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Bishop Takes Queen
Riverfront Times ^ | August 25, 2004 | Malcolm Gay

Posted on 08/26/2004 3:38:43 PM PDT by corpus

BISHOP TAKES QUEEN Raymond Burke is highly traditional. That's why he received the final vows of a transgendered nun. By Malcolm Gay

Archbishop Raymond Burke might be a favored son of the Vatican, but interviews with more than a dozen priests reveal that as father to his former flock in La Crosse, his neo-conservative eccentricities alienated a large number of the clergy and the laity alike. "He's left a presbyterate that's demoralized and divided," says one former diocesan priest who spoke to Riverfront Times on condition he not be named in print. "For many years the priests in La Crosse were very unified. We didn't agree with one another, but anybody could sit down with anybody and carry on a civil conversation. That's history now, and I lay that at the doorstep of Ray Burke."

So strongly did some priests feel about Burke that at least two left the diocese in protest. "I can no longer minister as a priest in this diocese and retain a sense of integrity," writes Richard Dickman, former pastor of St. Mary Parish in Tomah, Wisconsin, in a letter to parishioners explaining his departure in 2001. "I find that my conscience is in conflict with the vision of ministry characterized by the bishop I have promised to obey. I am in an impossible position."

Certainly, Burke's construction of the $25 million Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe drew wide opposition, and his abrupt withdrawal from Church World Services' annual Crop Walk made him more than a few enemies. But it was his gathering of fringe religious orders to the diocese that alienated many priests.

"He brought in any number of people -- hermits we called them, or consecrated virgins and religious orders of one and two and three people," says the priest who requested anonymity. "They were just -- forgive me for saying so -- but to most of us they were wackos. They're just psychologically not well equipped, and he brought these people in because theologically they agree with him."

At times his theological allegiance with these orders placed Bishop Burke in some compromising positions. Most striking, perhaps, was the case of Sister Julie Green, a member of the Franciscan Servants of Jesus:

"Julie Green is living a lie!" writes Mary Therese Helmueller in an October 25, 2002, letter to Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Papal Nuncio to the United States. "[She] is a transsexual, a biological male. He is really Joel Green, who had a sex operation to make him physically appear as a woman.... I fear that The Church in America will suffer another 'sex scandal' if Julie Green continues to be recognized as a Catholic Religious Sister, and if Bishop Raymond L. Burke receives his final vows, as a religious sister, on November 23rd, 2002."

Montalvo forwarded the letter to Burke, who on November 20, 2002, replied to Helmueller. "With regard to Sister Julie Green, F.S.J., the recognition of the association of the faithful which she and Sister Anne LeBlanc founded was granted only after consultation with the Holy See," he writes. "These are matters which are confidential and do not admit of any further comment.... I can assure you that Sister Julie Green in no way espouses a sex change operation as right or good. In fact, she holds it to be seriously disordered. Therefore, I caution you very much about the rash judgments which you made in your letter to the Apostolic Nuncio."

Adds Burke: "I express my surprise that, when you had questions about Sister Julie Green, you did not, in accord with the teaching of our Lord, address the matter to me directly."

Green and the Franciscan Servants weren't the only controversial religious order with which Burke allied himself. In the late 1990s, the bishop combined the parishes of St. Mary and St. James in Wausau, Wisconsin. The two parishes formed the Resurrection Parish at what was formerly St. James' Parish.

St. Mary's was sold. Burke then asked the conservative Latin-rite religious order, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, to perform the Tridentine Mass at what was formerly St. Mary's. In February 2002, the order's superior, Monsignor Timothy Svea, pleaded guilty to exposing himself to and molesting teenage boys.

"What never really got any attention was that Bishop Burke brought them in," says a second priest who asked not to be named. "That's really a sore point for a lot of people in Wausau."

END


TOPICS: Catholic
KEYWORDS: historyofdworldpart1
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"I find that my conscience is in conflict with the vision of ministry characterized by the bishop I have promised to obey. I am in an impossible position." - Fr. Richard Dickman

Lucky his name is not Lefebvre otherwise he would be "excommunicated" for such a statement.

1 posted on 08/26/2004 3:38:44 PM PDT by corpus
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To: ninenot
BISHOP TAKES QUEEN Raymond Burke is highly traditional. That's why he received the final vows of a transgendered nun. By Malcolm Gay

This crap reads like it's right out of the National Enquirer, and makes absolutely no sense.   What is "That"?
Pretty pathetic and lame attempt at a smear.
2 posted on 08/26/2004 3:50:43 PM PDT by GirlShortstop (« O sublime humility! That the Lord... should humble Himself like this... »)
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To: GirlShortstop
"Julie Green is living a lie!" writes Mary Therese Helmueller in an October 25, 2002, letter to Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo, Papal Nuncio to the United States. "[She] is a transsexual, a biological male. He is really Joel Green, who had a sex operation to make him physically appear as a woman...."

If Mahoney did this out in LA, the vultures would be all over this thread, condemning him, posting pictures of clown masses, and heaping ridicule.

Watch them try to explain this away.

Burke then asked the conservative Latin-rite religious order, Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest, to perform the Tridentine Mass at what was formerly St. Mary's. In February 2002, the order's superior, Monsignor Timothy Svea, pleaded guilty to exposing himself to and molesting teenage boys.

Uh-oh.

I'm sure Burke is fostering the same unity among the priests of St. Louis.

I'm sure.

3 posted on 08/26/2004 4:17:00 PM PDT by sinkspur ("What's the point in being Pope if I can't wear the tiara?"--Cardinal Fanfani)
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To: GirlShortstop
Actually it's not a smear. It was explained in the article.

Burke, apparently, invited some fringe religious orders, with one or two people, to come to LaCrosse because they were "traditional."

Some in those orders were not exactly psychologically healthy individuals.

4 posted on 08/26/2004 4:20:24 PM PDT by sinkspur ("What's the point in being Pope if I can't wear the tiara?"--Cardinal Fanfani)
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To: sinkspur

"Burke, apparently, invited some fringe religious orders, with one or two people, to come to LaCrosse because they were "traditional." "


Let's clarify that: "traditional" = conservative Novus Ordo. How many "traditionalists" on FR or otherwise would attend a NO "Mass" by their bishop?


5 posted on 08/26/2004 4:45:48 PM PDT by corpus
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To: corpus

The Institute of Christ the King is a Tridentine order of priests.


6 posted on 08/26/2004 4:49:47 PM PDT by sinkspur ("What's the point in being Pope if I can't wear the tiara?"--Cardinal Fanfani)
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To: sinkspur; Desdemona
Burke, apparently, invited some fringe religious orders, with one or two people, to come to LaCrosse because they were "traditional."
Some in those orders were not exactly psychologically healthy individuals.

Perhaps I'm still hung up on "That's why...",  :-)   but it is illogical to tie Archbishop Burke's invitation to priests to celebrate the Tridentine rite to the pervert's actions.  Doesn't the invitation mentioned indicate they were outside his diocese?  Surely you recognize that when priests fall, they fall hard; in this case what looks like spreading blame [for perversion] is assinine.  I'm missing something, and remain skeptical as to what this article's purpose is.  Pax et bonum.
7 posted on 08/26/2004 4:50:14 PM PDT by GirlShortstop (« O sublime humility! That the Lord... should humble Himself like this... »)
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To: GirlShortstop
"He's left a presbyterate that's demoralized and divided," says one former diocesan priest

That statement is the purpose of the article.

8 posted on 08/26/2004 4:53:02 PM PDT by sinkspur ("What's the point in being Pope if I can't wear the tiara?"--Cardinal Fanfani)
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To: sinkspur

Yes. Who also celebrate the NO "Mass".


9 posted on 08/26/2004 5:03:03 PM PDT by corpus
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To: corpus

You're making this about the Novus Ordo when it's about Burke and the fact he left a demoralized group of priests behind.


10 posted on 08/26/2004 5:05:36 PM PDT by sinkspur ("What's the point in being Pope if I can't wear the tiara?"--Cardinal Fanfani)
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To: sinkspur
He's left a presbyterate that's demoralized and divided," says one former diocesan priest

That statement is the purpose of the article.

Thank you.  The division of the presbyterate:   where is the delineation?  I am suspect of whiners when they aren't forthcoming in their reason(s) for bellyaching.

Sinkspur, you, and I, and certainly many Catholics pray for ourselves and the members of Mystical Body of Christ to be more Christ-like; for God's will to be done, I consider it sensible to recognize that ya gotta crack some eggs to make an omelet. :-)
Pax et bonum.
11 posted on 08/26/2004 5:10:02 PM PDT by GirlShortstop (« O sublime humility! That the Lord... should humble Himself like this... »)
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To: corpus
Let's see... Hit piece on bishop up front, kinky 'Gay' and 'Lesbian' personals in the back. Burke must be twisting someone's panties. It does have the whiff of scandal, but since the source is the RFT, I'll bet we are getting a very skewed perspective and give Burke the benefit of the doubt.
12 posted on 08/26/2004 5:16:07 PM PDT by Flying Circus
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To: sinkspur

"You're making this about the Novus Ordo when it's about Burke and the fact he left a demoralized group of priests behind."


There are many who confuse "conservative" with "traditional", the author of this article being one. I am trying to illustrate that Archbishop Burke is one that often gets labeled as "traditional" or "arch-conservative" when stories such as this tell a different tale.


13 posted on 08/26/2004 5:16:26 PM PDT by corpus
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To: corpus; Flying Circus; sinkspur
Burke is one that often gets labeled as "traditional" or "arch-conservative" when stories such as this tell a different tale.

Let's see... Hit piece on bishop up front, kinky 'Gay' and 'Lesbian' personals in the back. Burke must be twisting someone's panties. It does have the whiff of scandal, but since the source is the RFT, I'll bet we are getting a very skewed perspective...

If what's said above is accurate, then unfortunately corpus, "the tale" is that your thread posting acumen is in need of tweaking.  Conversely, if the RFT *is* reliable, you've got the goods.  ...what those goods are is tbd.
FReegards.
14 posted on 08/26/2004 5:28:15 PM PDT by GirlShortstop (« O sublime humility! That the Lord... should humble Himself like this... »)
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To: Flying Circus; corpus; sinkspur; Desdemona
Let's see... Hit piece on bishop up front, kinky 'Gay' and 'Lesbian' personals in the back.

LOL... hunches are a funny thing.  :-)

From Gay/Progressive Print Publications:
St. Louis Bar Star Magazine
EXP Magazine
The RiverFront Times Alternative City Paper
Slam! Magazine

15 posted on 08/26/2004 5:44:21 PM PDT by GirlShortstop (« O sublime humility! That the Lord... should humble Himself like this... »)
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To: GirlShortstop

I may be in San Jose now, but I'm still a St. Louisan at heart. The RFT's mission is to make The Post-Dispatch look positively moderate.


16 posted on 08/26/2004 5:58:56 PM PDT by Flying Circus
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To: corpus; sinkspur

The Institute of Christ the King does not celebrate the NO mass.

The fact that this was a single isolated case, and the guilty man was immediately removed, would be enough for me to say that neither the Institute nor Burke should be painted with the broad brush of perversity for this. Even in the best of times for the Church a SMALL number of these cases arose.

As for the "transgender nun", it defies anything I even thought possible. It is beyond disgusting. I can't imagine what is going through people's minds when they allow this to continue, nor do I want to know.


17 posted on 08/26/2004 5:59:56 PM PDT by bonaventura
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To: GirlShortstop

"If what's said above is accurate, then unfortunately corpus, "the tale" is that your thread posting acumen is in need of tweaking. Conversely, if the RFT *is* reliable, you've got the goods. ...what those goods are is tbd.
FReegards."

My original post was in reference to the disobedience of the priest to his bishop who left Archbishop Burke's diocese due to a conflict with his conscience (see Post 1). The reliability of which is based on priests of Burke's previous diocese, as I quoted in Post 1, which also names one of the priests. I wasn't sure if it was "legal" to change the title of someone else's published article in my thread title, which is why I left it as it was, while trying to bring to the table what I caught in the article in Post 1. None of my postings on this thread have related to homosexuality or sexual perversion, nor was it the topic I originally addressed. The "different tale" was in reference to how priests and laymen view their superiors or those who have authority over them, with nothing in reference to the queer agenda of RFT.


18 posted on 08/26/2004 6:02:04 PM PDT by corpus
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To: corpus

The RFT? Get real. That's not even worthy to line bird cages.

The RFT is the most worthless rag in th country. Anything they say about Burke is in need of serious rebuttal.


19 posted on 08/26/2004 6:05:05 PM PDT by Desdemona
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To: corpus
FROM CRUXNEWS.COM (http://www.cruxnews.com/articles/letters-23july04.html): Burke and Institute acted swiftly, appropriately
[With regards to the illegal sex games perpetrated on an unwilling teenage boy] Fr. Timothy Svea, it should be noted that this incident was taken care of very swiftly. I was still in La Crosse at the time and I heard something was going on with this guy. I don't remember the timeline right now, but Bishop Burke learned of Svea's behavior from the Institute and immediately suspended his faculties. The Institute acted swiftly as well and got him out and he was handed over to a prosecutor in Wood County. This all happened in a matter of months. This could have been extraordinarily embarrassing to then-Bishop Burke [now Archbishop of St. Louis]. He had closed St. Mary's Church in Wausau and merged the parish with another one in town. It was then purchased by someone really rich who has ties to Tridentine rite supporters and Bishop Burke brought the Institute in to have them minister to those who still desired that Mass. He did this against the wishes of the majority of his presbyterate. The situation was made worse for Bishop Burke when Svea, who was serving as superior, told the Presbyteral Council that he would not, even in case of extreme need, celebrate the Novus Ordo Mass. It could have happened, then, that both the Institute and Bishop Burke would try to cover up the situation to save their skins. But to their credits, they did not do that. --Thomas A. Szyszkiewicz
20 posted on 08/26/2004 6:06:09 PM PDT by tridentine
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