Archbishop Burke speaks to Confraternity; clergy voice their full support

St. Louis, Mo., Jul 20, 2007 / 09:10 am

The Confraternity of Catholic Clergy, a national association of 600 priests and deacons has just concluded their 32^nd annual convention at which Archbishop Raymond Burke was the keynote speaker.

 

According to their website, the association of clergy has as its goals, the pursuit of personal holiness, loyalty to the Roman Pontiff, commitment to theological study and strict adherence to the authentic teachings of the Magisterium. They are committed to doing this by providing ongoing intellectual, spiritual and pastoral formation of the local clergy. 

 

The following resolutions are the outcome of their annual four day conference which ended yesterday.

1. We express our deep gratitude and respect for church leaders like Archbishop Raymond Burke of Saint Louis who courageously, consistently and faithfully defend Holy Mother Church and all her official teachings and disciplines. We strongly support his stand on denying Holy Communion to any Catholic candidate or politician who openly and notoriously supports abortion and/or euthanasia.
   
   
2. We embrace the magisterial teaching of the Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) in its recent document on the unicity and necessity of the Catholic Church, in which the one, true Church of Jesus Christ, fully subsists. When understood in its full context, this doctrine is not a hindrance to ecumenical endeavors nor does it deviate from previous and perennially taught dogmas on the ecclesiological nature of the church.
   
   
3. We thank Pope Benedict XVI for his recent motu proprio 'Summorum Pontificum' and hope it will be fully, freely and universally implemented in every diocese throughout the world. We see the invaluable treasure of preserving the old Latin "Tridentine" Mass, (extraordinary form of the Roman Rite), for the spiritual benefit of all the faithful who request it. We furthermore affirm the necessity of reverently and properly celebrating the vernacular Novus Ordo Mass of Paul VI, (ordinary form of the same Roman Rite). Our prayer is that this will bring back many of the clergy and lay faithful who have gravitated to schismatic groups in reaction to serious abuses committed by some priests who have irreverently celebrated the new Mass in English since the Vatican II.
   
   
4. We urge the bishops of the English speaking nations to quickly endorse a totally accurate translation of the Roman Missal which would be completely faithful to the typical Latin text. As celebrants of the Holy Mass, we see the necessity of and urgency of restoring sacred language and replacing all pedestrian verbiage in Divine worship since the Holy Eucharist is the 'source and summit of Christian life.'
   
   
5. As we prepare for the 40th anniversary of 'Humanae Vitae' next year, we encourage our brother priests and deacons to reacquaint themselves with this prophetic papal encyclical of Paul VI and we commend our American bishops for the recent USCCB document on Natural Family Planning, 'Married Love and the Gift of Life' (November, 2006).
   
   
6. We pledge as faithful sons of the Church our continued prayers and complete obedience to the Vicar of Christ, Pope Benedict XVI, and eagerly await his first pastoral visit to the United States.