We
praise God and thank the Holy Father for
elevating Archbp Raymond Burke to become
a Cardinal. He is a staunch pro-lifer
and champion of Catholic orthodoxy. He
is a voice that needs to be heard in the
Church. Too many of our bishops and priests
are either pro-choice, or silent about
the assaults of anti-family, anti-life,
homosexualist forces, or have veered away
and are disobedient to authentic Catholic
teaching, or have surrounded themselves
with dissidents and liberals, or are just
not strongly defending family and life.
The
Philippine hierarchy should also more
strongly speak out against the culture
of death, and against Catholics in government
who are pro-choice and pro-reproductive
health. It is time to proclaim the truth
boldly. It is time to re-evangelize
the so many nominal Catholics who are
easily swayed by the enemy.
Right
now, it is practically only the Catholic
Church that stands against the onslaught
of the enemy. As such, she is attacked
by liberal media, by liberals inside
the Church who are the enemy within,
by governments that are secular humanist
and socialist. The Catholic Church has
to strengthen herself to withstand the
savage onslaught. This starts with purifying
her ranks. "Purge the evil person
from your midst." (1 Cor 5:13b).
Major Pro-Life Leaders “Elated”
at Archbishop Burke Elevation to Cardinal
By
Patrick B. Craine
ROME,
October 22, 2010 (LifeSiteNews.com)
– The leaders of some of the world’s
largest and most active pro-life organizations
say they are “thrilled”
and “elated” at Pope Benedict
XVI’s announcement that he will
elevate pro-life
champion Archbishop Raymond Burke
to the College of Cardinals.
(To
join the pro-life leaders in personally
congratulating Archbishop Burke, click
here)
"We
are thrilled that such an outspoken
champion of life and Catholic orthodoxy
has been chosen to be elevated to Cardinal,”
said Msgr. Ignacio Barreiro, interim
president of Human Life International
(HLI).
Archbishop
Burke, who serves as prefect of the
Vatican’s highest court, “has
time and again refused to mince words
in outlining the responsibility
of Catholics to defend life in the public
square, particularly Catholic politicians,”
Msgr. Barreiro continued. “He
has the courage to proclaim the common
sense notion that there should be consequences
for those who refuse to defend our weakest
brothers and sisters.”
Msgr.
Barreiro highlighted a powerful address
Archbishop Burke delivered earlier this
month at HLI’s World Prayer Congress
in Rome, where the prelate called openly
pro-abortion Catholic public figures
to “public” repentance.
The
archbishop had pointed that, “One
of the ironies of the present situation
is that the person who experiences scandal
at the gravely sinful public actions
of a fellow Catholic is accused of a
lack of charity and of causing division
within the unity of the Church.”
That
address, noted Msgr. Barreiro, “still
has the whole Church talking.”
Pro-life
veteran John Smeaton, director of the
U.K.’s Society for the Protection
of Unborn Children, listed the prelate’s
talk in Rome as one of three key documents
for the pro-life movement, along with
Pope Paul VI’s Humanae Vitae and
Pope John Paul II’s Evangelium
Vitae.
According
to Smeaton, the address clearly shows
that “a
Cardinal has been appointed who will
strongly uphold the right of pro-life
people around the world to point out
the scandal of Catholic public officials
cooperating with abortion or voting
for abortion.”
This
scandal,
said Smeaton, “is
the greatest obstacle we face in mobilizing
the pro-life battle around the world
– that is, Catholic complicity
with legislation and the policies of
pro-abortion governments.”
“It’s
a complicity for which both politicians
and leading Church officials are responsible,”
he added.
Archbishop
Burke’s interventions, said Smeaton,
“have given people who are fighting
this battle the authority they need
to call people to account and to condemn
the actions of politicians and bishops
and others who cooperate with the culture
of death.”
Judie
Brown, president of American Life League
and a member of the Pontifical Academy
for Life, said she was “absolutely
elated” at Burke’s appointment.
“He
does not equivocate and he does not
back away from controversy simply because
he feels that he’ll be unpopular
or because he thinks that the media
will bash him,” she said. “He’s
been through both of those kinds of
experiences – been bashed, been
ignored and avoided by his fellow bishops
– and it hasn’t harmed him.
He’s as strong, if not stronger,
today than he was when I first met him
more than ten years ago.”
“If
my dream came true, he would be the
next Pope,” she added, “because
he is an absolute adherent to the teachings
of the Church, beginning with canon
law.”
Catholics
and pro-lifers are invited to send Archbishop
Burke their own note of congratulations,
to be hand-delivered at his office in
Rome, through a new website –
called CongratulateBurke.com
– created by LifeSiteNews.com
and the Cardinal Newman Society.
See related LifeSiteNews.com
coverage:
Congratulations
to One of the World's Greatest Pro-Life
Champions
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10102201.html
Pro-Life,
Pro-family Leaders Congratulate Pro-Life
Hero Archbishop Burke
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2010/oct/10102108.html
"For
to me to live is Christ, and to die
is gain." (Phil 1:21)