A Bishop Who Leads

Virginia voters are being asked to support two changes in the state constitution. Both are on the far frontier of the sexual revolution.

And Bishop Michael Francis Burbidge of the Diocese of Arlington is leading the fight to stop them.

One would not only place abortion on demand in the Virginia Constitution, something that is unnecessary because abortion is already legal in this state, but would also allow nonmedical personnel to commit abortions, and it would allow abortions up to the moment of birth. Oh, yes, and minors could kill the unborn children without parental supervision.

The other amendment would place same-sex marriage in the Constitution, also not necessary since “same-sex marriage” was imposed on our country by the U.S. Supreme Court. The same amendment would protect “gender ideology” in the Virginia Constitution.

These are among the most radical ballot initiatives in the country. The Democrats do not need them except as a stick in the eye of Catholics and other Christians.

This would usually be a time when the Church’s voice would be the lone voice, or when organized laymen would speak out, with bishops mostly silent.

That is certainly happening in Virginia now, but we are also seeing the Bishop of Arlington taking the lead.

Some weeks ago, Bishop Burbidge started a “Catholics Vote No” campaign on the diocesan website. That alone was amazing. And then he directed all 70 parish priests to take a role in defeating these amendments. The Bishop sent literature, placards, and posters, and asked his men to put them up in their parishes. Most did. This past Sunday, he asked them to read a letter on this topic from him at every Mass!

“All of us in the Commonwealth of Virginia will soon face very serious legal threats to the sacredness of human life and the sanctity of marriage. During the upcoming election season, from September 18 to November 3, two dangerous ballot initiatives will be brought before all voters.”

He asked all Catholics outright, “First, I ask you to be a faithful disciple and pledge to vote by visiting CatholicVoteno.com, where you can learn more and share the truth about these extreme valid initiatives. Second, I ask you to ensure you are registered to vote and make a plan to get to the polls starting as early as this Friday, September 18, when early voting begins. I urge you to vote early to ensure nothing prevents you from casting your ballot in this critical election.”

He is even organizing volunteers to send out 400,000 personal postcards asking Catholics to vote no.

This is nothing short of astonishing. We, as Catholics, are used to bishops being timid in the face of radical politics. There is a fear of being tarred as a “culture warrior” and somehow breaching that sacred phony line supposedly erected between Church and State. To be sure, the Bishop tells us the Church is nonpartisan, and this is not an election about people but rather about issues. But even this is astounding.

But not really astounding to us in the Diocese of Arlington. Our bishop is not a culture warrior, but he is also fearless in his own quiet and persistent way.

Several years ago, almost alone among bishops, he published a catechetical letter against gender ideology. He said no one can be born in the wrong body. He even said we should not fall for phony pronouns:

The faithful should avoid using ‘gender-affirming’ terms or pronouns that convey approval of or reinforce the person’s rejection of the truth. It is not harsh or judgmental to decline to use such language. In the broader culture, Catholics may experience significant pressure to adopt culturally approved terminology. However, in no circumstances should anyone be compelled to use language contrary to the truth. The right to speak the truth inheres in the human person and cannot be taken away by any human institution. Attempts by the state, corporations, or employers to compel such language, particularly by threats of legal action or job loss, are unjust. We must love in the truth, and truth must be accurately conveyed by our words. At the same time, clarity must always be at the service of charity, as part of a broader desire to move people towards the fullness of the truth.

This diocese is very special. It is small but mighty. We have upwards of 50 men studying and working toward the priesthood. A huge diocese cannot match this number. We ordained 12 men last year. We have 46 men and women in training for the religious life.

A decade ago, I served on the Diocesan Review Board for a few years. We heard hardly any cases of sexual charges. There is no subculture of homosexual priests here. A well-known priest advocate for Rainbow Zeus did a Zoom meeting with a parish many years ago. When alerted, Bishop Burbidge assured us it would never happen again.

To be sure, Bishop Burbidge has had to thread some difficult needles. When Pope Francis unfairly cracked down on the Traditional Latin Mass, Bishop Burbidge reduced the number of TLMs from 21 to eight, a loss of 13, where three of the eight remained in parish churches, and the other five were moved to off-site locations. This caused justifiable distress among our fellow Catholics who adhered to the old rite. I will note that the Bishop kept two of them close to Washington, D.C., where the Archbishop banned the old Mass outright. Burbidge could have kept them alive in parishes far away, out near West Virginia, but he didn’t. He kept them right near Washington, DC. And in recent days, for the first time, the Fraternity of St. Peter has been allowed into the diocese to minister to those attending the traditional rite.

Consider something like the altar rail. They were ripped out all across the country. And in Arlington, they were not erected in the first place when they built all the ugly modern churches we have here. But when Burbidge came in 2016, he began allowing them to be used and built. Now several have been put in, or others have come into use. And you know what? People love them, communion on their knees and on the tongue.

And though we have all these ugly churches, Bishop Burbidge moved last year to fix his own Cathedral of St. Thomas More architecturally (it wasn’t completely awful, but it was pretty awful). As a friend of mine said, “He even managed to un-wreckovate an objectively ugly cathedral into something that evokes Tudor aesthetics, which is no small feat.”

And all the new churches being built are classical, beautiful, the way Churches ought to look, not like the spaceship churches built here when the diocese was founded 50 years ago. This is an astonishing diocese.

And this is our bishop. He leads.