"It's The Bishop!" (Part Two)

From Reuters: St. Louis archbishop tangles with Sheryl Crow

Calling Sheryl Crow "a high profile proponent of the destruction of innocent lives," the Roman Catholic archbishop of St. Louis resigned as head of a children's medical charity that featured the singer for a benefit concert.

Archbishop Raymond Burke resigned as chairman of the Cardinal Glennon Children's Foundation after its board of governors refused to pull the plug on Crow's Saturday concert in St. Louis.

She is "well-known as an abortion activist" and proponent of stem cell research, he said in a statement on Wednesday, and her appearance is "an affront to the identity and mission of the medical center, dedicated as it is to the service of life and Christ's healing mission."

Burke's conservative views are well known. He suggested during the 2004 presidential campaign that Democratic candidate John Kerry, a Catholic, should be denied communion because of his views on abortion.

"When, for economic gain, a Catholic institution associates itself with such a high profile proponent of the destruction of innocent lives, members of the church and other people of good will have the right to be confirmed in their commitment to the gospel of life," he added.

A fact sheet distributed by the archdiocese said Crow's views amount to "giving scandal," which it said the Catholic Catechism defines as "an attitude or behavior which leads another to evil."

I'm sure Burke will get piles of steaming hot you-know-what dumped all over him in the press, but I'm glad he doesn't seem to care about such things. In fact, the less the Church worries about "public relations" the better off it will be. If bishops thirty years ago had been more concerned with doing what the faith required and looking out for the welfare of children, and less concerned about avoiding scandal, how much better off would the Church be? Burke is acting as if the tenets of the Catholic Church actually mean something, and in meaning something, actually guide the way in which we act in the world.

The response of the press will be "How dare he!?!"

As if they should have a say.