St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke
Tom Gannam: Associated Press
Tom Gannam: Associated Press
July 3, 2008, 6:18PM
First American named to lead Vatican court
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle News Services
ST. LOUIS — An archbishop who tussled with singer Sheryl Crow, college basketball coach Rick Majerus and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry over their support for abortion rights has been named the first American to lead the Vatican supreme court.
Archbishop Raymond Burke, an expert in church law and perhaps the most outspoken of conservative U.S. bishops, was appointed last week to the court, which is traditionally headed by a cardinal.
Burke's appointment shows that Pope Benedict XVI has great respect for U.S. bishops, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
"This is more power than Americans have ever had in Rome," Reese said.
In 2005, Benedict named Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco to head the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later elevated him to cardinal.
"Those two positions are the highest of any American in the Vatican in a long time," Reese said. "Certainly (Burke) is going to get a red hat. He's going to be made a cardinal."
Roman Catholics in St. Louis clearly are split between those who are glad and those who are sorry he's going.
Some see him as a champion of orthodoxy who represents a refreshing return to church values. Others view him as sorely lacking as a pastor, an unbending stickler for the letter of the law.
"I've been getting phone calls since 6 o'clock this morning from parishioners singing, 'Ding, dong, the archbishop is gone,' " said the Rev. Marek Bozek, who, along with his parish board, was excommunicated by Burke after a long-simmering dispute over St. Stanislaus Kostka's assets.
Yet other Catholics defended Burke, 60.
"We're sad about it," said the Rev. Karl Lenhardt, who was invited here by Burke to establish a place where the Latin Mass could be celebrated. "But we are convinced that work in his new capacity will be good for the universal church. We can't be surprised that the Holy Father has called him."
Burke said he would move to Rome in late August to head the supreme court, which resolves jurisdictional disputes among various Vatican tribunals and hears procedural appeals on marriage annulments. Benedict and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have complained for years that local tribunals grant an excessive number of annulments.
The archbishop worked on the staff of the Vatican's high court, called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, for five years before being named bishop of La Crosse, Wis., his home diocese, in 1995. In 2006, Benedict named Burke one of the 15 judges on the Signatura.
In June, the pope named Burke to two Vatican offices, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which interprets canon law, and the Congregation for the Clergy, which regulates the formation and training of diocesan priests and deacons.
"It's the respect the pope and Vatican officials have for him as canon lawyer that has gotten him this job," Reese said. "The pastoral skills needed to run a diocese are not needed as the head of the Signatura."
The Associated Press and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.
Copyright 2008 Houston Chronicle News Services
ST. LOUIS — An archbishop who tussled with singer Sheryl Crow, college basketball coach Rick Majerus and Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry over their support for abortion rights has been named the first American to lead the Vatican supreme court.
Archbishop Raymond Burke, an expert in church law and perhaps the most outspoken of conservative U.S. bishops, was appointed last week to the court, which is traditionally headed by a cardinal.
Burke's appointment shows that Pope Benedict XVI has great respect for U.S. bishops, said the Rev. Thomas Reese, senior fellow at the Woodstock Theological Center at Georgetown University.
"This is more power than Americans have ever had in Rome," Reese said.
In 2005, Benedict named Archbishop William Levada of San Francisco to head the Vatican's Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith and later elevated him to cardinal.
"Those two positions are the highest of any American in the Vatican in a long time," Reese said. "Certainly (Burke) is going to get a red hat. He's going to be made a cardinal."
Roman Catholics in St. Louis clearly are split between those who are glad and those who are sorry he's going.
Some see him as a champion of orthodoxy who represents a refreshing return to church values. Others view him as sorely lacking as a pastor, an unbending stickler for the letter of the law.
"I've been getting phone calls since 6 o'clock this morning from parishioners singing, 'Ding, dong, the archbishop is gone,' " said the Rev. Marek Bozek, who, along with his parish board, was excommunicated by Burke after a long-simmering dispute over St. Stanislaus Kostka's assets.
Yet other Catholics defended Burke, 60.
"We're sad about it," said the Rev. Karl Lenhardt, who was invited here by Burke to establish a place where the Latin Mass could be celebrated. "But we are convinced that work in his new capacity will be good for the universal church. We can't be surprised that the Holy Father has called him."
Burke said he would move to Rome in late August to head the supreme court, which resolves jurisdictional disputes among various Vatican tribunals and hears procedural appeals on marriage annulments. Benedict and his predecessor, Pope John Paul II, have complained for years that local tribunals grant an excessive number of annulments.
The archbishop worked on the staff of the Vatican's high court, called the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, for five years before being named bishop of La Crosse, Wis., his home diocese, in 1995. In 2006, Benedict named Burke one of the 15 judges on the Signatura.
In June, the pope named Burke to two Vatican offices, the Pontifical Council for Legislative Texts, which interprets canon law, and the Congregation for the Clergy, which regulates the formation and training of diocesan priests and deacons.
"It's the respect the pope and Vatican officials have for him as canon lawyer that has gotten him this job," Reese said. "The pastoral skills needed to run a diocese are not needed as the head of the Signatura."
The Associated Press and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch contributed to this report.