At Emangelization there is a long interview with His Eminence Raymond Leo (which means “Lion”) Card. Burke. His Eminence is not going quietly into the good night, as I am sure his enemies had wanted… since they couldn’t get more. But I digress.
The interview is arranged around the theme of the state of men in the Church today.
This part is going to make some on the catholic Left have spittle-flecked nutty!
[…]
Sadly, the Church has not effectively reacted to these destructive cultural forces; [He has just listed a few.] instead the Church has become too influenced by radical feminism and has largely ignored the serious needs of men.
My generation has taken for granted the many blessings we were blessed with in our solid family lives and with the Church’s solid formation of us. My generation let all of this nonsense of sexual confusion, radical feminism and the breakdown of the family go on, not realizing that we were robbing the next generations of the most treasured gifts that we had been blessed to receive.
We have gravely wounded the current generations. As a bishop, young people complained bitterly to me, “Why we were not taught these things. Why we were not more clearly taught about the Mass, Confession and traditional devotions?” These things matter for they form a spiritual life and a man’s character.
Going to Confession and to Sunday Mass, praying the Rosary together as a family in the evening, eating meals together, all these things give practical direction in the Christian life. Learning that it is not manly to be vulgar or blasphemous and that a man is welcoming and courteous to others; these might seem like little things but they form a man’s character. Much of this has been lost.
Matthew: Your Eminence, what has been the impact of this Catholic “man-crisis” on the Church?
Cardinal Burke: [NB!] The Church becomes very feminized. [Here that repeated ‘popping’ sound? Those are arteries bursting in the necks and heads of the Left. Watch for swift retaliation in the liberal press.] Women are wonderful, of course. They respond very naturally to the invitation to be active in the Church. Apart from the priest, the sanctuary has become full of women. The activities in the parish and even the liturgy have been influenced by women and have become so feminine in many places that men do not want to get involved.
Men are often reluctant to become active in the Church. The feminized environment and the lack of the Church’s effort to engage men has led many men to simply opt out. [See my polls on the effect of all male service in the sanctuary on vocations.]
As an example, it became politically incorrect to talk about the Knights of the Altar, an idea that is highly appealing to young men. The Knights of the Altar emphasize the idea that young men offer their chivalrous service at the altar to defend Christ in the sacred realities of the Church. This idea is not welcome in many places today. [Guess who drives this sort of thing away?]
Aspects of the Church’s life that emphasized the man?like character of devotion and sacrifice have been deemphasized. Devotions that required time and effort were simply abandoned. Everything became so easy and when things are easy, men don’t think it is worth the effort. [Ain’t it the truth?]
There has been, and continues to be, serious liturgical abuses that turn men off.
In many places the Mass became very priest?centered, it was like the “priest show”. [Not in the TLM, however. The priest is completely controlled and made subservient to the action and the true Actor.] This type of abuse leads to a loss of the sense of the sacred, taking the essential mystery out of the Mass. The reality of Christ Himself coming down on the altar to make present His sacrifice on Cavalry gets lost. Men are drawn to the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice but tune out when the Mass becomes a “priest show” or trite.
The rampant liturgical experimentation after Vatican II, much of which was not sanctioned by Vatican II, stripped the Rite of the Mass of much of its careful articulation of the Sacred Mysteries that had been developed over centuries. The Mass seemed to become something very familiar, performed by men; the profound supernatural sense of the Sacred Mystery became obscured.
The loss of the sacred led to a loss of participation of women and men. But I think that men were really turned off by the loss of the sacred. It seems clear that many men are not being drawn into a deeper liturgical spirituality; today, many men are not being drawn to service at the altar. [Remember Card. Heenan’s remarks? HERE]
Young men and men respond to rigor and precision and excellence. When I was trained to be a server, the training lasted for several weeks and you had to memorize the prayers at the foot of the altar. It was a rigorous and a carefully executed service. All of a sudden, in the wake of Vatican II, the celebration of the liturgy became very sloppy in many places. It became less attractive to young men, for it was slipshod. [Put the shapeless, characterless white sack on, tie it with a dopey rope cord thing, stand there while the talking and the commercial jingle-like music go on and on and on, carry a cruet over….]
The introduction of girl servers also led many boys to abandon altar service. Young boys don’t want to do things with girls. It’s just natural. The girls were also very good at altar service. So many boys drifted away over time. I want to emphasize that the practice of having exclusively boys as altar servers has nothing to do with inequality of women in the Church.
I think that this has contributed to a loss of priestly vocations. It requires a certain manly discipline to serve as an altar boy in service at the side of priest, and most priests have their first deep experiences of the liturgy as altar boys. If we are not training young men as altar boys, giving them an experience of serving God in the liturgy, we should not be surprised that vocations have fallen dramatically.
[…]
Yes, the Left will now have to issue their own hit pieces again Card. Burke, again. They will be ad hominem, since they don’t usually deal with substance. They don’t have to. They suffer from BDS… BURKE DERANGEMENT SYNDROME™!
UPDATE:
I said that retaliation would start. It has. Here is an example.
RNS, not friendly to faithful Catholicism, posted a story on the interview. Here is a screen shot, including the picture they posted with the story.
In the piece Gibson goes after Burke and disputes some points, but at least uses a little reason. Fine.
Now… look at what catholic Crux does. Another screenshot. They simply repost David Gibson’s piece from RNS but the repackaged it a little for effect.
Here’s the larger photo chosen by Crux, not RNS.
See what they are trying to do?
CRUX: “Burke says the Church has become effeminate, but… tee hee… look! He’s wearing lace! See? SEE?!? And so are those other guys! Who’s effeminate? Tee hee!”
Never mind that people who make insinuations like this a) know nothing of Burke, b) are the same types who go weak-kneed watching people jump around in tights in the aisles of churches, and c) don’t get that the Franciscan Friars in this picture are tougher than nails, they live like mendicants, and don’t even wear shoes in the winter. The FFI’s would only hang out with the Crux types out of pity and charity and as an act of their outreach and apostolate, but they respect and admire Card. Burke…because they’re men.
What is slimy about what Crux did here – as they show more and more their true colors – is that they did exactly what they would howl against were the tables turned. Were a faithful Catholic comment on someone’s clothing and then suggest something about their sexuality, they’d have a cow. Indeed, a series of cows. A small herd, all mooing.
Finally, avoid the combox at Crux if you have to go over there. It is as vile a sewer of anonymity-driven toxic waste as what you find at Fishwrap. Instead, say a prayer for them, perhaps using the Memorare, asking our Blessed Mother’s help to turn some of these folks around before they die with the sins of their hate-filled calumnious and slanderous remarks rotting their souls as they go to the inescapable Judge. May God have mercy on them.
I’m turning the moderation queue on here after seeing what they are doing in that fever swamp over there. There may not be many comments visible for a while, since it is time to sleep here.
Loading ...
“Aspects of the Church’s life that emphasized the man-like character of devotion and sacrifice have been deemphasized. Devotions that required time and effort were simply abandoned. Everything became so easy and when things are easy, men don’t think it is worth the effort. [Ain’t it the truth?]
“There has been, and continues to be, serious liturgical abuses that turn men off.
“In many places the Mass became very priest-centered, it was like the “priest show”. [Not in the TLM, however. The priest is completely controlled and made subservient to the action and the true Actor.] This type of abuse leads to a loss of the sense of the sacred, taking the essential mystery out of the Mass. The reality of Christ Himself coming down on the altar to make present His sacrifice on Cavalry gets lost. Men are drawn to the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice but tune out when the Mass becomes a “priest show” or trite.”
Wow! So true what His Eminence said about the Holy Sacrifice. I often wonder if some priests don’t want anything to do with the TLM/EF because it’s “too hard”. . . after all, they claim, “I have to speak Latin, I have to say long prayers, and perform all kinds of rubrics. It’s too hard and too long. The Novus Ordo is much easier. ”
It’s a very sad state of affairs.
The St Louis Post-Dispatch reacted quickly: http://www.stltoday.com/lifestyles/faith-and-values/cardinal-raymond-burke-feminized-church-and-altar-girls-caused-priest/article_a6d487ab-0c46-56e6-91e1-c3aa7a713ee8.html.
Cardinal Burke is a great prophet of our time, and like many of the prophets of old he is going to get his head served up on a platter. It is a great tragedy of our time in the Church that he was not elected to the papacy!
Elizabeth R., just to clarify, although the St Louis Post-Dispatch published the article, it was written by a writer from the Religion News Service which is a VERY liberal news agency.
Thank God for him. It is wonderful to see a Cardinal speak frankly about this. When Saint JPII included altar girls we were shocked. Anybody who knows boys knows they aren’t going to want to do what girls do, and with a robe yet.
Feminism has taken over the church, but it’s even worse in public schools where little boys are being totally emasculated and encouraged to follow a traditional feminine ideal, which is really weird because the girls are encouraged to act more like the traditional male ideal and then are highly praised for it. Any expression of traditional masculinity in the boys is discouraged and punished. Boys are going to be men all but incapable of physical defending themselves or anyone.
This stuff is crazy making.
You know, in a weird way, their headline doesn’t really harm ++Burke. It actually just bolsters what he has to say about everything. It to me is akin to Taylor Swift’s line in “Shake it Off” where she says “…. There’s nothing in my brain ….” and while she may think this is part of her making money on her album, it actually speaks truth about the situation (her).
Thank God for someone so willing to simply tell the truth. There is a reason, after all, that his comments elicit such antipathy on the left. He is obviously hitting on something enormously significant.
And here’s another truth: If the FFI friars were to pose sans lace with an Eastern Rite Patriarch, fully bearded and attired in black mantiya, with some Knights of Malta thrown in for good measure, the rage factor would not be any less in the usual haunts if said Patriarch were to make the same accusations. [Consider the level of hypocrisy to which they sink. They would never make any insinuations about an Orthodox bishop, and they wear crowns and more ornaments than a clerical shop window in Rome. No. These are haters. They don’t just hate what Card. Burke stands for and teachers and defends. They hate the man. In so doing they poison their own souls and commit scandal.]
Meanwhile, I reflect on the stunning lack of young men in our churches. Just last week I attended a diocesan parish (Pauline Missal) for the Feast of Mary, Mother of God at a fairly typical suburban parish here in the mid-Atlantic. Virtually everyone has New Year’s Day off, so there was little reason to miss this holy day of obligation. 200 or so in the pews average age about 60, 5 of the 6 of men under 35 present were African students, 4 children present, and only one obvious father; in the sanctuary were priest, deacon, four women EMHC’s, 2 altar girls and 1 female cantor.
The vanishing of males from the sanctuary is more symptom than cause, it should be said, and it started before Vatican II. But that Mass demonstrated how much it has been accelerated, and much of the reason why: the liturgy had no obvious liturgical abuses, but otherwise, the entire liturgical experience was a fairly casual, therapeutic experience, capped with a long homily which issued no obvious spiritual challenge or advice.
I love Cardinal Burke, and recently offered to bid for him in the Papal auction announced on Eye of the Tiber.
Women are wonderful, of course. They respond very naturally to the invitation to be active in the Church.
And this is so true. Our feminine soul (anima) matches our female body, so things line up more easily for us and God, I think.
I am very glad God made men be priests, because Adam’s sin was his avoidance of responsibility and authority. God has spent (at least) the last 3500 years slowly training men back into responsibility – fatherhood, monogamy, fidelity, and the sacrificial and self-sacrificial priesthood.
Plus if men weren’t priests, they’d do precisely NOTHING in the Church all day long, and women would have to do everything, and that’s absolutely exhausting. We have enough to do already.
This wonderful Cardinal is in my daily prayers.
I loved the comment about the “priest show.” To me, that is one of the worst things about the N.O. mass – it allows and even encourages the priest to think of himself, his personality, his “performance,” as being the central focus of the Mass. Part of this is the versus populum effect, where Father looks out and sees that he has an audience and a microphone and…well, it’s just irresistible… And part of it, of course, was that for years priests did not stick to even the minimal rubrics of the NO and in fact seemed to take it all as just a sort of idea for their particular interpretation or performance.
I was very pleased to see Cdl Burke say this, because it seems to me that this often gets overlooked, even by people who are attempting to improve the NO. And now you also have a laity that is accustomed to it and just takes it for granted, politely tittering along with Father’s lame jokes and wondering what he’s going to do next, and almost feeling disappointed if he just gets to work and celebrates the Mass.
As an altar boy in the NO era but before altar girls existed, I and my peers felt that when we vested we were putting on dresses and there was considerable teasing. In retrospect, I realize that we were poorly taught. Still, I understand how people could view liturgical vestments as feminine or neutering. I remind myself that Christ is King, and that royalty deserves regalia.
Thankfully my home diocese shared the interview on Facebook. Not a position the Bishop would have approved of – publicly anyway- in the past. Hopefully we’ll see some changes, although as far as American dioceses go, we’re fortunate to have a good bishop and good priests.
God bless Cardinal Burke! We so need better catechism going forward. I am so grateful for the Catholic training I received, memorizing the Baltimore Catechism from front to back. My generation threw it away via the spirit of Vatican II and I for one have prayed for forgiveness ever since. And liturgical abuses turn women off, too!
Ohhhh yeaaahhhh, way to lay the wood Cardinal Burke!!! The gloves have come off and he is not pulling any punches. He is not going quietly into the night! This was a direct frontal attack on everything progressive and liberal that has been destroying the Church since Vatican II when the progressives took control of the Church. What a breath of fresh air from a Cardinal in the modern Church. He is drawing the battle lines. The effeminate priests are probably running around like sorority girls that just found out they didn’t get invited to the dance, oh the wailing and gnashing of teeth is music to my ears. It is great having a dude wearing the red, there are so few, Peter and the Apostles are cheering in heaven today and our Blessed Mother is smiling. A real man in Red in 2015 who would have thunk it! The new Epiphany, the Church was taken over by effeminate priests and militant feminists what a revelation!
GOD bless His Eminence. He is the Catholic equivalent of the Marines…First one in last one out. He’s right over the target and catching plenty of flack. I’d follow Cardinal Burke into any battle. My son is a Knight of The Altar.
Though the new diocesan Priest closed the chapter due the rigid adherence to the Fortesque Ceremonies of The Roman Rite. There wasn’t enough wiggle room for the amount of “local custom” that he prefers. So we know travel two and a half hours for meetings in another chapter. I’m grateful we have the option.
For any man interested in starting a chapter at their parish I’ve placed the link below.
http://www.knightsofthealtarsociety.com
Thank you for the Crux combox warning, Father. I sometimes look over the comments when I have nothing else to do (no TV in this house). I couldn’t get past the third one. They have taken on the same level of comments as the Fishwrap. [Same people. The editors must want it that way. They want the sewer. They want the nastiness and personal attacks.]
I immediately recognized the FFI in the photo! No amount of finery can hide their manliness and humility. The garments are for the glory of God.
I still can’t shake the feeling that he will be our next pope.
Don’t discount how much those of us truly strong women are turned off by the effeminate and emasculated liturgies and priests we have encountered in the post Vat II parishes. They remade Christ in their image and neither a manly man nor strong woman would want to follow the lisping, limp wristed Breck girl Jesus they fashioned.
I remember the year that altar girls were allowed to serve. I heard remarks from many guys who didn’t think it was wise – these were guys who, like me had just started college. Normal guys. When I was trained, there was an entire cadre of young men who were installed in a very ceremonious event. We wore our server cassocks and lined up along the altar rail and each was vested with his respective surplus and given a ring with the words inscribed “Altar Boy.” That was the most joyous experience in my life in the Church as a male.
He nailed it. Had I not grown up in the Church, been a server when we had to learn the Latin responses, and been enamored of Gregorian chant, and known the TLM, I’d be gone, gone, gone. As it is I know that it’s still the Mass, however badly celebrated today. So I, like many men, grit my teeth and make the best of it. But if the goal back in the 60s was to turn men away and off–they succeeded.
When our present pastor first came some years back he commented that the Church had become feminized. No more of that talk; the kool-aid worked.
Not all that long ago he made a lame joke about hanging a hunting rifle on St. Joseph’s statue this fall, but knew the women would object.
There’s a word for these guys, but I will refrain.
The use of female altar servers has the effect of deterring male servers. That is obvious to see. But what is not generally understood is that it is specifically forbidden.
Inaestimable Donum an Instruction issued by Pope Jean Paul II in 1980, specifically forbids females to be altar servers. A subsequent alteration to Canon Law (230) apparently allows females to be used, but no one either bishop or priest is obliged to do so. Whatever the validity of this alteration, which cannot overrule a Papal Instruction, it would seem clear therefore that the Papal Instruction still applies unless there are very good reasons to the contrary and “Political Correctness”, is hardly one.
This reasoning would surely also apply to the use of female lay distributers of Holy Communion who now constitute a majority, and are routinely used, contrary to instruction, even when congregations are tiny, i.e., seven/eight, again sending a most unfortunate signal to young Catholic males – if there are any left?
“We have gravely wounded the current generations….”
Isn’t that the truth.
At this point I am a bit less wounded, but my parents? I need the recovery to come along a little quicker…
Pingback: Quotes Suitable For Framing: Breck Girl Jesus | The American Catholic
My husband is Byzantine Catholic while I am Roman Catholic. We had been attending a Roman Catholic parish due to convenience. My husband finally got tired of it (it wasn’t manly or traditional enough for him), and we decided to attend the Byzantine Catholic parish even though it is quite a drive. My husband would have also been happy with the TLM but all the parishes that celebrated the EF Mass were at least as far or further than the Byzantine parish.
I have grown to love Divine Liturgy, and my husband and our young sons are much happier. In our parish, the men are men and the women are women. I noticed that even though the parish is small and many parishioners travel out of their way to attend, at least half of the Divine Liturgy attendees are men, including young single men as well as fathers who bring their children. There is plenty of facial hair and overall manliness. It is a great place for our boys, and I look forward to when they are old enough to serve at the altar.
Burke, a liturgical traditionalist as well as a doctrinal conservative who is renowned for wearing elaborate silk and lace vestments while celebrating Mass, also said that “men need to dress and act like men in a way that is respectful to themselves, to women and to children.”
This was written in such a way to take a shot at Cardinal Burke. Crux may have added the picture but Gibson wrote that and most likely gave them the idea to put up that picture. Poor form by Gibson.
I swear I remember seeing that some think tank or institute had actually done a formal study and confirmed what Cardinal Burke and the poll on the sidebar have been saying. But I can’t seem to find it anymore.
Here it is: https://wdtprs.com/2014/05/key-stats-for-vocations-to-the-priesthood-polls/
We love , admire, and pray for Cardinal Burke who is one of the holiest and masculine of men. And the wonderful FFI who also are persecuted for their strong prayer lives, humility, poverty, embracing of ALL teachings and traditions of the Church and that also is not tolerated much these days. In years to come, very likely Cardinal Burke and the founders of the FFI will be the ones canonized…. After all, they are “post conciliar” so they have that going for them…
It is so amazing that Cardinal Burke said this. My brother said exactly the same thing to me about two months ago. He had attended a Byzantine Rite Mass in Florida. He called me and said that he had just been to a “manly” Mass. He finally realized what was wrong with the Roman Rite (Novus Ordo): It was too feminine.
Yet, if a gay priest donned a lace nightie and high heels and strolled down the street singing Streisand tunes, he would be a brave hero to the “catholics”. Cardinal Burke dons lace to serve God at the altar and he is ridiculed? This is indicative of two things- “normal” sexuality and natural law are now despised, and the sacred is now despised. [Yes, this sums up the situation pretty well. The thing is, I suspect that most of the people who are attacking Burke, as least the men, are themselves homosexuals.]
Cardinal Burke explains well why my husband hated going to Mass before finding the EF.
Cardinal Burke is a breath of fresh air!
Shouldn’t John Allen be informed as to the direction that Crux has taken? I mean, since he’s so fair-minded and all, I can’t imagine that this is being done with his knowledge…
Sorry, Father, but I never bought the “fair-minded” appraisal. Mr. Allen has always struck me as having very convincing sheep’s clothing, and as such, he has been a much more subtle, effective and dangerous adversary than, say, Michael Sean Winters. And with the advent of Pope Francis, the mask appears to be coming off.
But hey, you actually know him and I don’t, so what do I know…
Pingback: Why the Media Bias in Favor of Pope Francis? - BigPulpit.com
I noticed that Card. Burke had an audience with the Pope today. http://press.vatican.va/content/salastampa/en/bollettino/pubblico/2015/01/08/0014/00026.html
I suffer the syndrome, I guess. Cardinal Burke represents the past. That isn’t bad, but … In the last fifty years the church has changed in many ways. Our Creed hasn’t changed, or Bible hasn’t changed, and what it means to be a Christian hasn’t changed. But the way we express those things has changed. The culture has changed more in the last fifty years than in the rest of history combined. The economy has forced families to rely on two incomes, etc. Science has changed our life style. The formula for the ordinary mass has changed and been implemented nation wide. The culture demands equality among the sexes. Church vestments are simpler. The Mass is really the same for the most part. People are moving in all the time. In some dioceses Mass is said in 20+ different languages. Crux makes a valid point with their picture of Cardinal Burke in a twenty foot cape and all that lace. That is as far from the modern image of masculine as you can get in the church and in society. He says a lot of the right words, but then he shows a lot of the wrong images. He says things that make people upset; those 1% of the faithful who know who he is anyway. The reporting of both NCR and Crux seem to be accurate about what the Cardinal said. The picture in Crux showed a good sense of humor, no a screed.
The progressive, open-minded commentators at National Catholic Reporter are dissing Cardinal Burke by darkly hinting that he is homosexual.
Irony lost in their mental fog.
My money was on Cardinal Burke to be elected Pope. I was perhaps naïve, but I hoped it all the same.
When I think of strong women in the Catholic Church, I don’t think the women who want to destroy the Church and refashion it in their own image. I think of women like my great aunt Laura, who reposed this past June. May her memory be eternal. She took me to Eucharistic Adoration when I was a boy, and I was being rather restless. She put her arm around me and gently said to me, “Look at Jesus on the Altar.”
This woman and her husband, Gene, who reposed in 2000, may Gene’s memory be eternal, raised 6 children (5 boys, 1 girl…we joked about that this past Christmas together!), had regular family devotions together, would light a candle when bad weather was coming, and had a large statue of the Sacred Heart of Jesus in the dining room. I believe all the boys served Mass (the eldest, Gene, served my parents’ Nuptial Mass in 1966, the Mass being said ad orientem).
Another strong woman is my grandma Katherine, Laura’s sister. Grandma reposed in 2002, may her memory be eternal. Grandma was a bit more “progressive” than aunt Laura, but she was a tirelessly prayerful lady, who taught me Catholic prayers and devotions, and who let me have some of her Catholic devotional items when she entered assisted living. Some of the things that happened in her parish broke her heart, but she never abandoned her faith. Interestingly, before her repose at 88 years of age, she became more of a traditional Catholic, I think. I was the last family member to be with her before she died, a privilege and a grace which I will never forget. And even in extremis, grandma held my hand more fiercely than the brawniest arm wrestler.
So many TRULY strong women have nurtured me in my Catholic Faith. I would not be the man I am without them. “She has put her hands to strong things,” as it says in the Bible. Not picket signs saying, “MY body, MY church” or the phrase that makes me have to scream, “Ordain women or stop baptizing them.” No. She has put her hand to strong things, like the Rosary, the Bible, her daily missal, and so much more, and with these hands, guides her little ones in the practice of their faith, often holding them in her lap as she does so.
This, among so many things, says something about a truly strong Catholic woman.
@cyrillist,
I think your comments about John Allen are uncalled for and baseless. He is undoubtedly liberal, and will be happy if the Church moves in that direction. But he is in fact mostly even-handed in his appraisals as anyone can be given their own personal views and biases. He has a very good network of sources across the internal political/theological spectrum and doesn’t often rely on pure speculation. He doesn’t distort words out of context just to advance his own personal agenda, which cannot be said for many on the liberal or conservative sides. He obviously is going to find a home in a liberal media outlet, but I doubt that the Register/EWTN would turn him away if he applied for a position, although the Wanderer probably would. I don’t always agree with with his analyses, but not because he is being grossly biased. What I will criticize him for is attempting to frame some of the theological debates as purely internal political ones.
We would all be much less well-informed about the Church were it not for him, especially about the liberal side. He is actually more likely to expose a liberal wolf in sheep’s clothing than be one himself, since all the liberals are not as forthcoming as the Fishwrap crowd, and he is a person they trust.
I am blessed to have “Burke Affection Syndrome.” I love the guy! The truth is the truth is the truth is the truth. In reading the nutties by the left, I see no actual facts to show where Cardinal Burke is wrong about what he said, just the typical attacks that are “sound and fury signifying nothing.” For a long time I have believed most of the Church’s and society’s ills have been caused by the feminization of EVERYTHING (even the NFL). I don’t care to place blame, it just is. Many boys are raised by single mothers, many single mothers (mine included) had to take on traditional male roles, mothers are on school boards, women run parishes through the committees… it stands to reason that when the major influence on something is female, feminization will occur. Anyone objective can see it. This has been building for a long time and Cardinal Burke is my hero for daring to say it. I agree with him 100%, as does my husband. Thank you Cardinal Burke for your manful courage! St Michael pray for us.
@dans0622,
I noticed too that the good Cardinal was on the HF’s audience list today. Purely routine or called on the carpet? A lot of folks think he is mostly unchained now and free to speak his mind, but he is under obedience nonetheless and the HF can muzzle him if he wishes, and easily enough since he must reside in Rome. If he suddenly falls silent in the public forum we will know what is what, and that will put the lie to the HF’s assertions that he is interested in vigorous, open debate, at least apart from carefully managed occasional venues like the synod.
One or a handful of cardinals is not enough to champion the cause. Conservatives in every sphere of the Church’s life from theological faculties of orthodox seminaries to bloggers have to speak up now and loudly before the next synod and on any other pertinent topics. We just need to be as respectful as possible regarding those persons in error while forcefully resisting their misguided views.
as Vatican 2 expressed a great desire that we should read scriptures then why not read Revelations Chapter 2 verse 18 And to the angel of the church of Thyatira write: These things saith the Son of God, who hath his eyes like to a flame of fire, and his feet like to fine brass. [19] I know thy works, and thy faith, and thy charity, and thy ministry, and thy patience, and thy last works which are more than the former. [20] But I have against thee a few things: because thou sufferest the woman Jezabel, who calleth herself a prophetess, to teach, and to seduce my servants, to commit fornication, and to eat of things sacrificed to idols.
Oh, how I love Cardinal Burke. And I do pray for him to be our next pope.
I currently have two boys in the Knights of the Altar. Such a blessing!
I have now seen the hoards of people that must have Burke Derangement Syndrome™ because they demonstrated the following symptoms: foaming at the mouth, irritability, ad hominems, and most curiously statements of the Catholic faith or what Jesus would do without referencing the Bible or any Church document.
I have now learned lesson not to pass through the Black Gates, otherwise I might end up at the National Catholic Reporter boards again.
At the parish at which I am registered, the only male staff members are priest, deacon, and janitor.
It is so amazing that Cardinal Burke said this. My brother said exactly the same thing to me about two months ago. He had attended a Byzantine Rite Mass in Florida. He called me and said that he had just been to a “manly” Mass. He finally realized what was wrong with the Roman Rite (Novus Ordo): It was too feminine.
Just a quibble – it isn’t too feminine, it’s effeminate. Feminine is good – women doing womanly things. Effeminate is bad – men doing (a caricature of) womanly things.
God bless Cardinal Burke
I live in the Archdiocese of DC, and it’s pretty darn good here, but, alas, we too have the 90% women EMHC’s, etc.
Cardinal Burke is exactly right. I hope many cardinal-electors will listen to him at the next conclave.
“Young men and men respond to rigor and precision and excellence.”
Exactly. This is why men have much greater respect for something like the Marine Silent Drill Platoon or the Emerald Society Bagpipe Corps than they do for their local ordinary. Men want honor and discipline, which is something that should be found in liturgical practice. Something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQuJkjLYT4I
Cardinal Burke est semper fidelis.