Cardinal Raymond Burke Explains It All For You

Cardinal Raymond Burke 

Explains It All For You

What year is it? 

Well, it would seem to be 1952 in the mind of Catholic Cardinal Raymond Burke.  The recently demoted Cardinal (he got the shaft  after publicly challenging Pope Francis’ more tolerant approach toward LGBT people) shared his rather retro views with the website ‘The New Emangelism: Drawing Men to Jesus Christ and His Catholic Church’ on what is wrong with the Catholic Church and your jaw will drop once you hear what he has to say.

But before we begin, take a moment and check out that website name: ‘Emangelism’?  (Roll eyes here.)

I don’t know about you, but if I hear one more over-privileged Caucasian male whine about being marginalized or discriminated against I am going to put on a pair of kinky boots, take to the pavement, and scream my head off.

Burke (who actually has been recently marginalized by his boss, the Pope), proffered the following thoughts:

·         That the forces of “radical feminism” have brought the once-mighty Church to its knees, leading to a “fluffy,” feminized view of sexuality and made way for generations of pedophile priests.

·         That the Church needs to return to its male-centered roots and stop catering to “women’s issues” in order to regain its once robust standing in the world.

Oh hell, let’s let the man’s own words hang his sorry misogynistic, homophobic ass.

“I think there has been a great confusion with regard to the specific vocation of men in marriage and of men in general in the Church during the past 50 years or so. It’s due to a number of factors, but the radical feminism which has assaulted the Church and society since the 1960s has left men very marginalized.”

“Unfortunately, the radical feminist movement strongly influenced the Church, leading the Church to constantly address women’s issues at the expense of addressing critical issues important to men; the importance of the father, whether in the union of marriage or not; the importance of a father to children; the importance of fatherhood for priests; the critical impact of a manly character; the emphasis on the particular gifts that God gives to men for the good of the whole society.”

“The goodness and importance of men became very obscured.”

“I recall in the mid-1970’s, young men telling me that they were, in a certain way, frightened by marriage because of the radicalizing and self-focused attitudes of women that were emerging at that time. These young men were concerned that entering a marriage would simply not work because of a constant and insistent demanding of rights for women. These divisions between women and men have gotten worse since then.”

“Making things worse, there was a very fluffy, superficial kind of catechetical approach to the question of human sexuality and the nature of the marital relationship.”

“The gift of human sexuality is turned into a means of self‑gratification often at the expense of another person, whether in heterosexual relations or in homosexual relations. A man who has not been formed with a proper identity as a man and as a father figure will ultimately become very unhappy. These poorly formed men become addicted to pornography, sexual promiscuity, alcohol, drugs, and the whole gamut of addictions.”

(The Church itself has become)… “very feminized. 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.”

“We can also see that our seminaries are beginning to attract many strong young men who desire to serve God as priests. The new crop of young men are manly and confident about their identity. This is a welcome development, for there was a period of time when men who were feminized and confused about their own sexual identity had entered the priesthood; sadly some of these disordered men sexually abused minors; a terrible tragedy for which the Church mourns.”

On girls as altar servers: “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.”

On masturbation: “Young men may begin to engage in the sexual sin of masturbation. Men have told me that when they were teenagers, they confessed the sin of masturbation in the confessional and priests would say, ‘Oh, that’s nothing you should be confessing. Everybody does that.’ That’s wrong. These are sinful acts. They need to be confessed along with other types of sins, whether the sins are foul language, lying, stealing, or whatever it might be. The denial of sin was a breakdown in the sense of what is demanded of men as men of Christ.”

“We have to be very clear with men about purity, chastity, modesty and even the way men dress and present themselves. Men’s behaviors and dress matter, for it affects how they relate to the world and it affects the culture. Men need to dress and act like men in a way that is respectful to themselves, to women and to children.”

His advice to fellow clergy?

“First of all, be manly yourself. In other words, cultivate your own manly qualities, because the priest is first and foremost the spiritual father; he is a man. You need to have manly qualities of selflessness, chivalry and discipline to avoid situations improper for a priest. A priest must have the manly confidence and credibility to be a spiritual father to his flock, giving clear firm guidance with kindness and charity.”

Had enough?  Did all that crap induce your gag reflex yet?

All this Ernest Hemingway bullshit spewed by a man who, while working at the Vatican, donned a $20,000 jeweled hat for one prayer service and a cape with an elaborate 20-foot train that cost more than $30,000 for another.  His taste in ceremonial garb did not escape the attention of his superiors, for ‘Queen Burke’ was indeed chastised for it. 

I mean, I like a good show as good as anyone, but $30,000 for a single costume?  Just think of all that could have been done on behalf of the poor with that money.

And all this concern from a man who, while he was the Cardinal of St. Louis, imported predator priests into his diocese from other areas in order to shield them from investigation. In a report from the organization Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP), Burke was found to be “reckless, deceptive and callous regarding predator priests, vulnerable kids and wounded victims”.

Keep in mind, historically; it has been in the best interest of the Catholic Church to keep their congregations subservient and poor.  In the past, women have toiled in the background, providing the community lifeblood of small congregations going for generations.  It has also been in the Church’s best interest to keep these women barefoot and pregnant: what better means of finding new congregants than getting them fresh out of the oven? 

It matters not.

People like Burke and those who would actually come up with the term ‘Emangelism’ are powerless cranks unwilling to get with the program.

It’s 2015, folks. 

And it is time to grow the fuck up.