Wednesday, October 20, 2010

CATHOLIC ORTHODOXY; ANTIDOTE AGAINST THE CULTURE OF DEATH: Speech by ARCHBISHOP RAYMOND BURKE


I reported that the 5th World prayer congress for life took place in Rome from October 5th - 10th and that there were so many wonderful aspects to the conference that it would take some time to report on everything that happened there.

Archbishop Raymond Burke Prefect of the Apostolic Signatura (the highest Vatican court) on Saturday Oct 9th gave one of the most powerful speeches I have heard in a long time. It would be impossible in one or two paragraphs to do justice to the presentation so I have simply highlighted one or two issues and have included a video link to it so that anyone who wishes to do so can see and hear the entire talk.

Archbishop Burke castigated Catholic politicians who are pro-abortion and told the meeting that such people are required to repent publicly. He also challenged all members of the Church to be faithful to the Magesterium and that includes Bishops as well as the faithfu. The Magesterium he said is
"the teaching of Christ as handed down through the successor of Peter and the bishops in union with him. “When the shepherds of the flock are obedient to the Magisterium, entrusted to their exercise, then surely the members of the flock grow in obedience and proceed with Christ along the way of salvation,” he said. “If the shepherd is not obedient the flock easily gives way to confusion and error.”

Archbishop Burke also spoke powerfully about the need to protect innocent human life and attacked to so called contraceptive mentality
" ... The attack on the innocent and defenseless life of the unborn has its origin in an erroneous view of human sexuality, which attempts to eliminate, by mechanical or chemical means, the essentially procreative nature of the conjugal act. The error maintains that the artificially altered conjugal act retains its integrity. The claim is that the act remains unitive or loving, even though the procreative nature of the act has been radically violated. In fact, it is not unitive, for one or both of the partners withholds an essential part of the gift of self, which is the essence of the conjugal union. The so-called "contraceptive mentality" is essentially antilife.Many forms of so-called contraception are, in fact, abortifacient, that is, they destroy, at its beginning, a life which has already been conceived ...


You can listen to the entire speech on this video link