Here we go again! An excerpt taken from an interview of Cardinal Burke is being quoted in headlines around the world via Catholic blogs and various other outlets:
Cardinal Burke: Catholic Church under Pope Francis is a ‘ship without a rudder’
The interview, which appeared in the Spanish Catholic weekly Vida Nueva on Oct. 30th, includes the following direct quote from Cardinal Burke as reported by Religion News Service (linked above):
“Many have expressed their concerns to me. At this very critical moment, there is a strong sense that the church is like a ship without a rudder.”
You know what’s coming next, don’t you?
At some point in the next few days, Cardinal Burke will likely issue a clarification; something along these lines:
I did not say that I consider the Church under Pope Francis to be a rudderless ship. I very specifically said that there is a strong sense among many that this is the case.
Need I say it again? It’s the Roman game; a chess match of subtlety and nuance…
That said, I hope I’m wrong. I much prefer that Cardinal Burke, at most, simply point to the transcript of the interview and leave it at that. He said what he said, and the quotation marks in every account that I’ve read are exactly where they belong. Enough said.
Furthermore, no need to clarify exists for the simple reason that the Church is indeed like a rudderless ship under Pope Francis. In fact, I wrote a post under that exact title, A Rudderless Ship, almost an entire year ago making the point that the Barque of St. Peter has been adrift, not just since 13 March 2013, but from the time of the Council on forward.
Rudderless would be an improvement actually..
Is there any rudder alternative?
Ever Mindful:
Sheets me.
Dear Louie,
This is our response to S.Armaticus’s earlier link to this story on the previous blog. (with some of the typo’s corrected 🙂 :
He’s still firing over the bow, but now he’s replaced the bullets with missiles.
(one day of lessons from Louie and Mundabor needed desperately?)
Here are the quotes:
___
“IT’S IMPORTANT
TO HAVE A HEALTHY SPIRITUAL LEADER”
AND GIVE powerful WITNESS TO THE FAITH”
___.
“I HAVE all the RESPECT FOR THE PETRINE MINISTRY”
“I do not want to SEEM LIKE– I AM SPEAKING OUT AGAINST THE POPE”
____
“I would like to be A MASTER OF THE FAITH, with all my weaknesses,
“TELLING A TRUTH THAT MANY currently PERCEIVE.”
___
“THEY ARE feeling a bit seaSICK
BECAUSE they feel THE church’s SHIP HAS LOST ITS WAY” .
================
And here’s what we think they [the quotes] mean–what do you think?
================
–We have a sick spiritual leader who is witnessing to heresy instead of the Faith.
–I have too much respect for what Jesus wished the Papacy to be for the sake of his Church, to stand silently by
–And despite this being the last thing on earth I’d ever want to have to do
–I wish to imitate My Lord and Master, so despite all my weaknesses
–I’m telling the sad truth that many of the Faithful already well understand
–They are deathly ill at having a Pope who has lost his way and is taking the ship of the Church off course.
____
Louie is likely right on target about the walk-back to come when the rest of the headlines come out. But THIS time Burke has added so much fuel to the fire, we think it’s going to burn a while longer.
THE
LILY
(“The martyrs were bound, imprisoned, scourged, racked, burnt, rent, butchered – and they multiplied.” St. Augustine)
No burning tearing
Scourging skin
It’s psychological
All within.
No rotting flesh
Or putrid blood
It’s sterile clean
No rancid crud.
For butchered
Tortured bound up skins
Reveals the Truths
Of Bishops’ sins.
They want it nice
They want it hushed
With veins of ice
Good souls are crushed.
The silent cold
Is better yet
Frozen solid
Can’t beget.
For martyred blood
Reveals the Church
Blind souls see Truth
And end their search.
“We can’t have that!”
The Bishops say,
“So let’s ignore…
They’ll go away.
Enlightened men
Don’t scourge the skin
Enlightened men
Keep blood within.”
But they forgot –
The woman bleeds
And monthly makes
A bed for seeds
Where nice and hushed
They’ll grow to men
And seize the oars
From wrists that bend…
On Peter’s Barque
Where blood still flows
From woman’s womb…
The Lily grows!
Anybody wonder what Michael Voris is thinking this morning?, poor guy. ;-(
Great observation Indig. Perhaps he’ll be yammering about his cruise for getting people “pumped”.
Let’s see—the Catholic Church is envisioned as a “ship”. The ship’s captain is the Pope–(currently Bergoglio). The Catholics inside the ship are getting “sea sick”. Could this seasickness have anything to do with the Captain? Hmm–give me some time. I’ll have to think about this. Apparently, Burke is having trouble coming to a definite conclusion. Instead of fixing the “rudder”, maybe we could all get barf bags from our local Bishop. That’s it—problem solved!
Dear My2cents,
Most of us here seem to be folks who prefer total clarity of speech to political double-talk, any day, so what Cardinal Burke has been doing doesn’t sit well with us, and rightly so.
But, Jesus warn His followers that He was sending them out amidst wolves, and they should be as “clever as foxes” while remaining innocent as doves.
-That’s the reason we’re choosing to give the Cardinal more time to show us if he’s really got something his sleeves here that requires more time to accomplish for the benefit of the Church. And while we wait, we see no harm in taking some real comfort from the messages he’s sending the Faithful as a Good Shepherd, (Happy all Saints day despite the sad circumstances); (hold on to the Faith, we’ll get through this) (I know it feels like you’re alone in defending it, but I’m letting you all know that some of us at the top are with you, and fully aware of how bad this is, so hang on.)
Jesus went to sleep during a storm, and expected his followers not to panic because He was still with them. Burke just reminded us of that when he said “I would like to be a Master of the Faith” We want to cut him some slack and see what he does with it, while we continue to pray.
If they don’t physically “get rid” of him, maybe he’ll end up being the Pope who does the Consecration. Mary, Help of Christians, Queen of All Saints, Hear us, and help us, dear Mother of God, and our Mother.
-We have no idea what the plan is, but he has to have something in mind.. A Cardinal who stood up for traditional teachings at the Synod doesn’t go out and do public interviews mentioning large numbers of people who come to him concerned about the Pope, if he’s bent on being a good-little papist. And if you had to sum up this latest one, no matter how hard you look for another topic/theme/subject matter it has to get filed under Burke’s criticism of the Pope.
Very important points, Indignus. We are an impatient bunch! Cardinal Burke simply must rush out into the world and say exactly what we want him to say, and he has to do it NOW!!!!
—-
He’ll lead us but it’s going to be at his pace using very lawyerly words.
—-
I’m enormously cheered at this latest by Burke actually. He’s getting clearer and bolder. He will never directly criticize the Pope because he knows how much damage it would cause to the Papacy. And we must acknowledge the difference.
—-
Happy All Saints to you!
Burke knows very well that if he takes any stand different from even a large minority, that he will end up just like the Archbishop, surreptitiously excommunicated and suspended. Facing the truth is a rare virtue, and rarer still for our age is being faithful to it. How can such a man become a Cardinal under the popes of the last 50 years? how can such a man remain a Cardinal under Francis?
Let us pray for the conversion of the Cardinals for whom such a grace is still a possibility, and make great sacrifices and penances for them, for they have no hope from the culture of falsehood in which they live in ecclesiastical circles.
Very true Roman Watcher.
Dear Roman Watcher,
Amen.
Dear Roman Watcher and all:
It is the way the game is played. So to paraphrase the great Snoop Dogg, “don’t blame the player, blame the game.”
_
Besides, we should be thanking our lucky stars that we have someone like cds Burke and Pell speaking out.
_
With respect to the bit about: “Burke knows very well that if he takes any stand different from even a large minority, that he will end up just like the Archbishop, surreptitiously excommunicated and suspended.”
.
I think that this is highly unlikely. When Archbishop Lefebvre was forced to consecrate bishops, there was only he and Castro Mayer. The rest were silent. With the present situation, you already have cardinal electors speaking out. And Brandmuller and Piacenza along with Muller are a much more formidable force.
_
Besides, after the Secret Synod, I think Francis has zero credibility with the non revolutionaries in the hierarchy. The bishops are pissed. Please keep in mind that he got elected promising the bishops collegiality and synodality. And what they got instead is a tin potted marxist dictator. And not only has he ethnically cleansed the Ratzingarians, but he is going after the JPII crowd. And that is not a recipe for success. It is this situation that is allowing cd Burke the space to speak up. And once again, a big Deo Gratias that he is speaking.
You mean to say that aimless wandering would be preferable to very specific agenda that is in fact being played out? I can’t say I disagree.
—–
A bit of scurvy might do us all some good.
Yes, it is a tortured understatement. He is not telling the full ugly truth – which anyone who is following what the Pope is saying and doing, and knows the Faith, and is honest, knows.
The pope hasn’t said anything worse than he’s been saying all along.
Yes, Catholic Thinker and Lynda.