God Bless Archbishop Burke
ST. LOUIS: St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke denounced a Catholic charity Wednesday for scheduling singer Sheryl Crow to perform at a benefit concert because of the singer's support for abortion rights.
Burke submitted his resignation as chairman of the board for the Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation, saying the decision to let Crow sing on Saturday left him no other choice.
"It's very painful for me," Burke said during a news conference Wednesday. "But I have to answer to God for the responsibility I have as archbishop.
"A Catholic institution featuring a performer who promotes moral evil gives the impression that the church is somehow inconsistent in its teaching," Burke said.
Burke said it was a "scandal" to let Crow sing at the event and amounted to an act that could lead others to evil. He cited Crow's support for stem cell research and "procured abortion."
...Burke said he became aware of Crow's participation in the cancer benefit in February and asked other board members to cancel her appearance.
"They didn't accept my concerns," Burke said.
...Crow appeared in television ads throughout Missouri last year asking voters to approve an initiative that enshrined the right to conduct stem cell research in the state constitution.
Of course the event organizer said '"We do not apply an ideological litmus test" in choosing performers.' I'm surprised he didn't say "we are doing it for the children." It seems in many Catholic Charity fund raiser it is the prospect of the amount of money a specific celebrity can raise and not the amount of scandal their appearance causes. If only Catholic Charities would raise money for the moral cancer that seems to have infected many of their organizations across the county.
Though you do have to wonder if their is linkage between this and Crow's call last week for the use of one sheet of toilet paper for the cause of climate change. I suggest we save the earth and the liturgy in one act. Lets start using one sheet from Gather hymnals instead.
Known as 
If ony they could all be like Archbishop Burke.
Wait a minute...why *can't* they all be like Archbishop Burke?
Ohhhhhhhh!
THAT was a zinger.
I didn't realize the Catholic Church had become a single-issue faith. Wow! Ironically, this move will only lead to higher attendance, which will help Cardinal Glennon. As a Catholic, I'd appreciate it if Burke was just as outraged with the killing of innocent Iraqis.
Which seems to be at the hands of other Iraqis.
According to our local Fox 2 News, it was Bob Costas who said, "I have never applied a litmus test, Catholic or otherwise..."
The chainrman of the planning committee, Allen Allred, who claims to be a practicing Catholic, is quoted as saying, "None of this money benefits the Catholic church. This money benefits kids. This is not a think tank, and this is not a seminar on ideology. We don't look at the ideological issues du jour to decide if this is an appropriate person to help us help kids."
Allred's claim that abortion and embryonic stem cell research (ESCR) are "issues du jour" are preposterous and demonstrate the mental vacuity of so many "practicing Catholics."
It's incomprehensible how Allred and others could even entertain the idea of inviting "One square" Sheryl to help "the kids"...after all, she does support the murder of the unborn.
LOL I laughed at loud at that "one sheet from Gather hymnals" crack ~ wow
How do you spot a pro-abortion Catholic? He/she is the one that raises the "single issue" argument. I wonder how these liberals would react to a spotted owl barbecue to raise money for poor children! How about SUV's to stop AIDS?
It's baffling to see how some will interpret the Archbishop's decision as some sort of political decision. You say you didn't know the Catholic church had become a single-issue faith? Wise up. The church has always essentially been a "single issue" faith, it being the Sanctity Of Life.
An industry that procures & profits from the killing of unborn human beings is an "ideological issues du jour"??
How do these people hold positions in Catholic institutions? Or better yet why are these institutions called Catholic?
The Catholic Church is a single-issue faith - it's pro-truth and anti-lie, as it has always been. The quantity of the attendance of concert is irrelevant to the ethics of having Crow perform.
With 48,589,993 American babies aborted since 1973, this is the single most important issue facing our country - a whole generation has been lost.
Costas didn't make a comment about it going to "help the kids," but Allen Allred, a board member on the Cardinal Glennon's Children's Foundation did...
""This event is about helping sick kids," he said. "I'm disappointed and saddened there are people in our community who are attempting to use this event to further a political agenda. If we go down that road, do we start asking doctors for their positions on abortion? Do we quiz every single donor what they think of embryonic stem cell research before accepting their money?""
(from the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, April 26)
And Mr. Allred thinks Raymond Burke is the one with the political agenda? Since when do Catholics have the luxury to set aside the truth for expedience?
The Archbishop Burke bashing got so bad at my workplace this morning that I had to stand up and ask that everyone please leave my Archbishop alone. It really is true that anti-Catholicism is a blatantly accepted prejudice.
As a St. Louis Catholic, I would like to offer the services of our Archbishop to anyone who would want him!
Since arriving in St. Louis, he has helped to consistantly anger a majority of his flock on a fairly regular basis. Many times, I agree with the goals he is attempting to accomplish, however, he cannot communicate effectively to the people he is supposed to lead.
Instead of educating people as to what is right and wrong, he orders, demands and threatens.
Christ did not order sinners to stop, instead he moved them away from sin through love and parables;he showed them the way to stop being sinners.
Archbishop Burke hits you over the head, tells you and the everyone else what a terrible person you are,threatens you with hell and holds a press conference to show how tough he is.
The Archbishop could have made a statement saying he disliked Ms. Crow being the singer, pointing out Cardinal Glennon Hospital regularly saves the lives of premature babies, which can legally be aborted in the country.
He could have been Christ-like and evnaglized to the board and to his flock, not just during this problem, but in the future as well.
Instead, he took his "ball" and went home like and angry third grader. Now that he is no longer a board member, we can be assured that no one will voice opinions for the unborn on the board in the near future.
I would also like to see him face the "scandal" created by the few priests which victimize children.
If he used a tenth of the zeal standing up for the victims of the few abusers he would find more credilibity with those Catholics which are straying from the Church.
After all, he is here to add people the faith not push people away. If he could learn to communicate properly he could do that without watering down the faith.
Send Archbishop Burke to the Archdiocese of New York. We will have an opening, soon, please God, and we will welcome him as our next cardinal.
Sorry Mike - we need him here in St. Louis right now & praise God we got him!