Archbishop Raymond Burke came to Phoenix to deliver the homily at the Red Mass in that city’s cathedral. In the course of his remarks, the archbishop said of America, “It is a society which is abandoning its Judeo-Christian foundations, the fundamental obedience to God’s law which safeguards the common good, and is embracing a totalitarianism which masks itself as the 'hope,' the 'future,' of our nation.
"Reason and faith teaches us that such a society can only produce violence and death and in the end destroy itself,” Archbishop Burke warned.
"Totalitarianism"?
I do not know what motivates a man, let alone a cleric, to say such a thing. America has many problems, but the specter of totalitarianism is not among them. The archbishop’s use of the word “hope” in this context leaves little room for doubt as to whom he thinks is the agent of this totalitarian threat. His words are no different from the posters carried at the tea party protests that show President Obama with a Hitler mustache, or of that crazy woman who told Congressman Barney Frank that the president was pursuing Nazi policies. Cong. Frank replied that he would rather have an argument with his kitchen table than engage such absurdity.
The sentiment is no less absurd for coming from an archbishop speaking from a pulpit, although it is more obnoxious.
It is time for the nuncio, or the USCCB, or someone to tell Archbishop Burke to shut up.
