to be polite and not offensive. But abortion is offensive and public. There are a good many men of God who have been successful being more like Randall Terry than the quiet, polite, non-offensive leaders of our Church. I point that out in my two posts on this issue, here:

http://crossingnineveh.blogspot.com/2009/03/archbishop-burke-chastises-randall.html

http://crossingnineveh.blogspot.com/2009/03/cardinal-george-archbishop-burke-at.html

These posts point out that there is a fallacious "carefulness" on the part of American Catholic Culture that has marginalized the Catholic Church and made it ineffective. There have been great men of God like Jeremiah, St. Paul, and St. Francis de Sales, who often acted effectively more like Terry than some of our current leaders. I argue that if there had been 12 bishops in American over the past 100 years that were more like Terry, I doubt that Margaret Sanger or abortion would be part of our history as they are today. But, so afraid of criticism and persecution in a despicable anti-Catholic culture as the U.S. has been over the last 200+ years, Catholic leadership has too often taken the quiet, polite approach and abdicated its responsibilities to be vocal and culture leaders for truth.

This goes back to Joe's jab at being "men". It's a matter of selfless leadership, willing to risk all (including one's reputation) for the cause of life and truth. That is what Randall is trying to raise the salience of. And I with him.

Stanley D. Williams, Ph.D.
http://www.crossingnineveh.blogspot.com

[Mark Brumley]

Stan, regardless of whether what you say about "the Church" is true, it is irrelevant to the issue under discussion here, which is the misuse of an interview by Archbishop Burke. Even if what you said about "the Church" were true, it would not justify Mr. Terry's antics.

As for "Joe's jab at being 'men'", he directed his comment at those of us on this site with whom he disagreed.