Cardinal Burke: "things are getting better"

In an interview with the Catholic News Agency, Archbishop Emeritus of St. Louis Raymond Cardinal Burke expressed his assessment of where the culture war is going

I think that sometimes the young people understand much better the bankruptcy of a totally secularized culture because they’ve grown up with it

and because of this better understanding, better outcomes might be seen.

Cardinal Burke goes on to warn of a coming persecution and points out that elections matter. Read the full interview here.

Things are getting better. In the years leading up to his tenure here, Credo's program of Forums matched Cardinal Burke's desire for a New Evangelization to support faithful families, strong religious education, and reverent liturgical worship. Credo has operated as something of an umbrella organization, encompassing local leaders and members of The Latin Liturgy Association, Una Voce America, and the Catholic Central Union. It counts as members Helen Hull Hitchcock, publisher of Adoremus Bulletin, and Martin & Mae Duggan of Citizens for Educational Freedom. Eleanor Finneran, foundress of the St. Louis Marian Conference is a member of Credo's Board or Directors.

Fruits of this cooperation are already being seen: thanks to years of activity by  Msgr. Bernard Granich, Fr. James Rodis, and Credo Members, when Cardinal Burke invited the Institute of Christ the King Sovereign Priest to St. Louis in 2005, there was already a well-established core of faithful ready to support what is now the world's largest oratory dedicated to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, St. Francis de Sales Oratory, as well as the Oratory of Saints Gregory & Augustine now established at The St. Louis Benedictine Priory. The Ordinary Form is celebrated regularly in Latin by Credo's Spiritual Adviser Fr. Brian Harrison at Historic St. Mary of Victories church downtown. Through Cardinal Burke, the influence of the Institute and the example of the Oratory spread beyond the confines of the Classical Liturgy Community to Kenrick-Glennon Seminary and notably to the Cathedral Basilica Parish through the former Archdiocesan Master of Ceremonies and Credo's former Spiritual Advisor Msgr. Tom Keller, now on the faculty of the Paul VI Pontifical Institute, which trains catechists in St. Louis.

Things are getting better inside the Church in St. Louis. The task now is to consolidate the internal gains, and to externalize them. In the interview Cardinal Burke calls the 2012 US elections "very significant" and they are – at the November Christ the King Dinner Professor of Constitutional Law Robert George will speak on the prospects for Christian concerns in public life in the light of the new election results.

Even more significant is the ongoing formation of Catholics, especially of young parents. So besides Professor George, Credo's 2012 Forums will hit these points as well: family, religious education, and the organization of society. In March, Dr. Maria Fedoryka will speak on the philosophy of personhood and love. In June, Thomas Storck will speak on the success of the US economy and what the Church has to say about it; in August we'll have a visit from historian and social critic Hilaire "Old Thunder" Belloc. We hope you will attend some or all of these Forums, tell your friends (share this post of Facebook, for example) and consider supporting Credo with a membership.