Nella memoria del
ritorno della Sacra Famiglia dall’Egitto rilancio questa nuova intervista del
card. Burke.
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| William Charles Thomas Dobson, Ritorno della Sacra Famiglia dall'Egitto, 1863, Lakeland Arts Trust |
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| William Charles Thomas Dobson, Gesù di ritorno a Nazareth con i genitori, 1856, Tate Gallery, Londra |
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| Ambito del Zurbarán, Ritorno dall'Egitto, XVII sec., collezione privata |
Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke on the Catholic “Man-crisis”
and what to do about it
Recently, I had the great honor to have an
audience with His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke to discuss the state
of Catholic men in the United States.
Here is the full transcript:
Matthew James Christoff of the New Emangelization
Project: Your Eminence, we are delighted and blessed to be here with you.
Today, we are here to talk about the state of Catholic men in the United States
and how we might draw more men into the New Evangelization. Maybe to start, how
would Your Eminence describe the state of men in the Catholic Church today?
Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke: I think there has
been a great confusion with regard to the specific vocation of men in marriage
and of men in general in the Church during the past 50 years or so. It’s due to
a number of factors, but the radical feminism which has assaulted the Church
and society since the 1960s has left men very marginalized.
Unfortunately, the radical feminist movement strongly
influenced the Church, leading the Church to constantly address women’s issues
at the expense of addressing critical issues important to men; the importance
of the father, whether in the union of marriage or not; the importance of a
father to children; the importance of fatherhood for priests; the critical
impact of a manly character; the emphasis on the particular gifts that God
gives to men for the good of the whole society.
The goodness and importance of men became very obscured,
and for all practical purposes, were not emphasized at all. This is despite the
fact that it was a long tradition in the Church, especially through the
devotion of St. Joseph, to stress the manly character of the man who sacrifices
his life for the sake of the home, who prepares with chivalry to defend his
wife and his children and who works to provide the livelihood for the family.
So much of this tradition of heralding the heroic nature of manhood has been
lost in the Church today.
All of those virtuous characteristics of the male sex
are very important for a child to observe as they grow up and mature. The healthy
relationship with the father helps the child to prepare to move from the
intimate love of the mother, building a discipline so that the child can avoid
excessive self‑love. This ensures that the child is able to identify himself or
herself properly as a person in relationship with others; this is critical for
both boys and girls.
A child’s relationship with their father is key to a
child’s self‑identification, which takes places when we are growing up. We need
that very close and affirming relationship with the mother, but at the same
time, it is the relationship with the father, which is of its nature more
distant but not less loving, which disciplines our lives. It teaches a child to
lead a selfless life, ready to embrace whatever sacrifices are necessary to be
true to God and to one another.
I recall in the mid-1970’s, young men telling me that
they were, in a certain way, frightened by marriage because of the radicalizing
and self-focused attitudes of women that were emerging at that time. These young
men were concerned that entering a marriage would simply not work because of a
constant and insistent demanding of rights for women. These divisions between
women and men have gotten worse since then.
Everyone understands that women have and can be abused
by men. Men who abuse women are not true men, but false men who have violated
their own manly character by being abusive to women.
The crisis between man and woman has been made much
worse by a complete collapse of catechesis in the Church. Young men grew up
without proper instruction with regard to their faith and to the knowledge of
their vocation. Young men were not being taught that they are made in the image
of God – Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These young men were not taught to know
all those virtues that are necessary in order to be a man and to fulfill the
particular gifts of being male.
Making things worse, there was a very fluffy,
superficial kind of catechetical approach to the question of human sexuality
and the nature of the marital relationship.
At the same time, in society, there came an explosion
of pornography, which is particularly corrosive for men because it terribly
distorts the whole reality of human sexuality. It leads men and women to view
their human sexuality apart from a relationship between a man and woman in
marriage.
In truth, the gift of sexual attraction is directed
toward marriage, and any kind of sexual union belongs properly only within
marriage. But the whole world of pornography corrupts young people into
believing that their sexual capacity is for their own entertainment and
pleasure, and becomes a consuming lust, which is one of the seven capital sins.
The gift of human sexuality is turned into a means of
self‑gratification often at the expense of another person, whether in
heterosexual relations or in homosexual relations. A man who has not been
formed with a proper identity as a man and as a father figure will ultimately
become very unhappy. These poorly formed men become addicted to pornography,
sexual promiscuity, alcohol, drugs, and the whole gamut of addictions. Also, in
this whole mix…am I talking too much?
Matthew: No, no. [laughs]
Cardinal Burke: Worsening this sad
confusion of men in the culture, there has also been a terrible loss of home
life. The culture has become very materialistic and consumer-focused, the
pursuit of which has led father, and often the mother, to work long hours. The
consumer mentality has also led to the idea that children’s lives had to be
filled with activity: school, sports and music and all kinds of activities
every night of the week.
All those things are good in themselves, but there has
been a loss of balance. The home life in which children spend adequate time
with parents has been lost for many families. Families have stopped enjoying
meals together. I remember how my father gave us lessons and taught us manners
at the dinner table. To spend time talking with my parents was very important
to my growing up. When I was a young priest, I was saddened that parents and
children told me that fathers and children rarely talked and, when they did, it
was only briefly.
Families should have at least one meal together each
week where the whole family is together. A boy or young man is unlikely to
build proper manly identity and the manly virtues unless he lives with a father
and mother, where he can witness that unique and complementary interaction
between the male and the female in a home life in which human life can be
welcomed, nurtured and developed.
All these various forces have come together and
grievously wounded men.
Sadly, the Church has not effectively reacted to these
destructive cultural forces; instead the Church has become too influenced by
radical feminism and has largely ignored the serious needs of men.
My generation has taken for granted the many blessings
we were blessed with in our solid family lives and with the Church’s solid
formation of us. My generation let all of this nonsense of sexual confusion,
radical feminism and the breakdown of the family go on, not realizing that we
were robbing the next generations of the most treasured gifts that we had been
blessed to receive.
We have gravely wounded the current generations. As a
bishop, young people complained bitterly to me, “Why we were not taught these
things. Why we were not more clearly taught about the Mass, Confession and
traditional devotions?” These things matter for they form a spiritual life and
a man’s character.
Going to Confession and to Sunday Mass, praying the Rosary
together as a family in the evening, eating meals together, all these things
give practical direction in the Christian life. Learning that it is not manly
to be vulgar or blasphemous and that a man is welcoming and courteous to others;
these might seem like little things but they form a man’s character. Much of
this has been lost.
Matthew: Your Eminence, what has been the impact of
this Catholic “man-crisis” on the Church?
Cardinal Burke: The Church becomes
very feminized. Women are wonderful, of course. They respond very naturally to
the invitation to be active in the Church. Apart from the priest, the sanctuary
has become full of women. The activities in the parish and even the liturgy
have been influenced by women and have become so feminine in many places that
men do not want to get involved.
Men are often reluctant to become active in the
Church. The feminized environment and the lack of the Church’s effort to engage
men has led many men to simply opt out.
As an example, it became politically incorrect to talk
about the Knights of the Altar, an idea that is highly appealing to young men.
The Knights of the Altar emphasize the idea that young men offer their
chivalrous service at the altar to defend Christ in the sacred realities of the
Church. This idea is not welcome in many places today.
Aspects of the Church’s life that emphasized the man‑like
character of devotion and sacrifice have been deemphasized. Devotions that
required time and effort were simply abandoned. Everything became so easy and
when things are easy, men don’t think it is worth the effort.
There has been, and continues to be, serious
liturgical abuses that turn men off.
In many places the Mass became very priest‑centered,
it was like the “priest show”. This type of abuse leads to a loss of the sense
of the sacred, taking the essential mystery out of the Mass. The reality of
Christ Himself coming down on the altar to make present His sacrifice on
Cavalry gets lost. Men are drawn to the mystery of Christ’s sacrifice but tune
out when the Mass becomes a “priest show” or trite.
The rampant liturgical experimentation after Vatican
II, much of which was not sanctioned by Vatican II, stripped the Rite of the
Mass of much of its careful articulation of the Sacred Mysteries that had been
developed over centuries. The Mass seemed to become something very familiar, performed
by men; the profound supernatural sense of the Sacred Mystery became obscured.
The loss of the sacred led to a loss of participation
of women and men. But I think that men were really turned off by the loss of
the sacred. It seems clear that many men are not being drawn into a deeper
liturgical spirituality; today, many men are not being drawn to service at the
altar.
Young men and men respond to rigor and precision and excellence.
When I was trained to be a server, the training lasted for several weeks and
you had to memorize the prayers at the foot of the altar. It was a rigorous and
a carefully executed service. All of a sudden, in the wake of Vatican II, the
celebration of the liturgy became very sloppy in many places. It became less
attractive to young men, for it was slipshod.
The introduction of girl servers also led many boys to
abandon altar service. Young boys don’t want to do things with girls. It’s just
natural. The girls were also very good at altar service. So many boys drifted
away over time. I want to emphasize that the practice of having exclusively boys
as altar servers has nothing to do with inequality of women in the Church.
I think that this has contributed to a loss of
priestly vocations. It requires a certain manly discipline to serve as an altar
boy in service at the side of priest, and most priests have their first deep
experiences of the liturgy as altar boys. If we are not training young men as
altar boys, giving them an experience of serving God in the liturgy, we should
not be surprised that vocations have fallen dramatically.
Matthew: There is a great need for a major New Evangelization
of men in the Church, to use our term, a New Emangelization. Small steps
and incremental efforts are not likely to reverse the exodus of men from the
Church. What kind of things have to happen within the Church to draw millions
of lukewarm men back into a fervent Catholic faith life?
Cardinal Burke: First of all, the
Church must make a concentrated effort to evangelize men by delivering a strong
and consistent message about what it means to be a faithful Catholic man. Men
need to be addressed very directly about the demanding and noble challenge of
serving Jesus Christ the Eternal King and His Catholic Church. Men
are hungry and thirsty for meaning beyond the everyday world.
The culture in which we live is bankrupt and young
men, especially, recognize the brokenness of the culture. Young men and young
women want to hear words that are directed specifically to them to use their
virtues and gifts for the good of everyone.
We can see that men are hungry from the great success
of Catholic men’s conferences that are beginning to expand in the United
States. This is evidence that men will respond when the Church reaches out to
them in a challenging way. Men are facing great temptations, particularly, as I
mentioned due to pornography and confusion about sexuality and desperately need
to be taught how to battle these temptations in Christ. Men need to enter into
prayer and with the help of God’s Grace, men can overcome these grievous
temptations and become men of strong moral character. Catholic men.
We can also see that our seminaries are beginning to
attract many strong young men who desire to serve God as priests. The new crop
of young men are manly and confident about their identity. This is a welcome
development, for there was a period of time when men who were feminized and confused
about their own sexual identity had entered the priesthood; sadly some of these
disordered men sexually abused minors; a terrible tragedy for which the Church
mourns.
We have to be very clear with men about purity,
chastity, modesty and even the way men dress and present themselves. Men’s
behaviors and dress matter, for it affects how they relate to the world and it
affects the culture. Men need to dress and act like men in a way that is
respectful to themselves, to women and to children.
Matthew: One of the frequent themes in the New Emangelization
Project research is that large numbers of men do not understand the Mass. Men
think that the Mass is feminized and they don’t really understand the powerful
manliness of the Mass. This is particularly true of a majority of Catholic men
who are Casual Catholic Men, men who are casual about their faith. This is
critical because if a man doesn’t understand the Mass he can’t tap into the
supernatural graces that occur in the Mass. A man who doesn’t understand the
Mass himself certainly can’t teach his children about the Mass.
Cardinal Burke: Yes. One way to
re-engage men is to restore the dignity of the liturgy. Men will respond when
they see a priest reverently acting in the name of Christ. Men will not respond
when the priest is putting on a show about himself. Offering the Mass in a
reverent way has always attracted men throughout the history of the Church. It
does today.
We need to catechize men about the profound realities
of the Mass. As I mentioned, catechesis has been poor, especially the
catechesis of men. Catechizing men and celebrating the Mass in a reverent way
will make a big difference. It is also clear that many men will respond to the
Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite, the rite celebrated before the Vatican II
Council reforms.
I have been very struck by the number of young men who
were attracted to the Extraordinary Form of the Mass. This is not because the
Extraordinary Form is more valid than the Novus Ordo, the Ordinary Form. Men
are attracted because the Extraordinary Form is very highly articulated; it
demands a man’s attention to what’s happening. Even the use of a hand missal
where there’s a verbal accompaniment to the action of the Mass can help a man
more fully enter into the Mass.
The Ordinary Form, if it’s celebrated very reverently
with good music, can have the same strong positive effect on men. Men don’t go
in for this kind of corny approach to the Mass when it becomes some kind of
feel-good session, or where there is irreverence. Men are there to receive
Jesus Christ. They need to see Him, to see His presence reflected in the
reverent manner of the priest.
Matthew: The Sacrament of Reconciliation has also been
abandoned by the vast majority of Catholic men. Only 1 in 50 men go to
Confession on a monthly basis. Some 80 percent of men don’t get to Confession
even once a year. Combined with the epidemic of pornography, especially among
young men, large numbers of Catholic men are in mortal sin. How can the Church
reintroduce and emphasize the need for men to go to Confession?
Cardinal Burke: Until men
understand that there is Sin, and what Sin is, and that Sin offends God
gravely, they will not go to Confession. Men need to have an encounter with
God, with our Lord in the Sacrament of Penance to confess their Sins, express
their sorrow, and receive His forgiveness.
Men are not going to Confession today because there
has been a denial of Sin. There was a period after Vatican II where many were
promoting the idea that there weren’t any serious sins.
Of course, this is lethal for men, especially young
men. Young men may begin to engage in the sexual sin of masturbation. Men have
told me that when they were teenagers, they confessed the sin of masturbation
in the confessional and priests would say, “Oh, that’s nothing you should be
confessing. Everybody does that.” That’s wrong.
These are sinful acts. They need to be confessed along
with other types of sins, whether the sins are foul language, lying, stealing,
or whatever it might be. The denial of sin was a breakdown in the sense of what
is demanded of men as men of Christ.
Confronting sin is central to being able to love one
another. How does a man love? He loves by obeying the Ten Commandments. After
Vatican II, that great call to love by confronting sin was lost, leading to the
most horrible abuses of individuals, abusing themselves or others, the break
down of family life, a precipitous drop in Mass attendance and the abandonment
of the Sacrament of Penance. We must restore the sense of sin to men, for men
to recognize their sins and express deep sorrow for their sins.
When this happens, Confession becomes a mysteriously
beautiful experience for a man. For a man can know with certainty that he has
personally expressed his sorrow for his sins to God, he can hear the freeing
words of God through His minister and that his sins are forgiven and absolved.
Matthew: What concrete advice would you give to a
priest to help him evangelize men and dramatically increase the involvement of
men in a parish?
Cardinal Burke: First of all, be
manly yourself. In other words, cultivate your own manly qualities, because the
priest is first and foremost the spiritual father; he is a man. You need to
have manly qualities of selflessness, chivalry and discipline to avoid
situations improper for a priest. A priest must have the manly confidence and
credibility to be a spiritual father to his flock, giving clear firm guidance
with kindness and charity.
Secondly, I’d advise priests to give special attention
to men and to look for ways to draw men into the life of the Church. It is
easier to engage women because our sisters tend to be very generous and
talented. But the Church and each priest needs to make a determined
effort to draw good Catholic men into whatever activities there are in the
Church. It is essential to the New Evangelization.
Matthew: Any parting thoughts Your Eminence?
Cardinal Burke: I very much commend
your work in the New Emangelization. It’s key to the New Evangelization.
When the French government unilaterally imposed the so‑called
same‑sex marriage, which of course is not marriage at all, it brought out two
million people who rallied behind the simple image of fathers and mothers
holding the hands of their children. Fathers are essential to the family.
Men need to reflect on their own experience, even if
it was negative. If a father was missing in their lives, men need to realize
what they needed in a father and a mother. Fathers and mothers are wonderful
gifts that are given to us by God.
So too is the beautiful gift of our human sexuality as
God intended it, not as, sadly, the many sick abuses of the gift of sexuality
that are occurring in the world today. The dark confusion of gender theory
deceives people into thinking that they can create their own sexual identities
based on urges and emotions. We are so blessed God gave us this gift of being a
man or being a woman. It’s a matter of us to respond to God’s will to develop
our gifts of being a man or woman.
Matthew, I want to commend you. I believe what you are
doing is key to the future strengthening of the life of the Church, and
obviously to our whole society.
Matthew: Praise God. Your Eminence, thank you so much
for spending time with us.
Cardinal Burke: I am happy to be a
part of it, a little part. [laughs]
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