Catholic Archbishop of St.Louis In Trouble…
For being Catholic.
St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke denounced a Catholic charity for scheduling singer Sheryl Crow to perform at a benefit concert because of the singer’s support for abortion rights.Burke submitted his resignation as chairman of the board for the Cardinal Glennon Children’s Foundation, saying the decision to let Crow sing on Saturday left him no other choice.
“It’s very painful for me,” Burke said during a news conference Wednesday. “But I have to answer to God for the responsibility I have as archbishop.
“A Catholic institution featuring a performer who promotes moral evil gives the impression that the church is somehow inconsistent in its teaching,” Burke said.
Crow is set to appear at the 19th annual benefit for the Bob Costas Cancer Center at Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center. Costas will host the event, which will also feature comedian Billy Crystal.
Event organizer Allen Allred said he was disappointed with Burke’s decision, but that Crow would appear as scheduled.
“This is not an event that’s about ideology,” Allred said. “This is about helping kids.”
That’s rather naive considering that Cardinal Glennon is a Catholic hospital:
SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center is part of SSM Health Care, one of the largest Catholic health care systems in the country. SSM is sponsored by the Franciscan Sisters of Mary and owns, operates and manages 19 acute care hospitals in four states – Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin and Oklahoma.
As I recently wrote in comments at Dean’s World I am both Pro-Life AND Pro-Choice. I am also NOT Catholic for a variety of reasons. Therefore I wouldn’t expect to be invited to write speeches for the Archbishop or be employed by the Catholic Church in any way.
However getting Sheryl Crow to perform for a benefit makes as much sense as booking Bobby Brown at a battered women’s shelter benefit. So the Archbishop, who believes that abortion is a modern day holocaust or genocide should not be expected to agree with the ignorance of the benefit’s organization committee.
When Hezbollah books Jackie Mason, or the Bnai Brith books Hassan Nazrallah to speak – then perhaps I’ll change my mind. However the Archbishop did the right thing by taking a hike from this bit of ignorance.
Jack:
Scott,
Archbishop Burke had no problem with past performers who held the same or similar views as Sheryl Crow. The list includes John Mellencamp and Tim McGraw (who are very outspoken).
And Billy Crystal, who’s donated money to politicians in support of stem cell research and abortion rights, is performing at the same event that Sheryl Crow is, yet Burke has no problem with him.
When he was questioned about it, Burke said it was the level of Crow’s activism that convinced him to take a stand this time.
That’s nonsense and hypocritical. The other celebrities have made their views public and donated money in support of those views.
It sounds to me like Archbishop Burke just doesn’t like Sheryl Crow. Period. And he’s hiding his personal feelings about someone behind an ideological stance. I see people, both liberals and conservatives, do this all the time. And I’m disappointed to think you might be doing it now as well.
Sheryl Crow is one of those annoying left-wing Hollywood types that you can’t stand, so you jump right on the bandwagon with Burke. You justify your support as ideological by stating you wouldn’t be hired either because you’re not a Catholic, yet you make no mention of others who’ve been hired that have held the same views as Crow. I’ve listed several and the list is even longer.
I don’t care for Sheryl Crow all that much either, but upon hearing the story in the local news, I immediately researched it on the internet and discovered the inconsistency in his reasons.
What I tend to notice with people is that as soon as ones biases become aligned with anothers, neither of them even remotely question their views. It seems like everywhere I look, I see a mob-mentality amongst both liberals and conservatives.
As you know (at least I think you know), I’m a left-leaning moderate. Most liberals see me as conservative and most conservatives see me as liberal…and both tend to see me as unprincipled. They see me that way because I don’t tow the party line, any party line, because I don’t give into the mob-mentality (though they would never state it in those terms).
With the political polarization being the only newsworthy views in politics, one could conclude that our society was doomed to collapse because of irreconcilable differences. However, I get comfort in the knowledge that (statistically speaking) most Americans are moderates. And they tend to stay quiet.
If Ann Coulter and Al Franken spoke for the majority, our species would already be as dead as the dinosaurs. We’d just be waiting for the giant rock to hit.
I generally don’t respond to things I read on people’s blogs; I find I have other things to do with my time. But you’re a friend; I felt compelled to speak up.
On a different note: Thank you for the nice posting about my feature film on Dean’s World a few months back. Imagine my surprise when I visited the site and saw a still from my film.
Thanks again.
Jack
26 April 2007, 8:01 pmHappy Jihad:
Burke did not think this one through. He has a history of condemning people vaguely associated with a point of view with being immoral. Not a good man.
26 April 2007, 9:38 pmAdministrator:
Jack & Happy
If he’s not being consistent, then I agree with you both. Being that I don’t live in St. Louis, am no longer Catholic, and really don’t discuss the Abortion issue much, I might be missing something here.
However I believe that my point stands about the Church. Any faith has to be conservative by its very nature. People use their faith as a steel core that helps support their daily lives, and would eventually lose their faith if it kept changing on them the way opinion polls and politicians do. Catholicism has to remain consistent to its doctrine or it risks becoming irrelevant.
The event is to be held at the Fox Theater, and the money will go to the hospital. I have no problem with the event itself, and the organizers can invite doctors who perform abortions to attend if it so desires. However Burke represents the Catholic church, and his being there as its representative would not be consistent with the Church’s teachings. Therefore he did the proper thing by bowing out.
27 April 2007, 7:58 am