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Cardinal Burke tweets that his condition is improving

August 28, 2021 Catholic News Agency 3
Raymond Leo Cardinal Burke during the Solemnity of Saints Peter and Paul in St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, June 29, 2019. Daniel Ibáñez/CNA

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 28, 2021 / 21:38 pm (CNA).

Raymond Cardinal Burke issued a personal statement via Twitter Saturday night, thanking his doctors, all those who have offered prayers on his behalf, and especially God “who has brought me to this point of healing and recovery.”

Coming a week after the last public update on his health, Cardinal Burke’s tweet provided another positive sign that his condition has improved since being placed on ventilator Aug. 14 due to complications from COVID-19. He said he now faces an “intensive rehabilitation.”

“I have been transferred out of the Medical Intensive Care Unit and settled in a hospital room where the doctors, nurses, and numerous hospital staff have provided vigilant, superb, and steadfast medical care,” the 73-year-old American cardinal tweeted.

“For these dedicated professionals, too, I offer heartfelt thanks, as well as to the priests who have ministered to me sacramentally. To those who have offered innumerable Rosaries and prayers, lighted candles, and requested the offering of the Holy Mass, I extend my sincere gratitude, and I ask the Lord and His Mother to bless you all. I also thank my brother bishops and priests who have offered Mass for me or prayed for me at the altar. 

“This generous outpouring of grace unites me to you in a special way, as I am also particularly united to all victims suffering from the effects of the COVID-19 virus,” the tweet continued.

A leading prelate in the U.S. Catholic Church known for his outspoken defense of traditional Catholicism, Cardinal Burke is the former leader of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the Diocese of La Crosse in his home state of Wisconsin.

Now based in Rome, Cardinal Burke fell ill while visiting Wisconsin and was transferred to a hospital as his condition worsened.

In a prior update on Aug. 21, the Shrine of Our Lady of Gaudalupe in La Crosse revealed that he had spoken to his sister by phone able to speak by phone with his sister on Saturday morning and “expressed his deep gratitude for the many prayers offered on his behalf.” 

In his tweet Saturday, Cardinal Burke reflected on the significance of the motto he took when he was selected for the episcopacy: “Secundum Cor Tuum” (“According to Your Heart.”)

“All things ordered in and through the Divine Will have as their origin the Sacred Heart of Our Savior, whose fundamental motivation is His Eternal Love for His Father and for His children,” he stated.

“Since Divine Providence has governed that I remain hospitalized for the present, I now reaffirm that same episcopal conviction: suffering, united with the suffering of Jesus Christ, is truly efficacious in His Divine Plan for our salvation when accepted willingly and wholeheartedly. Saint Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, teaches us the meaning of our suffering: ‘Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I complete what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the Church’ (Col 1:24.)”

Cardinal Burke said in his tweet that he regrets he is unable to respond personally to the many letters, phone calls, and other expressions of support he has received during his illness. He said the Shrine of Our Lady of Gaudalupe will continue to handle communications on his behalf during his recovery.


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Archbishop Naumann encourages Catholics to get vaccinated, accommodate consciences

August 28, 2021 Catholic News Agency 1
Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas celebrates Mass with members of the U.S. bishops’ Region IX at the Basilica of St. Mary Major in Rome on Jan. 14, 2020, during their ad Limina Apostolorum visit. / Daniel Ibanez/CNA

Washington D.C., Aug 28, 2021 / 12:01 pm (CNA).

More U.S. bishops this week issued statements on COVID-19 vaccine mandates and conscientious objection.

As employers and public places have begun mandating that workers and customers have received a COVID-19 vaccine, bishops around the country have begun issuing statements for Catholics regarding mandates and conscience exemptions.

This week, Archbishop Joseph Naumann of Kansas City in Kansas – who is also chair of the U.S. bishops’ pro-life committee – encouraged Catholics to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, in a statement issued in his capacity as archbishop of Kansas City. 

“The Church upholds the permissibility of receiving the vaccines, because vaccination is by itself not evil. In fact, it is normally a virtuous act, attempting to protect the health of others as well as your own health,” he stated in an Aug. 26 press release.

Archbishop Naumann noted the ethical problems posed by the vaccines’ connection to cell lines derived from abortions decades ago. Of the three COVID-19 vaccines approved for use in the United States, two of them – produced by Pfizer and Moderna – were tested using the controversial cell lines. One of the vaccines, produced by Johnson & Johnson, utilized the cell lines in both production and testing.

Naumann clarified that the act of receiving such a vaccine is not in itself supportive of legal abortion.

“The intrinsic evil of an abortion committed almost 50 years ago or the grave injustice almost a half of century ago of a researcher taking cells from an aborted child without donor consent are not aided or encouraged by the individual receiving the vaccination,” he said.

However, he added that those receiving such a vaccine are “obligated” to advocate for ethical vaccines with no connection to the controversial cell lines. Furthermore, Naumann affirmed the conscience rights of Catholics who refuse a COVID vaccine because of its connection to abortion.

“The most charitable and just posture is to seek to accommodate the consciences of all persons,” he said. “A society that fails to respect the rights of conscience lacks a key element of the common good.”

Priests, he added, are not obliged to issue letters in support of Catholics seeking conscience exemptions to vaccine mandates.

“In pastoral care, priests are called to help Catholics to form their consciences well and obey their conscientious judgments. However, priests need not feel compelled to sign exemption letters,” he said.

“Lay Catholics can and should insist on their conscience rights and religious liberties based on the authoritative teachings of the Church found in the Catechism, papal and ecumenical council documents, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, and other sources,” he said.

Bishop Frank Caggiano of Bridgeport, in an Aug. 17 letter to clergy, said that while all Catholics have a “moral obligation” to protect the health of others during the pandemic, Catholics may refuse the vaccine if they “feel obligated in conscience” to do so.

However, he added, priests should not issue a letter on behalf of those refusing a COVID-19 vaccine out of conscience, as such a decision is a personal one and reflects “a more rigorous religious practice than recommended by the Roman Magisterium.” The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith in December 2020 said the reception of a COVID vaccine with connections to the controversial cell lines is morally permissible, if no other ethical option is available.

Other U.S. bishops have also made statements on vaccine mandates and exemptions.

Bishop Edward Weisenburger of Tuscon said that the interest of promoting the common good during the pandemic – in receiving a vaccine – supersedes personal preferences against a vaccine. His letter to priests of the diocese, reported by KGUN 9 local news, also instructed priests not to support Catholics seeking religious exemptions to vaccine mandates.

“I fail to see how a Catholic could ask for an exemption from a vaccine mandate or mask mandate based upon their Catholic faith,” he wrote.

The Diocese of Las Vegas will not be issuing religious exemptions, according to KSNV News.

“We’re calling everyone, all people of faith and goodwill to see in the decision of the diocese the weighing of various goods, the common good and the good of health and the good of following one’s conscience,” stated Bishop Gregory Gordon of Las Vegas, reported by KSNV News.


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$1.25M donation will transform University of Maine’s Newman Center chapel

August 28, 2021 Catholic News Agency 4
An artist’s rendering of the planned renovation of the University of Maine’s Newman Center chapel. / Courtesy of Pepperchrome

Washington, D.C. Newsroom, Aug 28, 2021 / 06:00 am (CNA).

Situated among fraternity houses along College Avenue, the University of Maine’s Newman Center in Orono, Maine could easily be mistaken for another Greek house.

Save for the sign out front displaying Mass times, and a “RUSH JESUS” banner on the side of the building, there is little that indicates the Newman Center is the spiritual home of the university’s Catholics. 

There’s no tower, no church bells, and no visible stained glass windows or other things one would typically associate with a Catholic church. 

But now, thanks to an anonymous $1.25 million donation, that will all be changing soon, as the center plans on breaking ground next year on a “truly Catholic” renovation of the building. 

“The spiritual state of the Newman Center is amazing. There is so much good happening there for so many,” Fr. Kyle Doustou, pastor of The Parish of the Resurrection of the Lord and priest at the Newman Center, told CNA on Aug. 27. The Newman Center is one of the churches in the parish’s cluster. 

The physical state of the building, however, falls short of amazing. In addition to the structural problems inherent to a building dedicated in 1969, the center is “impossible to heat efficiently,” and is liturgically problematic as the building’s chapel is open to the rest of the Newman Center, Fr. Doustou said. 

“With our new plans, the structure will be rebuilt to handle the Maine winters, reconfigured so that we have more space for all of our formation programs, and we will have a separate chapel with beautiful stained glass windows, statues, etc.,” Fr. Doustou explained. 

In addition to Mass, adoration, and other sacraments, the Newman Center is a place to “pray, study, play, and serve,” and is the closest Catholic church to the University of Maine’s campus. Fr. Doustou told CNA that the renovations will be key in establishing the church’s identity and helping with the mission of evangelization. 

According to the Diocese of Portland’s website, the planned renovations include a “quiet, beautiful narthex where one can transition into the presence of God;” different entrances for the chapel and for the main hall, a separate chapel “featuring a new sacristy, tabernacle, altar, ambo, and main crucifix,” a steeple with a bell, a Marian garden, and spaces for students to have meetings and foster community.

“The building is essential. We’re right on College Avenue, right in the midst of all the frat houses, right in the the midst of all the traffic and energy,” Fr. Doustou said.

The church building, he said, does four important things: It sends a message that the Catholic community exists at the University of Maine; it evangelizes; it “physically provides a roof over our heads as we engage in our mission” and, as the closest tabernacle to the university, “it houses the mysteries of God, particularly the Eucharist.” 

Fr. Doustou told CNA that it was particularly important that the chapel transform into a “truly sacred” place.

“[The chapel] needs to be a place where our students can experience something different, other-worldly, and supernatural,” he said. “They need a place that is quiet and contemplative to pray, but also one dripping in Catholicism so that they can learn the faith.”

Maine is one of the least-religious states in the country, and surveys have found that Mainers report praying less than any other state, and only 48% say they believing in God. The Pew Research Center reported in 2016 that 22% of people in Maine say they attend a weekly religious service, and barely a third of the state says that religion is “very important” in their lives. There are seven seminarians in formation for the diocese, and only two of them are Maine natives.

That, coupled with Gen Z’s apathetic feelings on religion, means that Fr. Doustou and the campus ministry staff at the Newman Center have their work cut out for them. But Fr. Doustou said that even so, he has “a little miracle happening on College Avenue.” 

“People often think I’m exaggerating about what goes on at the Newman Center. They see Maine as so secular,” he said. 

“I have multiple young men discerning a vocation to the priesthood, and two will likely go to the seminary next fall. I have young women discerning religious vocations. I have many young couples getting married and choosing to stay in the area because there’s such a robust Catholic community here,” Fr. Doustou explained.

“And it’s growing. You have to see it to believe it.”


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