The John-Henry Westen Show - August 18, 2021


All Catholics should be grateful for Cardinal Burke's lifetime of ministry


Summary

Cardinal Raymond Burke, who was dismissed from the Vatican in 2014, is a hero for his courage in standing up for the defense of human life and family in the face of persecution. Cardinal Burke was a champion of pro-life and pro-family causes and a tireless defender of the sanctity of marriage and the dignity of the family.


Transcript

00:00:00.000 As we pray for the recovery of Cardinal Raymond Burke, I wanted to share these personal reflections
00:00:05.360 because I've been privileged to know him for over a decade.
00:00:10.080 He is a gentle soul, highly intelligent, yet humble.
00:00:15.020 He's quiet, yet determined.
00:00:18.180 He's very prudent and kind and generous and totally orthodox.
00:00:22.900 Most of all, he is a lover of Jesus Christ and totally committed to Christ's Church.
00:00:28.860 He gave up his having his own family to serve as a priest, and then thanks to his great gifts from God,
00:00:36.460 which he honed to better serve the Lord, he rose through the ranks of the hierarchy.
00:00:41.620 And even after reaching the heights of the Cardinalet, being appointed by Pope Benedict XVI
00:00:48.020 as the head of the highest court in the Church, a position sort of akin to the U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice,
00:00:54.360 he was ready to give it all up in order to be faithful to Christ and his truth.
00:01:01.760 And indeed, he was called to make that ultimate sacrifice for standing up for the truth when pressures were the most intense.
00:01:10.300 At first, Pope Francis removed Cardinal Burke from his position as a member of the Congregation for Bishops,
00:01:15.960 where he had been able to exert considerable influence on bishops' appointments worldwide.
00:01:21.120 And then, in November 2014, Pope Francis summarily dismissed Cardinal Burke from his position as head of the Vatican's highest court,
00:01:29.980 the Apostolic Signatura.
00:01:31.820 Now, Cardinal Burke went from the highest-ranking American in the Vatican
00:01:35.760 to serve as the patron of the Order of the Knights of Malta,
00:01:41.020 which, well, that was a largely ceremonial position.
00:01:44.040 The move, in fact, was so stark that even left-leaning Vatican experts,
00:01:49.000 including Crux's John Allen and the Catholic News Service's Francis Rocha,
00:01:53.160 reported at the time that it was rare for a cardinal in such a high position at the Vatican
00:01:57.960 to be removed without being assigned a similar responsibility.
00:02:02.520 Cardinal Burke was treated in such a fashion,
00:02:06.060 really, it was unseen in modern Church history,
00:02:08.420 even for those who had gravely offended their duty.
00:02:10.920 Now, Cardinal Burke, nevertheless,
00:02:15.700 continued in good spirits,
00:02:17.660 without ever speaking in anger or resentment,
00:02:21.220 at the totally unjust and scandalous way in which he was treated.
00:02:25.340 He was faithful to St. Paul's admonition in the Bible
00:02:29.160 to Bishop Timothy, as recorded in the Bible,
00:02:32.080 to speak the truth in season and out of season,
00:02:35.020 even when it meant it would cost him dearly.
00:02:37.860 Cardinal Burke was a total hero for the defenders of life and family.
00:02:43.720 In fact, in the English-speaking world,
00:02:45.700 he was the most outspoken prelate on the topic in the Church.
00:02:50.420 He had the courage to speak out to defend the holiness of communion,
00:02:54.640 even from the highest-ranking self-identified Catholic politicians,
00:03:00.040 including Vice President John Kerry,
00:03:01.780 Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
00:03:03.620 and President Biden.
00:03:04.780 But the good Cardinal voiced his concerns
00:03:08.200 and admonition that these nominal Catholics be denied Holy Communion,
00:03:12.960 not out of any kind of hatred or animosity,
00:03:15.220 but out of concern for them.
00:03:17.220 He told me himself,
00:03:18.780 why add to their sins of supporting abortion and so on
00:03:22.100 with sacrilegious communions?
00:03:25.560 You know, he was very generous with LifeSite over the years,
00:03:28.940 giving us many interviews.
00:03:30.240 And when we launched the Rome Life Forum,
00:03:33.240 which is an annual meeting with life and family leaders
00:03:35.580 from all over the world gathering in Rome,
00:03:38.260 Cardinal Burke was there to speak.
00:03:40.780 And he did so each year after that as well.
00:03:45.100 And when LifeSite, as part of Voice of the Family,
00:03:47.700 launched a youth conference in Rome,
00:03:50.800 Cardinal Burke also made himself available each year to do that.
00:03:55.240 What a grace it was for those young people
00:03:58.620 to meet his eminence,
00:04:00.060 to be able to ask him questions,
00:04:02.560 to ask them directly to him,
00:04:04.260 to receive his blessing.
00:04:06.020 You know, he took time to meet
00:04:08.060 with each of those young people individually,
00:04:10.340 and he took to heart their concerns,
00:04:12.360 their prayer requests,
00:04:13.420 and he was also buoyed by their prayers himself,
00:04:17.700 their well wishes,
00:04:18.740 their brotherly love.
00:04:19.580 You know, the love and admiration
00:04:24.340 was very much mutual.
00:04:28.060 He expressed his solidarity
00:04:29.400 with the Rome Life Forum conference participants,
00:04:32.320 praising them for their commitment
00:04:33.740 to safeguard and promote the inviolable dignity
00:04:36.480 of innocent and defenseless human life,
00:04:38.860 and the integrity of its cradle
00:04:41.140 in marriage and the family.
00:04:42.560 Here was his words.
00:04:43.880 These were his words ending one of his talks
00:04:46.320 at Rome Life Forum.
00:04:47.080 And he said, and I quote,
00:04:50.060 In the context of the Rome Life Forum,
00:04:53.360 I close by expressing my deep appreciation
00:04:56.720 for the martyrdom
00:04:57.940 which so many of you embrace
00:05:00.540 for the sake of the defense of human life
00:05:03.060 and its cradle in the conjugal union
00:05:05.060 of husband and wife.
00:05:07.040 Then he says,
00:05:08.020 we embrace,
00:05:10.500 talking of himself,
00:05:11.520 associating himself
00:05:12.680 with the pro-life and pro-family leaders.
00:05:14.900 He says,
00:05:15.240 we embrace indifference,
00:05:18.400 ridicule,
00:05:19.280 rejection,
00:05:19.780 and other forms of persecution
00:05:21.460 because we love our Lord
00:05:22.740 and all our brothers and sisters in him,
00:05:25.640 in his holy church.
00:05:28.040 You know,
00:05:29.040 it's an amazing thing.
00:05:31.100 He probably experienced that persecution
00:05:33.020 more than any of us,
00:05:35.500 but he was so pleased
00:05:36.840 to associate himself
00:05:38.400 with the leaders of life and family,
00:05:40.620 those who work to defend
00:05:42.220 innocent human life
00:05:43.220 and the family.
00:05:45.560 But you know,
00:05:46.280 here's my favorite recollection
00:05:47.780 of Cardinal Burke.
00:05:49.140 It involves the church's difficult teaching
00:05:51.380 on homosexuality,
00:05:52.540 which he was always spoke on
00:05:55.200 without fear of reprisal.
00:05:57.700 You know,
00:05:58.080 he spoke so in charity
00:05:59.780 without wanting to offend,
00:06:01.600 but he spoke the truths of the church,
00:06:04.260 which can be hard
00:06:05.140 because the sexual teachings of the church
00:06:07.500 can be a challenge for people.
00:06:09.260 Yet he spoke them
00:06:11.420 in truth and charity,
00:06:13.380 explaining how the homosexual inclination
00:06:16.080 is disordered.
00:06:17.620 And he was doing so
00:06:19.740 at a time
00:06:20.460 when that was already starting
00:06:23.160 to be so politically incorrect
00:06:25.340 as to be soon become
00:06:27.520 almost illegal.
00:06:28.960 Well,
00:06:29.440 there was a homosexual activist
00:06:30.920 who was Catholic
00:06:31.840 and he decided to sort of publicly
00:06:34.100 renounce his Catholic faith.
00:06:35.500 In 1995,
00:06:37.160 a man named Eric Hess
00:06:39.440 boxed up his crucifixes
00:06:41.340 and Bible
00:06:42.000 and dropped them off
00:06:43.340 at then Bishop Burke's office,
00:06:46.680 renouncing his Catholic faith
00:06:47.920 and embracing same-sex relationships.
00:06:51.280 And Burke,
00:06:52.560 at the time,
00:06:53.340 was the Bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin.
00:06:55.960 Now,
00:06:56.900 Burke contacted Hess
00:06:58.760 and told him
00:06:59.880 that he respected his decision
00:07:01.140 but would pray
00:07:01.780 for his return to the faith
00:07:02.940 and would be ready
00:07:03.960 to welcome him back
00:07:04.820 should he come home.
00:07:06.440 Now,
00:07:06.800 Hess,
00:07:07.080 who was at the time
00:07:07.760 a homosexual activist,
00:07:08.860 really resented
00:07:09.920 Bishop Burke's outreach
00:07:12.160 and threatened to press charges
00:07:13.760 should Burke contact him again.
00:07:16.040 Well,
00:07:16.640 of course,
00:07:17.200 Cardinal Burke did so
00:07:18.000 just to say
00:07:18.740 that he would respect his wishes
00:07:20.960 but would still be praying for him.
00:07:23.200 Well,
00:07:23.480 three years later,
00:07:24.920 Hess returned to the faith.
00:07:27.160 He wanted to call
00:07:28.220 Archbishop Burke
00:07:29.520 to let him know
00:07:30.620 of his conversion.
00:07:31.400 and the secretary
00:07:33.880 who picked up the phone
00:07:35.160 told him that Cardinal Burke
00:07:36.580 would like to see him in person.
00:07:38.280 When he arrived,
00:07:39.380 the Cardinal received him
00:07:40.380 with great joy
00:07:41.100 and he asked if he recalled
00:07:42.580 the box
00:07:43.180 with his Bible
00:07:44.400 and crucifixes
00:07:45.020 that he had left
00:07:46.280 at the office of Cardinal Burke.
00:07:47.820 Well,
00:07:48.300 believe it or not,
00:07:49.300 the Cardinal
00:07:49.880 still had
00:07:51.000 Eric's box
00:07:52.040 of Catholic items
00:07:52.900 which he kept
00:07:53.800 and I'm sure
00:07:55.380 was praying for him
00:07:56.580 for those years
00:07:57.360 believing Hess
00:07:58.660 would come back
00:07:59.320 to Christ
00:07:59.840 and his church one day.
00:08:01.400 And,
00:08:02.880 you know,
00:08:04.000 here's a real witness
00:08:05.260 to who Cardinal Burke is.
00:08:08.300 Eric Hess,
00:08:09.440 the former homosexual activist
00:08:11.400 who converted
00:08:12.860 back to the faith,
00:08:14.820 says this of Cardinal Burke
00:08:16.260 and I quote,
00:08:17.880 While some malign
00:08:18.960 Archbishop Burke
00:08:19.620 for his fidelity
00:08:20.560 to God,
00:08:21.380 Church,
00:08:21.720 and all souls,
00:08:22.820 I say
00:08:23.560 he is a true shepherd
00:08:25.300 of the faithful
00:08:25.920 and a present-day Athanasius.
00:08:28.360 Eric Hess continued,
00:08:29.320 I tell you
00:08:30.900 that he remains
00:08:32.080 a mentor
00:08:32.600 and an inspiration
00:08:33.800 to me.
00:08:34.880 Although my own
00:08:35.520 biological father
00:08:36.320 rejected me,
00:08:37.040 Archbishop Burke
00:08:37.700 became my spiritual father
00:08:39.300 by lovingly
00:08:40.160 representing
00:08:40.800 our Father in Heaven.
00:08:42.620 End quote.
00:08:43.760 You know,
00:08:44.360 that is Cardinal Burke,
00:08:45.920 a true pastor,
00:08:47.140 a spiritual father,
00:08:48.380 willing to tell the truth
00:08:49.420 even when it hurts
00:08:50.420 and always ready
00:08:51.340 to receive
00:08:51.840 the prodigal son
00:08:52.640 with joy and love,
00:08:54.000 forgiveness and blessing.
00:08:54.940 You know,
00:08:56.880 as for my part,
00:08:58.220 I can only be grateful
00:08:59.540 for the time
00:09:00.360 that I was permitted
00:09:00.980 to spend personally
00:09:01.920 with Cardinal Burke.
00:09:03.400 He is a lover of Christ
00:09:05.040 like few others.
00:09:06.280 He has been,
00:09:07.360 as his master,
00:09:08.760 a sign of contradiction.
00:09:10.580 He is a saintly,
00:09:12.280 shining example
00:09:13.300 of the love
00:09:13.920 and service
00:09:14.400 of our Lord Jesus Christ
00:09:15.460 in the midst
00:09:16.200 of a fallen world.
00:09:18.240 May God bless you,
00:09:19.480 Cardinal Burke.
00:09:20.520 We have been praying
00:09:21.380 for you daily
00:09:22.020 at LifeSite
00:09:22.580 for years
00:09:23.220 and will continue
00:09:24.660 to do so.
00:09:26.280 For LifeSite News,
00:09:27.320 this is John Henry Weston.
00:09:28.900 And may God bless you.
00:09:31.960 And my friends,
00:09:32.900 I would ask you
00:09:33.500 to go over
00:09:34.280 to LifeSite News'
00:09:35.920 petition site
00:09:36.920 called
00:09:37.320 LifePetitions.com.
00:09:39.700 There's a petition there
00:09:40.860 we have
00:09:41.380 to thank Cardinal Burke
00:09:42.660 for defending
00:09:43.480 life,
00:09:44.400 family,
00:09:44.940 freedom,
00:09:45.380 and tradition.
00:09:46.520 We are going to
00:09:47.680 bring this petition
00:09:48.840 and deliver it
00:09:49.800 to him
00:09:50.440 as soon as he recovers
00:09:52.280 and should,
00:09:53.580 God forbid,
00:09:54.220 he not recover,
00:09:55.240 we will be giving
00:09:56.120 this to his family.
00:09:57.540 So if you have
00:09:58.720 a comment to make
00:10:00.640 to Cardinal Burke,
00:10:01.980 we're going to be
00:10:02.900 presenting this,
00:10:04.200 God willing,
00:10:04.860 to him,
00:10:05.600 but at least
00:10:06.560 to his family,
00:10:07.860 the many expressions
00:10:09.020 of thanks
00:10:10.060 and of love
00:10:11.540 to him
00:10:12.180 that I'm sure
00:10:13.460 you want to bring.
00:10:14.320 So LifePetitions.com,
00:10:16.280 the petition
00:10:16.980 to thank Cardinal Burke
00:10:18.220 for defending
00:10:18.880 life,
00:10:19.540 family,
00:10:19.900 freedom,
00:10:20.320 and tradition.
00:10:21.400 May God bless you.
00:10:22.480 I'm sorry.
00:10:23.940 All right.
00:10:24.580 Thank you.
00:10:25.380 ัะปะตะด for.
00:10:48.140 Thank you.
00:10:49.220 I'm sorry.