I am sure you will recall that late last week St. Louis's Catholic Archbishop, Raymond Burke, held a news conference to explain why he felt compelled to resign from the board of Bishop Glennon Hospital. It must have been painful for him but, as he pointed out, it was the right thing to do.
Well, this past Saturday night as Bob Costas stood quipping, “Well, I guess the archbishop will not be joining us tonight,” he had no idea of the immense good will that Archbishop Raymond Burke created when he took that principled stand, pointing out that the hospital’s invitation to pro-abortion, pro-human-embryonic stem cell research singer Sheryl Crow was unacceptable to him.
How could Costas have know that this courageous act by Archbishop Burke would receive headlines from Maine to Washington?
People from coast to coast now understand that there is at least one prince of the Catholic Church who will not tolerate alliances or dalliances with pro-abortion figures, groups or ideologies.
To reaffirm this, on April 29, the St. Louis Archdiocese Respect Life Office reminded Catholics in Missouri that the archdiocese, while recognizing the good that the Susan G. Komen for the Cure Breast Cancer Foundation does in the battle to find a cure, there is no way the archdiocese can support this charity since Komen affiliates in at least 22 states have made sizable grants to Planned Parenthood chapters. After all, Planned Parenthood is the nation’s number one abortion provider and purveyor of sexually explicit sex education materials and birth control.
When I wrote Saving Those Damned Catholics, I pointed out in chapter after chapter that bishops like Archbishop Raymond Burke are few and far between. While I cannot tell you why this is so, I can reiterate that America needs at least 200 more who are willing to stand up, take the heat and defend the truth.
Kudos to Archbishop Rayomnd Burke!