Burke formally denies sacraments to defiant board

St. Louis Post Dispatch ^ | 2/11/2005 | Tim Townsend

[thor76]

That there are few resident parishioners - and that the pew sitters comein from other areas to attend mass is not a new thing in reagrd to urbvan Catholic churches.....especially not in regard to ethnic parishes.

[thor76]

Your comment on the fact that this regards property which does not belong to the Archbishop (or diocese) - and Sinkspur's pertinent comment that the interdict is immoral both add up to one thing:

The interdict is null & void. And may be ignored by those affected.

[ninenot]

Jaded: it's interesting that Sinky, a notorious "liberal" Catholic, joins with Ultima, a schismatic, and thor76, who is reliably anti-nomian (but not apparently a schizzie) to defend the rebels against the authority of the Bishop.

I think there's a lesson here...

[sinkspur]

The "lesson" is that Raymond Burke has used the pretext of a simple property dispute to throw his not inconsiderable weight around.

No dogma, no doctrine. Just his own authority.

This could have been resolved differently, and would have, with a bishop at the helm who was more discrete.

[ultima ratio]

The only lesson I get is that you can't deal with the issue logically. I don't oppose the Archbishop's authority--but neither do I think it is unlimited as you do. Abuse of power is a serious problem in the Novus Ordo Church--and the great irony is that the conciliar Church has exercised its authority much more autocratically than the preconciliar Church had ever done. Prior to Vatican II, no authority would have dared impose a protestantizing liturgy on the faithful by fiat, for instance.

So I will state my position again, in case you missed it in your haste to deliver personal knocks: Archbishop Burke has no right to the property. It was ceded to the people of the parish 124 years ago. No canon law supports his attempt to take over property that does not belong to him. If he believes he has such a right, let him prove it by going to court or citing the appropriate canon law. It's interesting he doesn't go these routes, don't you think? All he does is use the sacraments for leverage. This is an abuse of power, pure and simple.