For the Recently Bereaved. . .

. . .i.e., the brethren still chanting the De Profundis over the death of hope in Archbishop Levada's appointment to CDF. Even though he was, perhaps, not our first choice, his performance in the post remains to be seen. In any event, he's not the only recent appointment to that prestigious congregation. Fr Patrick Burke, a parish priest of Stirlingshire in Scotland has recently been appointed an official in "the Church's highest doctrinal body". He takes up his post in September.

This profile of Fr Burke originally from the Catholic Times gives some background on him, theological and otherwise. I see a multitude of good things there, including this:

Fr Burke is refreshingly free from any wishy-washy social-worker cliché's about his ministry: "My experience as a pastoral priest is that orthodox Catholicism works; that youth groups where we teach the faith, and challenge kids to live up to the ideals of Christian living, work; that the devotional life of the parish is extremely important; that where we have exposition of the Blessed Sacrament, where we encourage people to come to daily Mass and say the rosary, that these things work." The liberal establishment has had control of the Church for 30 years. Where is the renewal? Where is the reform? Where is the growth? The only growth point in the modern Church is in the movements, and the movements are almost all of them united in loyalty to the teachings of the Church, devotion to Christ in the Eucharist and so on "all the things that the liberal establishment have been trying to undermine for 30 years."

He believes Catholics want holy priests, but the key is kindness. "It sounds a silly thing to say, but there is a compassionate way of upholding the Church's teachings. I tell seminarians on placements with me 'all the theology in the world won't help if you snap at people when they come to the front door'. It is difficult being a Catholic, but the problem is that most priests whose hearts bleed for people in difficulty simply abandon the Church's teaching. But there is a middle way." The Church knows it is difficult "it is not condemning you, but it cannot change the teaching of Christ."

Fr Burke is also the editor of "Faith Magazine" (on whose website the article quoted was reprinted). Have a look at the "Faith" links page. Note the links thereon to Una Voce, The Latin Mass Society, Adoremus, and The Association for Latin Liturgy. Surgete, amici mei, iam enim hiems transit; imber abiit et recessit. (Although occasional showers remain a possibility.)

[The references courtesy of CTNGreg.]