EXCLUSIVE: Cardinal Burke - ‘loss of devotional life one of greatest tragedies’ of post-Vatican II era
During an interview with Per Mariam, Cardinal Burke opined on the practice of the Catholic faith, and addressed issues such as the Synod on Synodality and female deacons.
VATICAN CITY (PerMariam) — In a recent interview with Per Mariam, Raymond Cardinal Burke expanded on the underlying intention behind his 9-month Novena, and renewed his critiques and assessments of various crises in the Church including the Synod on Synodality and restrictions on the Latin Mass.
During the wide-ranging interview, held in Rome – {which will be published in two separate parts on this site} – Cdl. Burke highlighted the loss of the devotional life in recent decades as “one of the greatest tragedies” since Vatican II, and linked his spiritual campaign of the 9-month Novena to Our Lady as a way to foster a renewed practice of the Catholic Faith.
After the great success of the recently concluded 9-month Novena to Our Lady of Guadalupe – some 190,000 people formally joined and many more did so without registering – His Eminence invited all who joined his Novena to maintain the impetus of the spiritual endeavor, and recite a daily prayer of consecration to Our Lady of Guadalupe.
He stated that a faith without active devotion “is very easily reduced to an idea or an ideology, and that doesn’t inspire anyone, and in fact leads people into error. I believe one of the greatest tragedies of the post-conciliar period is the loss of the devotional life – and we need to restore it.”
Noting the “overwhelming response” to the Novena, Cdl. Burke expressed his belief that this would usher in “a resurgence in the devotional life, and that will lead then to a deeper Christian life, and a deeper Christian life will lead to the transformation of society.”
Strengthened by a healthy devotional life, Cdl. Burke commented that Catholics will “have the stamina – the courage and the stamina – to fight for a truly Christian life.”
Commenting also on the Synod on Synodality’s declaration in the final document that the question of female diaconate “remains open,” the Cardinal noted that this is “a false statement.”
Not only does the Synod not have the authority to overturn Church teaching on this point, but “synodality” is a “dangerous term,” he warned, which is used by those wishing to promote their own secular agendas within the Church.
“No one has yet defined what synodality is, and so it’s a dangerous term because it becomes a slogan by which people introduce all of their pet ideas, a number of which are contrary to the Church’s constant teaching and practice,” he told this correspondent. “And so the faithful should be extremely cautious about this whole notion of synodality, and certainly, how can you ask your Bishop to be more synodal when you don’t know what that is?”
While the General Secretariat of the Synod of Bishops and the Synod’s key personnel advance with implementing the policies and styles of the Synod across the wider Church, many Catholics have expressed concern that in doing so, the Synod leaders are ushering in a revolution against many aspects of Catholic life and Church teaching.
Though “the synod as an institution has existed in the Church, it’s a way for bishops and the Holy Father to consult the faithful and others about various questions,” the Cardinal stated.
“But it’s always for the Holy Father and the Bishops to maintain, in accord with their office, fidelity to the teaching of Christ as it’s been handed down to us in an unbroken line through the Apostolic tradition.”
Aside from the issue of female orders, the Synod has pushed ahead with plans to have a more democratized, or horizontal Church, in which the Divinely instituted nature and practice of the hierarchy is gradually done away with in favor of a government by general consensus.
Such a “paradigm shift” – as the Synod has previously been described in a book Cdl. Burke wrote a foreword for – has been referred to as an abuse of the authority of a synod.
Questioned about what lay Catholics should do in response to this, Cdl. Burke urged them to renew efforts in prayer, particularly that the Bishops “be faithful shepherds” and “faithful to the constant teaching of the Church.”
The full transcript of this first half of Per Mariam’s interview with Cardinal Burke is found below
Michael Haynes: Your Eminence, thank you for your time! Obviously, you have just concluded the nine-month Novena in December, which you said was in response to the crises of our age: in the world and in the Church. I think even despite the fact that many people will see these crises, the number of people who joined you still seemed amazingly high. With a mixture of Catholics and non-Catholics – I think you said 190,000?
Cardinal Raymond Burke: Yes, at least that many who were formally registered, and there were many more who were going on the [Novena] site, and a number of faithful and others commented to me that, even though they hadn’t registered on the site, that they were making the prayer every day because of the importance which they saw in it.
Haynes: What I found especially beautiful was that, at the day of consecration, you then issued a renewed call to continue.
Cdl. Burke: Right, because consecration means that we are giving ourselves to our Lord through His Blessed Mother, and that means that every day we have to renew that gift, we have to ask for the grace to be faithful to the gift, because, otherwise, the consecration ends up being for one day or for a few days and then it’s forgotten. And that can’t be because it’s an act of love for our Lord, inspired by our Blessed Mother, in union with her Immaculate Heart.
For that reason too, I wrote a prayer to be said every day by those who had made the consecration, so that all of us who made the consecration would also live the consecration.
Haynes: Particularly in the time when abortion and attacks on life and the family generally are so rife, having this devotion to Our Lady of Guadalupe – the protector of the unborn – is key. Do you think that in an age where we have a lot of talk about New Evangelization – but at the same time we’re sadly seeing, particularly in Europe, a loss of practice of the faith, of numbers of Catholics – do you think that devotion is part of a key way for the Church to renew evangelization?
Cdl. Burke: Yes it is, because when we go to Our Lady, she always takes us to her Divine Son, to our Lord Jesus Christ, and helps us to deepen our knowledge of Him and our love for Him and then our service of Him. Without that devotion the faith is very easily reduced to an idea or an ideology, and that doesn’t inspire anyone, and in fact leads people into error. I believe one of the greatest tragedies of the post-conciliar period is the loss of the devotional life – and we need to restore it.
I saw, by the overwhelming response to the invitation to make the nine-month Novena, the great thirst and hunger that people have for a personal relationship with Christ, which we have directly in the Sacraments. Meeting the Lord in the Sacraments, above all in the Holy Eucharist and in the Sacrament of Penance, is sustained through a devotional life, through relating with Our Lord throughout the day and in various ways with the help of Our Lady and of the saints, angels, our guardian angel and the other angels.
So I believe that we’re going to see a resurgence in the devotional life, and that will lead then to a deeper Christian life, and a deeper Christian life will lead to the transformation of society, which – as you so rightly observed – has become hostile to life itself, hostile to marriage, hostile even to the free practice of religion. With this devotional life, we’ll have the stamina – the courage and the stamina – to fight for a truly Christian life.
Haynes: Certainly, it’s very evident how that bears fruit. Thinking of parishes that I’ve visited or spent time living close to, often the most thriving parishes are those which offer the full sacramental life. It’s not just Mass, but regular Confessions, or the adoration of the Blessed Sacrament or parts of the Divine Office…
Cdl. Burke: Yes, the Mass is such a profoundly rich encounter with Our Lord that it demands, in itself, these other [accompanying] devotions, especially regular Confession, but also other devotions to remain in the company of Christ and to deepen that encounter.
Haynes: Now, as for some of the more major events which happened during the course of the Novena in the Church, we had the closure in some sense of the Synod [on Synodality], and there was talk also of possible restrictions on the Latin Mass. I wanted to ask you first about the Synod, because in the final document it has the statement that the question of women’s access to the diaconal ministry remains open. Of course, you and a number of other prelates have noted that the Church teaches this is not the case.
Cdl. Burke: No, it’s false, it’s a false statement. The Synod as a meeting has no authority to make such a pronouncement and the final statement of the Synod has no authority. These are matters to be taken into consideration by the Bishops in communion with the Roman Pontiff, and only in that way can there be a further clarification of the Church’s teaching, but certainly on the question of ordination to Holy Orders – what the Church has always and everywhere taught that won’t change.
Haynes: How do you think that the normal Catholics, like me in the pew, should respond? I was in the [Synod] press room, where we heard questions about how faithful should ask their bishops to be more synodal and more proactive in pushing the Synod’s talking points. What do the faithful do when they would like their bishop to be more faithful to the Catholic teaching?
Cdl. Burke: That’s when they should pray for their Bishops too, to be faithful shepherds, to be faithful to the constant teaching of the Church, to be faithful in the worthy offering of divine worship, to be faithful in exercising the discipline of the Church.
No one has yet defined what synodality is, and so it’s a dangerous term because it becomes a slogan by which people introduce all their pet ideas, a number of which are contrary to the Church’s constant teaching and practice. And so the faithful should be extremely cautious about this whole notion of synodality, and certainly, how can you ask your Bishop to be more synodal when you don’t know what that is?
The marks of the Church are One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic, and that’s how we identify ourselves. Those are unchangeable marks. The Synod as an institution has existed in the Church, but it’s a way for Bishops and the Holy Father to consult the faithful and others about various questions. But it’s always for the Holy Father and the Bishops to maintain, in accord with their office, fidelity to the teaching of Christ as it’s been handed down to us in an unbroken line through the Apostolic tradition.
“A cause of great suffering” yes I’m one of the suffering faithful. It’s very hard to have found the pearl of great price, the Mass that draws your soul to heaven, and then have it taken away from you. I know that all suffering is for our good, but how to bear it well….I haven’t figured that out yet. 🙏