Raymond Leo Burke

His Eminence  Raymond Leo Burke
Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura
See	St. Louis (emeritus) Sant'Agata dei Goti (titular)
Appointed	June 27, 2008 (&100000000000000030000003 years, &10000000000000241000000241 days)
Predecessor	Agostino Vallini
Other posts	Cardinal-Deacon of S. Agata de’ Goti
Orders
Ordination	June 29, 1975 by Pope Paul VI
Consecration	January 6, 1995 by Pope John Paul II
Created Cardinal	November 20, 2010
Rank	Cardinal-Deacon
Personal details
Born	June 30, 1948 (1948-06-30) Richland Center, Wisconsin
Nationality	American
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Residence	Rome, Italy
Parents	Thomas and Marie Burke
Previous post	Bishop of La Crosse (1994–2003) Archbishop of St. Louis (2004–2008)
Alma mater	Holy Cross Seminary Catholic University of America North American College Gregorian University
Coat of arms

Raymond Leo Burke (born June 30, 1948) is an American Cardinal of the Holy Roman Church. He is the current Cardinal Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, having previously served as Archbishop of St. Louis (2003–2008) and Bishop of La Crosse (1994–2003).

Background

Burke was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin, the youngest of the six children of Thomas (died July 21, 1956) and Marie (died February 29, 1996) Burke, on June 30, 1948. He was Baptized on July 11. The family later moved to Stratford, Wisconsin. From 1962-68 he attended the Holy Cross Seminary in La Crosse. From 1968-71, he studied at The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. as a Basselin scholar and received the degrees Bachelor of Arts (1970) and Master of Arts (1971), both in Philosophy.

He is a member of the Board of Trustees of that university. He then completed his studies for the priesthood at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 1971 to 1975, where he received the degrees Bachelor of Sacred Theology (1974) and Master of Arts (1975). Pope Paul VI ordained Burke to the priesthood on June 29, 1975, at Saint Peter's Basilica.

Priestly ministry

After his ordination to the priesthood, he was first assigned as assistant rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He also taught religion at Aquinas High School in La Crosse, where a new addition built in 1996–1997, the Bishop Burke Hall, was named in his honor. From 1980 to 1984, Burke studied canon law at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome, where he received his license (1982) and doctorate (1984). He then returned to La Crosse and was named the Moderator of the Curia as well as the Vice Chancellor of the La Crosse Diocese. In 1989, Pope John Paul II assigned Burke to be the first American Defender of the Bond of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest ecclesiastical court in the Catholic Church, apart from the Pope himself.

Episcopal ministry

Bishop of La Crosse

On December 10, 1994, Pope John Paul II named Burke Bishop of La Crosse, consecrating him to the episcopate on January 6, 1995 in St. Peter's Basilica. Bishop Burke took possession of the See of La Crosse on February 22, 1995. During his time in La Crosse, he founded the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe designed by Duncan G. Stroik, in collaboration with River Architects. In 2000, Bishop Burke convened the fifth diocesan synod for the Diocese of La Crosse. Synod V, Acts: celebrated June 11–14, 2000/ Diocese of La Crosse, published by the Diocese of La Crosse, (circa 2003) were the documents of the fifth diocesan synod that were published. He was also named a Knight Commander with Star of the Order of the Holy Sepulchre in 1997 and received the Canon Law Society of America's Role of Law award in 2000. In 2002, Bishop Burke was influential in founding the Canons Regular of the New Jerusalem, an order of Augustinian canons dedicated to the traditional form of the liturgy.

During his tenure as Bishop of La Crosse, Burke was inspired to construct a shrine near La Crosse on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River dedicated to Our Lady of Guadalupe, patroness of the Americas. As part of the Shrine, the spacious church, designed in the Renaissance style, was dedicated on July 31, 2008. The archbishop has also installed a prominent shrine to the Sacred Heart in the diocesan cathedral, reflecting his desire to foster the sacred arts and to encourage spiritual devotions which have long been characteristic of Catholicism. Cardinal Burke remains director of the Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, even though currently residing in Rome, Italy.

Archbishop of St. Louis

Personal coat of arms as Archbishop of Saint Louis.

He served as the Bishop of La Crosse until December 2, 2003, when he was named as successor to Cardinal Justin Francis Rigali (who had been appointed to be the Archbishop of Philadelphia) as Archbishop of St. Louis. He was formally installed on January 26, 2004. Not long thereafter, Burke was presented with the pallium on June 29, 2004 by Pope John Paul II. In St. Louis, Burke gave particular emphasis to the promotion of vocations to the ministerial priesthood; he also published a column in the archdiocesan weekly newspaper, the Saint Louis Review. In both La Crosse and St. Louis, Burke established oratories for those who attend the Tridentine Rite. He invited traditionalist Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest into his dioceses and ordained priests for the group both in the US and abroad. His ordination of two traditionalist priests on June 15, 2007, was the first time in 40 years that the Tridentine rite of ordination had been used in the cathedral. In July 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Burke to be a member of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the highest court in the Catholic Church. He issued a statement, in line with Catholic moral precepts, opposing embryonic stem cell research when an amendment to the Missouri Constitution that allows it was narrowly passed by voters there.

During his tenure in Saint Louis, Archbishop Burke was awarded two honorary doctorates in humane letters. One was from Ave Maria University in 2005; the other was from Christendom College in 2007.

On June 25, 2007, Burke accompanied Cardinal Seán Patrick O'Malley, Archbishop of Boston, on a trip to Rome, where the prelates reviewed Pope Benedict's impending motu proprio Summorum Pontificum granting any priest of the Roman Rite to celebrate the Latin Mass according to the Missal of Pius V (revised by John XXIII) without the permission of his bishop.

On May 6, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI named Burke to two Vatican offices, increasing Burke's already prominent stature in Rome. Burke was named a member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which authentically interprets Canon Law, and also became a member of the Congregation for the Clergy, which regulates the formation and training of diocesan priests and deacons.

Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura

Styles of Raymond Leo Burke
Reference style	His Eminence
Spoken style	Your Eminence
Informal style	Cardinal

On June 27, 2008, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Burke to the office of Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, a position roughly equivalent to that of President of the Conseil d'Etat of France. As such, the Signatura is the final canonical venue for most all administrative recourses (requests for review of decrees issued by Bishops) unless the Pope advocates cases to his judgement, while the Tribunal of the Roman Rota remains the highest judicial venue for ecclesiastical trials, excepting questions of nullity of its decrees or sentences which are judged by Signatura. In terms of the importance of his Curial post, Archbishop Burke was the second-highest ranking American prelate at the Vatican after Cardinal William Levada, who took Pope Benedict's place as prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.

Archbishop Burke was the first non-European named to head the Tribunal within the Roman Curia. The Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura exercises final appellate jurisdiction concerning conflicts occurring between two or more Vatican Congregations or Dicasteries, and appeals of administrative decisions rendered by diocesan bishops and Vatican Congregations.

With this appointment, Archbishop Burke became the tenth US native to serve in the Roman Curia. Upon the public announcement of the appointment by the Holy See, Archbishop Burke said: "I am deeply humbled by the trust which His Holiness has placed in me, and, in priestly obedience, I have pledged to serve our Holy Father to the best of my abilities." He continued stating that "leaving the service of the Church in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis is most sad for me. It has been an honor and gift for me to serve the archdiocese over the past four years and five months."

His farewell Mass in the Archdiocese of St. Louis was held in the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Louis on Sunday, August 17, 2008. It was concelebrated by Bishops George Joseph Lucas, Robert Joseph Hermann, John Joseph Leibrecht, John R. Gaydos, Robert W. Finn, Raymond James Boland, and Kevin William Vann. In addition, over seventy-five priests, fifty seminarians, a full honor guard of the Knights of Columbus (over 60 members), and over fifty Knights and Dames of the Order of Malta were in attendance.

Like all heads of departments of the Roman Curia, Cardinal Burke is a member also of various other offices in the Curia. The appointments are for five years and are renewable. Being resident in Rome, he is invited to attend not only the plenary meetings of those departments, which in principle are held every year, but also the ordinary meetings. Thus on May 6, 2008, Burke was appointed a member of the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which authentically interprets canon law, and of the Congregation for the Clergy, which regulates the formation and training of diocesan priests and deacons; on October 17, 2009, of the Congregation for Bishops, the curial body charged with overseeing the appointment of most but not all Latin Rite bishops outside mission territories.[4]; on July 6, 2010, of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments; on 24 July 2010, of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints; on 29 January 2011 of the Council of Cardinals and Bishops of the Section for Relations with States of the Secretariat of State.

On October 7, 2008, Archbishop Burke was appointed President of the Commission for Advocates, which is responsible for admitting the world's qualified canon lawyers to a registry of those who may practice in the Vatican's courts - a sort of bar association. This post is related, but secondary to and distinct from, his post as Prefect of the Signatura.

On March 11, 2010 (in the wake of the sexual abuse scandal that had come to light in the countries of Ireland, Germany, the Netherlands, and Austria), Archbishop Burke said that the Vatican needed to design a set of guidelines based in canon law that would guide bishops and tribunals worldwide in determining how to report the cases to the Holy See. Revisions will also be made to a policy formulated by Benedict that provides for high levels of secrecy in the process. The German bishops had drawn up guidelines that Pope Benedict XVI was considering using worldwide, and many other countries (such as the United States) already have set procedures for such cases. However, it is a delicate process, especially for a bishop who must formally denounce and remove a priest (presuming he is indeed guilty and thus that the accusations are based in fact), who is spiritually considered to be his son. Also, there remain questions about how to handle scandals that only come to light during sacramental confession, where the confessor is obliged under pain of excommunication to be totally silent about anything and everything he hears from any penitent. A further problem is the fact that some pedophile priests who are perpetrators of child sexual abuse do this in the confessional, which is an especially grave offense in the eyes of the Church.

Elevation to the College of Cardinals

Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke at a Mass at St. Clement Eucharistic Shrine in Boston, MA, USA (4 Dec. 2010)

On 20 November 2010, Pope Benedict XVI elevated Burke to the cardinalate, as Cardinal-Deacon of Sant'Agata dei Goti. Burke was the fifth man who served as Archbishop of St. Louis to become a member of the College of Cardinals, the others being John Joseph Glennon (1946), Joseph Ritter (1961), John Carberry (1969) and Justin Francis Rigali (2003), the now-retired Archbishop of Philadelphia.

According to the St. Louis Review, the archdiocese newspaper, St. Louis Archbishop Robert James Carlson announced at a reception at the Apostolic Signatura during a pilgrimage to Rome upon the occasion of Cardinal Burke's elevation the creation of a Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke Chair in Canon Law at St. Louis's Kenrick-Glennon Seminary. This follows the similar establishment of a Justin Francis Cardinal Rigali Chair in Liturgical Studies there, when former St. Louis Archbishop Justin Francis Rigali was named Archbishop of Philadelphia.

On 5 February 2011, the memorial of St. Agatha, Cardinal Burke took canonical possession of his titular church in Rome, Sant'Agata dei Goti. The ordinary form stational Mass, said in Italian and Latin, was held in the evening.

In May 2011, Cardinal Burke was awarded another honorary doctorate from the Franciscan University of Steubenville in Steubenville, Ohio. He has long admired the University because he regards it, unlike some other American Catholic universities in the context of a highly secularized Western society, as having remained faithful to the ethical guidelines and teachings of the Church's Magisterium (the teaching office of the Catholic Church, made up of the Pope and the bishops worldwide in communion with him, and those given authority to teach by them).

Views

Burke is seen by many as one of the most conservative bishops in the United States, and increasingly as a leader of the conservative wing of Cardinals in the Church. Reasons for his U.S. prominence include his position regarding the political actions of Catholics who hold public office, and his disputes with St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in St. Louis; support amongst conservative Cardinals and Bishops is based upon his clear and magisterial style of governance, coupled with his advancing of a return to traditional expressions of liturgical piety to the Church's fold.

Diocesan leadership

A few priests in the Diocese of La Crosse have claimed that Burke's leadership there was divisive. Richard Dickman, who had served as pastor of St. Mary's Church in Tomah, Wisconsin stated in a resignation letter that "I can no longer minister as a priest in this diocese and retain a sense of integrity. I find that my conscience is in conflict with the vision of ministry characterized by the bishop I have promised to obey. I am in an impossible position." Father Dickman has since returned to active ministry in the Diocese.

Politicians supporting legalization of abortion

During the 2004 presidential election, Burke publicly stated that John Kerry and other Catholic politicians who publicly support legalized abortion should not be given or receive the Eucharist. This statement was based mainly on two canons of Catholic Canon Law, which state that ministers of Holy Communion should not administer the Eucharist to people who obstinately persist in manifest grave sin and that those who are conscious of being in a state of grave sin (as determined by Catholic doctrine) should not receive the Eucharist.

Burke had articulated the same position while he was in La Crosse but the statements made as Archbishop of St. Louis gained more notice and added to his reputation for being canonically consistent. He is one of a number of bishops who have declared that they would refuse Communion to such politicians. He added that Catholic voters who supported pro-choice candidates specifically because they supported abortion rights were committing grave sin and should not receive Communion without first having their sin absolved through the Sacrament of Penance.^{[citation needed]}

Later, Burke clarified his position to state that one could vote for a pro-choice politician and not commit a mortal sin, if one believed there was a more significant moral issue than abortion at hand, but had also stated that he could not think what sort of issue would qualify. His position is consistent with the one articulated by then-Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger in a 2004 letter to Cardinal Theodore Edgar McCarrick, of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington. As Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, wrote: “Not all moral issues have the same moral weight as abortion and euthanasia [...] While the Church exhorts civil authorities to seek peace, not war, and to exercise discretion and mercy in imposing punishment on criminals, it may still be permissible to take up arms to repel an aggressor or to have recourse to capital punishment. There may be a legitimate diversity of opinion even among Catholics about waging war and applying the death penalty, but not however with regard to abortion and euthanasia.”

Sheryl Crow concert

On April 25, 2007, after singer Sheryl Crow, a pro-choice supporter, was scheduled to perform at a benefit concert for the Cardinal Glennon Children's Hospital, Archbishop Burke resigned as chair of the hospital foundation's board of directors.

Deeming this a scandal, Burke claimed that to have the hospital host Crow would give "the impression that the Church is somehow inconsistent in its teaching." The Saint Louis archbishop reportedly asked that her invitation be privately removed, but then felt compelled to submit his resignation once Crow's performance in concert was confirmed.

Saint Louis University staff

On January 22, 2008, Burke urged Saint Louis University to take disciplinary action against its head basketball coach, Rick Majerus, after Majerus publicly supported abortion and stem cell research at a campaign event for Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton three days earlier.

With Saint Louis University being run by the Society of Jesus, Burke responded by saying, "When you take a position in a Catholic university, you don't have to embrace everything the Catholic Church teaches. But you can't make statements which call into question the identity and mission of the Catholic Church." SLU spokesman Jeff Fowler responded to Burke's statement by saying, "Rick's comments were his own personal view. They were made at an event he did not attend as a university representative."

Burke again responded to the controversy aroused by his statements in an interview with the archdiocesan newspaper, The St. Louis Review, on the following February 1. The archbishop said, "It gives scandal to other people, Catholics and non-Catholics alike, if they hear a Catholic give an interview to the media, saying that I am proud to be a Catholic but at the same time I hold these views." When asked about his usually outspoken manner in controversial issues, he responded, "Is there something unusual about a bishop saying that it’s wrong to be in favor of procured abortion? I’m a Roman Catholic priest and bishop. What else would you expect me to say?"

Ordination of women

Archbishop Raymond Burke applied a severe interdict to Sister of Charity Louise Lears in June 2008, which excluded her from all Saint Louis church ministries and banned her from receiving any of the Sacraments in the archdiocese.

Burke had judged her guilty of three grave canonical offenses against the Catholic Church's faith and teachings. Lears, a respected pastoral worker and educator, had publicly stated her belief that all of the church's ministries, including the priesthood, should be open to women. Lears received the interdict after attending an attempted ordination of a woman to the Catholic priesthood at a Jewish Synagogue by the WomenPriests movement.

2008 U.S. Presidential Election

In a September 2008 interview, Burke said that "the Democratic Party risks transforming itself definitively into a 'party of death,' because of its choices on bioethical questions," especially elective abortion.

In May 2009, he stated, "Since President Obama clearly announced, during the election campaign, his anti-life and anti-family agenda, a Catholic who knew his agenda regarding, for example, procured abortion, embryonic-stem-cell research, and same-sex marriage, could not have voted for him with a clear conscience."

Canon law regarding Holy Communion

In March 2009, Burke was interviewed by Randall Terry, the pro-life activist and Catholic convert who founded Operation Rescue. In the videotaped interview, Archbishop Burke called on American bishops to withhold Communion, in line with canon 915, from Catholic politicians who support legalized abortion. The bishops' failure to do so, Burke said, "is weakening the faith of everyone. It's giving the impression that it must be morally correct to support procured abortion." He also called President Barack Obama "an agent of death" for his pro-choice views. Terry called for the removal of Paul Loverde and Donald Wuerl, for not denying Communion to these politicians, and also criticized Cardinals Roger Mahony and Theodore McCarrick. After the interview was released, Burke apologized to his "brother bishops" for the "misuse" of his statements, saying: "Mr. Terry has used the videotape for another purpose which I find most objectionable." He clarified that he made his remarks not as Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura, head of the Vatican's highest court, but simply as an American bishop.

In an October 2010 interview, held before the consistory in which he was elevated to the cardinalate, Burke reiterated that to directly vote for a candidate who not only supports the right to choose to have an abortion and/or to have the right to euthanasia, but who actively supports abortion and/or euthanasia, because of the candidate's stance, is a mortal sin. To vote for a candidate who held these stances without a very grave reason- and he said there were not many, if any at all- would still be wrong even if the voter did not expressly vote for him or her because of those stances. The only possible valid reason, Cardinal-designate Burke said, would be if that candidate was the least pro-abortion or pro-euthanasia of the other candidates and the voter did not feel comfortable abstaining from voting, which would be acceptable under those circumstances.^{[citation needed]}

Statements on Catholic higher education

On Wednesday, December 15, 2010, a story posted by the ZENIT website homepage (Innovative Media) described Cardinal Burke as underlining the importance of Catholic higher education, and the need for these institutions to keep their identity strong. The prefect...gave an address at the Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (Merrimack, New Hampshire), where he affirmed the importance that 'the Church has consistently assigned to Catholic higher education, in order that 'the convergence of faith and reason in the one truth may be seen more clearly'.^{[citation needed]}

On violations of liturgical norms

At the March 2, 2011 launch of a book in Italian, whose title translates as "How to Go to Mass and Not Lose Your Faith", Cardinal Burke declared that liturgical abuses damage the faith of Catholics: "If we err by thinking we are the center of the liturgy, the Mass will lead to a loss of faith. Unfortunately, too many priests and bishops treat violations of liturgical norms as something that is unimportant, when, in fact, they are serious abuses."

On end-of-life palliative care and euthanasia

At a July 23, 2011 conference on end-of-life care sponsored by St. Gianna Physician's Guild, Cardinal Burke said that suffering does not cause a person to have less meaning in his life, nor does it give the government the right to decide if that person should live or die: "No matter how much a life is diminished, no matter what suffering the person is undergoing, that life demands the greatest respect and care. It's never right to snuff out a life because it's in some way under heavy burden."

Published works

• Lack of discretion of judgment because of schizophrenia: doctrine and recent rotal jurisprudence, Doctoral Dissertation, (Rome: Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1986). See also "Defectus discretionis iudicii propter schizophreniam: Doctrina et recens iurisprudentia," Periodica, 73 (1984) 555-570; and "Lack of Discretion of Judgment: Canonical Doctrine and Legislation," in The Jurist, 45 (1985) 171-209.
• "Canon 1095, 1° and 2°," in Incapacity for marriage: Jurisprudence and Interpretation, Acts of the III Gregorian Collguium, Robert M. Sable, coordinator and editor (Rome: Pontificia Università Gregoriana, 1987).
• In I procedimenti speciali nel diritto canonico, Studi giuridici 27 (Vatican City: Libreria editrice Vaticana, 1992): "La procedura amministrativa per la dichiarazione di nullità del matrimonio," 93-105, and "Il processo di dispensa dal matrimonio rato e non consummato: la grazia pontificia e la sua natura," 135-144.
• "The Application of Canon 1095 and sacramental-pastoral activity concerning marriage," in Ius in vita et in missione Ecclesiæ, Acta Symposii internationalis iuris canonici occurrente X anniversario promulgationis Codicis iuris canonici diebus 19-24 aprilis 1993 in Civitate Vaticana celebrati, Pontificia Concilium de legum textibus interpretandis (Vatican City: Libreria editrice Vaticana, 1994) 1095–1102.
• "The Distinction of Personnel in Hierarchically Related Tribunals," in Studia canonica, 28 (1994) 85-98.
• "Canon 1421: The Nullity of a Decision by a Single Lay Judge," [1994] in Arthur J. Espelage, OFM (ed.), CLSA Advisory Opinions 1994–2000 (Washington, DC: CLSA, 2002) 451-452.
• "Canons 1421–1422 and 1435–1436: The Exercise of the Office of Judge or Defender of the Bond by a Priest on Leave of Absence from Priestly Ministry," [1995, co-authored with Joseph R. Punderson] in Arthur J. Espelage, OFM (ed.), CLSA Advisory Opinions 1994–2000 (Washington, DC: CLSA, 2002) 453-454.
• "La "confessio iudicialis" e le dichiarizioni giudiziali delle parti," in I mezzi di prova nelle cause matrimoniali secondo la giurisprudenza rotale, Studi Giuridici XXXVIII (Vatican City: Libreria editrice Vaticana, 1995) 15-30.
• Commentary on the July 12, 1993, Decree of the Apostolic Signatura relating to the qualifications of advocates, Canadian Canon Law Society Newsletter, 21 (1996) 9-13; for Spanish translation see: "Abogados, uniones matrimoniales irregulares y causas de nulidad matrimonial: Texto y comentario de una Respuesta de Tribunal Supremo de la Signatura Apostolica," in REDC, 51 (1994) 639-645.
• "Canon Law at the Service of the New Evangelization," given on the occasion of receiving the Role of Law Award from the Canon Law Society of America, in Canon Law Society of America Proceedings, 62 (2000) 497-500; introductory remarks of gratitude, 495-496.
• "On Our Civic Responsibility for the Common Good," (Saint Louis: Archdiocese of Saint Louis, 2004).
• "Canon 915: The Discipline Regarding the Denial of Holy Communion to Those Obstinately Persevering in Manifest Grave Sin," in Periodica, 96 (2007) 3-58.

See also

• List of the Catholic bishops of the United States#American bishops serving outside the United States

External links

• The Archdiocese of St. Louis - Biography of Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke
• Biography of Cardinal Burke
• Aquinas High School La Crosse, Wisconsin
• Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, La Crosse, Wisconsin
• Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest
• St. Mary's Oratory, Wausau, Wisconsin
• St. Mary's, Cashton, Wisconsin

References

Catholic Church titles
Preceded by John Joseph Paul	Bishop of La Crosse December 10, 1994–December 2, 2003	Succeeded by Jerome Edward Listecki
Preceded by Justin Rigali	Archbishop of Saint Louis December 2, 2004–June 27, 2008	Succeeded by Robert James Carlson
Preceded by Agostino Vallini	Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura June 27, 2008–present	Incumbent