I recently had the privilege of meeting, for the second time, His Eminence Raymond Cardinal Burke. This second encounter, like the first, took place during the course of the Fota Liturgical Conference, which is organised by The Saint Colman’s Society for Sacred Liturgy. This international conference brings together some of the most important contemporary scholars working in the area of Catholic Liturgy. During the eight years it has been in existence speakers have travelled from the United States, France, Germany, Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, Australia, and Latin America to present papers of the highest academic standards in the charming and intimate setting of Cork City’s Clarion Hotel.
On the occasions I have met the Cardinal I have found him to be a warm and gracious man, happy to chat with all comers over the coffee and biscuits during the breaks between papers, and particularly eager to talk about his Irish roots (it turns out that both he and I have maternal grandmothers from Cullen in north County Cork, though with different surnames). He is as far from his caricature in the mainstream-media as some kind of arrogant and aggressive ideologue as it is possible to be.
Proof of his extreme graciousness, if it were needed, is the fact that when I button-holed him during one of the coffee breaks and asked if it might be possible for him to grant me a brief interview for Position Papers he readily agreed, despite the informality of my approach and the great pressure he was under due to the busy schedule of the conference.
Alas, it was not to be. Conference schedules are theoretical things, and the time we planned to conduct the interview was unavoidably eaten up, as was the time we re-scheduled it for. His Eminence and I agreed we might try again next year, presuming that we are both spared to attend, and as a compromise I might instead reflect on a few issues he raised at various stages during the conference.
The first point I would like to consider comes from the sermon the Cardinal preached at the Pontifical High Mass celebrated in Ss. Peter and Paul during the course of the conference. During it, His Eminence, referenced the United State’s Supreme Court decision which legalised abortion in 1973 and “took away the right to life from the innocent and defenceless unborn” and the more recent decision in June this year which “in defiance of ‘the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God,’… redefined the nature of marriage and its fruit, the family, the first cell of the life of society.”
His Eminence went on to say that this:
…deadly confusion and error which such decisions represent for the United States of America, and similar confusion and error in other nations, demand from the Church a clear, courageous and tireless witness to the word of Christ, to the truth written upon every human heart, the truth upon which the happiness of the individual and the common good absolutely depend. The Church cannot stand by silent or idle, while a people is destroying itself by lawlessness, even if the lawlessness be clothed in the garment of the highest judicial authority.
It is difficult not to think that the Cardinal’s words concerning lawlessness posing as law resonate with recent events in this country. And, considering the current push by pro-abortion activists to repeal the Eighth Amendment to the Irish Constitution which guarantees the right to life of the unborn, of their relevance to future events also. One is reminded in this context of the words of St Peter when he said “We must obey God rather than any human authority.” Certainly it would seem that there are difficult days ahead for those who would follow God’s law over man-made laws that contravene it.
The next point to reflect upon was raised during the course of the paper His Eminence presented at the conference. It was titled Selected Canonical Questions regarding the Royal Priesthood of the Baptized and during the course of it the Cardinal spoke, almost in passing, of his belief that the current shortage of vocations to the ordained priesthood was due, not to a lack of God calling men to this ministry, but rather due to a lack of men answering the call that God places on their lives. “For how,” said the Cardinal, “could God not call sufficient priests to minister within his Church?”
How indeed? But presuming that His Eminence is correct – and I would believe that he is, for it is something I have often thought myself – that raises the question as to why so many should refuse to answer this call from God with a joyful “yes!”, why they should fail to emulate the example of our Blessed Mother by humbly responding with a quiet “thy will be done” to what the Lord asks of them?
Is it that the spirit of the age, that of rampant individualism, speaks so loudly in the souls of many that they can not or will not hear the voice of the Holy Spirit calling them to come and serve God and his people? Is it that catechesis today is so poor that many have forgotten, if they ever knew, that they have been, to again quote St Peter, “chosen and destined by God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit to be obedient to Jesus Christ” chosen by God “in order that you may proclaim the mighty acts of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.”
Whatever the reason, it is clearly something that all should pray about. And having prayed, be eager to answer that call should it become apparent that God is calling you; and also not be afraid to encourage others to answer that call, and be willing to support in every way possible those who do answer that call.
The last point to be reflected upon was made during the question and answer session during the final portion of the conference. His Eminence raised the issue of the importance of family life within the life of the Church. Spouses’ primary role, he said, is the salvation of each other; and after that that their home should be a little church. Some, he thought, were so busy in various ministries around the parish that they neglected their role within the family.
It is hard not to be struck by the beautiful simplicity of what the Cardinal has to say here about marriage. Is this not reminiscent of St Peter’s words that wives may aid in their husbands’ salvation by the example of “the purity and reverence” of their lives and that husbands are always to keep in mind that their wives are “also heirs of the gracious gift of life?” It is certainly an aspect of marriage that was never brought out in the recent debate in this country about radically changing the legal definition of marriage (but then, it could be argued that very little was said during that debate about the nature of marriage). And with regard to families, how many faithful Christian mothers and fathers trouble to pray regularly at home with their children? Or even insist that, come what may, they must be at their side in church on a Sunday morning?
I can not find the exact quote, but I think it was the much revered Eastern Orthodox priest the Elder Paisios of Mount Athos who said something like “it is better to speak much to God about your children than it is to speak much to your children about God.” In other words, better to trust in the power of prayer than to try and badger faith into your children. But I would think it better still that a person both pray for their children and pray with them. It is the parents’ role to ensure good and right behaviour in their children in all things. If a father would not let a child neglect his school work in order that he may be well prepared to succeed in this life, why should he let him neglect the prayer life that will prepare him to enter into eternal life? And if a mother will do her best to make that her children eat good food in order to ensure their bodily health, how much more should she have concern for those things that pertain to their spiritual health? That attitude would, I think, be more in keeping with the Cardinal’s remarks.
My musing on these points raised by His Eminence are, of course, my own. But I hope that my reflections on them are not too much out of keeping with the spirit of the thinking behind them. Please God next year that there will be time available in the conference schedule for the Cardinal and I to conduct that interview and he will be able to speak for himself on whatever issues seem most urgent at that time.
About the Author: Rev Patrick G Burke
The Rev Patrick G Burke is the Church of Ireland rector of the Castlecomer Union of Parishes, Co Kilkenny. A regular contributor to Position Papers, he was formerly a broadcast journalist with the Armed Forces Radio and Television Network. He blogs at thewayoutthere1.blogspot.ie, is a frequent correspondent to the letters page of the Irish Times and other national newspapers, and can occasionally be heard on RTE Radio One’s A Living Word.