His Eminence Raymond Card. Burke has been underscoring the interplay of civil law and the Church’s canon law. Last summer he organized a conference on that very subject.
This will be more and more important as the Church and state (and prevailing mores) become more and more estranged.
Catholics must consider what it will be like to maintain the Catholic identity of Catholic schools and hospitals (…. and, eventually, parishes). We must consider whether it is worth trying to do so. Most people will say that it is.
Under what conditions and constraints? At what cost?
I suspect we are going to get more direction from Card. Burke on these matters. Once he gets hold of something he, like a pit bull, doesn’t let it go. Think of can. 915.
Card. Ratzinger was nicknamed “God’s Rotweiller”.
Perhaps Card. Burke will be “God’s Pit Bull”.
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Sic ’em, Cardinal Burke.
If the beauty and awe inspiring Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe in LaCrosse, WI is any sign, I’d say the title is very fitting! What a blessing for us to have such a strong voice arising from the cacophony of voices of the modern age!
http://www.guadalupeshrine.org/Home/Home.asp
well we can’t call him God’s German Shepherd because (a) he’s American and (b) The Holy Father is German and our chief shepperd.
But pit bull dosen’t do it justice, I think Boarder Collie is better; [Nope. Pit Bull.] he’s very friendly (according to my spiritual director who was ordained by his emminence) until you cross him.
I agree—–> “Pit Bull”——–> One of Our Lady’s Power Team! Thank You Fr. John Harden for praying for him. Yes, Thank you for praying for our Holy Father also!
*(…. and, eventually, parishes).*
I think it’s awful that Catholic parishes discriminate against hiring transgender wiccans.
All kidding aside, I think it’s great that Cardinal Burke has set his sight on this timely issue. POTUS and his crew would love–would LOVE–to implement laws banning all “discrimination,” but that dang-gone thing called re-election is looming in the horizon.
Fr. Z, do mean “God’s American Staffordshire Terrier”?
Timothy… if only there were a “STRATFORDshire Terrier”, since Card. Burke is from Stratford, WI.
Stick with “Pitt Bull”.
APBT (American Pit Bull Terriers) can be very nice little dogs.
They are generally very friendly to people — they used to be considered “the All American dog” and were very popular family pets up until around WWII.
But they need to be carefully bred for temperament by a reputable breeder, and they need to be well trained and socialized, because they are inherently dog-aggressive just as border collies are inherently driven to herd anything that moves and labradors are inherently intent on carrying things around in their mouths.
I think we can assume that God’s Pit Bull would be well trained and socialized — but ready to defend and unafraid to do so.
I have always been a fan of His Eminence and I firmly believe that God’s pit bull has a big role to play in the end of the craziness plaguing the Church today.
I have a Border Collie…and he will not let you come into my house!
I love Cardinal Burke. He tells it like it is. He is always right on target and he is so faithful. What a blessing!
I’ve met the-now Cardinal Burke twice at the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine. From my experience, I wish we had a better adjective to describe him than “God’s Pit-Bull”. I have to believe it wasn’t traditional Catholics who coined the term “God’s Rotweiller” for our Holy Father; it was the kind of people who like the Fishwrap. The symmetry between the two on this isn’t there. The last time I met him, it was at a lunchtable. As I walked away, a $5 bill fell out of my back pocket unbeknownst to me. He got up, picked it up, and handed it to me. The people at his table were laughing for and with him because of the spectacle of him “following the money.” A pit-bull would not have done that. He just would have eaten it. Instead, how about, “The Church’s Loyal Soldier.”
Greetings from St. Louis, the Rome of the West and our Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest Oratory, both greatly blessed ‘the pit bill’ in a red hat! His directness reminds me of a story from Digby (doesn’t everything!)
“That ‘seraphic doctor’ St. Bonaventura, general of the order of St. Francis, was washing the convent vessels, when they came to present him with the hat of a cardinal which he caused to be hung on a hook in the kitchen until he had finished his chore.”
Mores Catholici – Vol 1
Id give anything for this man to be His Holiness Pius XIII after Benedict goes Home to Glory.
Jack Hughes and Father Z’: If Papa Ratzinger is our German Shepherd, then Burke must be our….
IRISH SETTER of Precedents. (or of reasonable limits, or of norms, or of boundries – you decide.)
Eoin: “Irish Setter” is a clerical nickname for a priest of Irish extraction who is lazy. Perhaps not the best for Burke.
From my experience, I wish we had a better adjective to describe him than “God’s Pit-Bull”.
Let’s hope we can someday call him “God’s Pit Pope”. (One who goes after aberrant bishops and doesn’t let go.)
Ooof Da! Good thing you clued me in!
‘God’s Pit Bull’ is a great description for Cardinal Burke!
Joseph Mary-you have a Border Collie? Cool! I had a BC in my neighborhood from the late 70s to 1987-female. She was very protective of me once on a walk, when she knocked down and grabbed the hind leg of another dog who approached me. The other dog yelped for mercy and ran off!
‘Irish Setter: a clerical nickname for a priest of Irish extraction who is lazy’-never heard of that one, Father Z!
‘God’s Pit Pope’–oooo, I like that one, Henry Edwards!
Dear Santa:
Please don’t allow this well-meaning handle for Cardinal Burke to stick. The Burke-hating mainscream media, and their NCR fellow travelers, will most definitely pick it up and repeat it ad infinitim, ad nauseam. Raymond Cardinal Burke is a solid, gentle, and courageous leader. If we’re going to compare him with anything, inspire us to do so with something more apt — and surely not with the repellent, charmless pit bull.
This is my Christmas wish. Thanks.