Pints With Aquinas - BONUS: The Beauty of Tradition w/ Cardinal Burke

Episode Date: May 13, 2021

In this bonus episode, I’m honored to welcome His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Burke to the show! The cardinal shares his thoughts on the beauty of the liturgy, the importance of tradition in the Church today, and other timely topics, including: - Why more young people are drawn to tradition - Vatican II and the authority of its teachings - The status of groups like the Society of St. Pius X - The dubia he proposed to Pope Francis - Denying certain politicians from receiving Communion Download my FREE ebook, "You Can Understand Aquinas," now!   SPONSORS Hallow: http://hallow.app/mattfradd STRIVE: https://www.strive21.com/ Homeschool Connections: https://homeschoolconnections.com/matt/   GIVING Patreon or Directly: https://pintswithaquinas.com/support/  This show (and all the plans we have in store) wouldn't be possible without you. I can't thank those of you who support me enough. Seriously! Thanks for essentially being a co-producer co-producer of the show.   LINKS Merch: https://teespring.com/stores/matt-fradd FREE 21 Day Detox From Porn Course: https://www.strive21.com/   SOCIAL Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mattfradd Twitter: https://twitter.com/mattfradd Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattfradd Gab: https://gab.com/mattfradd Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/pintswithaquinas   MY BOOKS Does God Exist: https://www.amazon.com/Does-God-Exist-Socratic-Dialogue-ebook/dp/B081ZGYJW3/ref=sr_1_9?dchild=1&keywords=fradd&qid=1586377974&sr=8-9 Marian Consecration With Aquinas: https://www.amazon.com/Marian-Consecration-Aquinas-Growing-Closer-ebook/dp/B083XRQMTF/ref=sr_1_4?dchild=1&keywords=fradd&qid=1586379026&sr=8-4 The Porn Myth: https://www.ignatius.com/The-Porn-Myth-P1985.aspx   CONTACT Book me to speak: https://www.mattfradd.com/speakerrequestform

Hello, hello, and welcome to Pints with Aquinas. My name is Matt Fradd, and today I am absolutely honored to have His Eminence Cardinal Raymond Burke on the show. If this is the first time you've been here, please be sure to hit that subscribe and then that bell button, because by doing that, you essentially force Google to let you know whenever we put out a new episode. And since this is a Christian channel, that amounts to helping Google evangelize. And that's just fun. Making big tech evangelize is always fun. Your Eminence, it is lovely to have you on the show. Your Eminence

Well, thank you, Matt. I'm glad to be with you. Matt Feeney Yes, thank you. Now, first of all, I suppose we should say that you and I will be at a conference next month. And I'm very much looking forward to this down in Mexico. Could you say a few words about it? Yes, a very interesting conference has been organized to take place in the month of June in Guadalajara in Mexico. There's a great Catholic center there, and to deepen the appreciation of the legislation of Pope Benedict XVI, which has so much enriched the sacred liturgy, making more available what we call the more ancient usage of the Roman rite

in all its beauty, usage of the Roman rite in all its beauty so that there could be what Pope Benedict XVI asked for, namely a mutual enrichment that the more recent usage would be enriched by the more frequent celebration of the Holy Mass and the other sacraments according to the more ancient usage. So there's quite an excellent lineup of speakers, and this will take place from June 10th

to the 13th in Guadalajara. I look forward to being present also. Yes, me too. I somehow was invited as well. I'm not sure if that was a mistake or not, but I'm very excited to be there and to be in Mexico City to visit the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe. So I just want to say, if people are interested in attending

this amazing convention, please be sure to click the top link in the description below. My wife and I will be there, Cardinal Burke will be there, and we'd love it if you could make it as well. So again, that link is in the top description. You'll be in an ordination of priests too on that occasion, which will be a very beautiful ceremony according to the more ancient practice. And unfortunately, I've never actually been to an

ordination of a priest, but this will be my first and it'll be in this, as you say, this beautiful ancient way of doing it. So I'm very much looking forward to that. Wonderful. Well my first question, Your Eminence, is why are so many young people being drawn, and not so young people, being drawn to the Latin mass. I have a link in the description below from an article that came out from the Washington Examiner that's showing just how these FSSP parishes, these traditional Latin mass parishes are blowing up. Why is that the case?

The rite itself is simply very beautiful. It developed along the Christian centuries. It's been more or less the same since the time of Pope Gregory the Great in the 6th century and was handed on faithfully to our time. There is an inherent beauty in the rite, and that beauty evokes the reality that in the Holy Mass and in the other sacraments, Christ, who since his passion, death, resurrection, ascension, is seated at the right hand of the Father, actually descends to our altars, descends to us on earth in a sacramental way, but in a no less real way to give us the gifts of his grace so that we can be close to him,

we can follow him in this life and be with him in eternity in the life which is to come. So I think that the young people simply recognize this beauty. They have a stronger sense of what's called the transcendent nature of the sacred liturgy. In other words, that it's a divine action. The liturgy isn't primarily something we do. that it's a divine action. The liturgy isn't primarily something we do. We give worship to God, but God acts on our behalf to give us his grace through his Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

Yes, it seems to me that in an increasingly secular culture, we desire some place to go and kiss the ground, as it were, to have that hunger in our hearts taken seriously and i think that's what the latin mass does yes and uh uh and it isn't that the the more recent usage the what's called the novus ordo isn't serious but unfortunately because of what happened serious, but unfortunately, because of what happened in the so-called liturgical reform after the council, a lot of abuses were entered in, and the sacred worship, the sacred liturgy became very man-centered, and people were doing all kinds of innovative things on their own instead of following the rites as they had come down to us from the time of the

apostles. And so that, young people simply recognize that, and they're attracted to it. Well, you do bring up a good point, though, and that is to say that the Novus Ordo is just as beautiful, or can be, or maybe, I don't know if I actually would say that, though, and that is to say that the Novus Ordo is just as beautiful, or can be, I don't know if I actually would say that, actually, now that I've said it out loud, certainly as legitimate and as valid. But I wanted to ask you this question, because there is a small but vocal group of Catholics who wonder if Vatican II is still binding and say that it taught heresy. Even Vigano has said that Vatican II should be dropped

and forgotten. So my question to you is, can we simply throw out the Second Vatican Council? I don't think it's possible because it was a legitimately was an ecumenical council. And then we have to carefully look at the fruits of the council. Now, the interesting thing about the Second Vatican Council was that from the very beginning, Pope John XXIII proposed it as a pastoral council. He said that the council wouldn't be giving doctrinal definitions, but would be giving pastoral applications.

And so to say that the council is in doctrinal error is somewhat difficult. Now, there is the dogmatic constitution on the church, and some people raise questions about one or another aspect of that document. that one can say that the second Vatican Ecumenical Council defected from the faith and therefore should be, that there should be a pronouncement that it was not an ecumenical council. Now there are a number of documents from the council and they're at different levels of authority.

And you have the declarations on world religions, Nostra Aetate, and religious freedom, Dignitatis Humanae. There are many questions about those two documents and there are several very serious questions which are still being debated and the Priestly Society of St. Pius X has raised

these questions in a very serious way and at one time during the Pontificate of Pope Benedict XVI they were in an active discussion with the representatives of the congregation for the doctrine of the faith, the Pope's congregation for doctrinal questions, trying to sort this out and to come to some reconciliation with regard to the texts which were called into question. But to say that the whole council, you know,

there could be statements that we don't agree with in these declarations, they're not doctrinal declarations, but that would not justify us to say, well, the whole council therefore has to be abandoned. Thank you. Well, speaking of the Society of St. Pius X, many people are either confused or just wonder what the current status of the SSPX are. Well, the central question was the ordination of four bishops by Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre

without the papal mandate. And there was a very intense conversation with him through Cardinal Gagnon, through Cardinal Ratzinger, when this was being contemplated to try to avoid the situation of a schism because the two, a lot of people mandate incurs an automatic excommunication. But sadly the Archbishop went ahead with it.

And so what remains then is for the Society of St. Pius X to be reconciled with the rest of the Church. I mean, I know members of the Society, and they're very clear with me that they recognize the Pope and they consider themselves people are Catholic, yet at the present moment, they are not part of the one Roman Catholic Church throughout the world. And it's my hope and prayer that with time,

this reconciliation will come. And saying that their position is a systematic position and that they are not, they believe that they're sincere in saying they accept the Pope, but they don't accept his governance of the church with regard to themselves, that they, there's hope for reconciliation

and I trust it will come in. One has to recognize a great good, which the society has accomplished in the sense of the teaching of the faith and education of young people and so forth. So it's my hope and prayer that the reconciliation will eventually come. Well, speaking of the Latin Mass, recently Jesuit priest Father Thomas Rees said, quote, it is time to return to bishops the authority over the Tridentine liturgy in their dioceses. The Church needs to be clear that it wants the unreformed liturgy to disappear and will only

allow it out of a pastoral kindness to older people who do not understand the need for change. And then he says, children and young people should not be allowed to attend such masses. So what's your opinion about this? Is that likely to happen? And what should faithful Catholics do if it were to happen? Well, I can't imagine that happening. I think that both Pope St. John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI made it clear that the Holy Mass, the other sacraments as they were celebrated during 14 centuries and more, are certainly valid celebrations. And not only that, but very beautiful celebrations to be treasured. And not just treasured as if they were antiques, but because the liturgy is a living encounter for their Lord that they should continue. And in fact, the fact of the matter is that after

the Second Vatican Council, this is understandable. Even as I was a young person in the 1950s, and I loved the Holy Mass as it was celebrated then. They should have every freedom to assist at those masses. And I've been involved in the apostolate for the extraordinary farm as it's called or for the more ancient usage for many years. And it's never been a question of just old people who don't,

as father thinks they don't understand the need for this so-called reform. Well, maybe it's not that the old people don't understand the need for it. They treasure the beauty of the Holy Mass as it was, They treasure the beauty of the Holy Mass as it was, and they want to continue to have the Holy Mass in that form, and thanks be to God, we've had these good popes who have exceeded their desire. And then at the same time, the younger generations have said too,

well, they have a particular appreciation for this form of the sacred liturgy and they desire it too. And there's nothing about it that, as Pope Benedict XVI said very well, what was once true and beautiful cannot now become false and ugly,. That's just contrary to reason. And so this is kind of attitude too, we could see in other areas where people don't have

an appreciation, for instance, of great art or great literature that's handed down over the centuries because it's not contemporary. Well, that's simply not a human attitude. That's contrary to our civilization and especially with regard to the sacred liturgy. It's contrary to our Catholic life. Well put, yes. I was raised without the traditions of the church, without incense, without rosary beads. We were playing guitars and drums and mass and these sorts of things, and people kept assuring me it was what young people wanted, and what I kept seeing was young people like myself being drawn to tradition. I think part of the reason for that is we feel like spiritual orphans.

We don't know where we came from and we would like to reconnect with that heritage. And I think a lot of people would like to paint Latin mass going Catholics as sort of upset or uptight individuals who are cranky about everything. And sure, there's cranky people in every quarters of society. But more than that, I see beautiful people who really want to love Jesus with their whole heart and their whole life. That's certainly my experience. And while I gladly and happily have been involved with communities that celebrate only the more recent usage or the ordinary form, I've also had wonderful experiences with what sometimes are called the Latin mass communities or the extraordinary farm communities.

Well, if you don't mind... When I was a young bishop, some of the young people were upset with me. They said, you grew up with all these beautiful things, and you didn't carry them with us. We grew up, as you were just describing now, we grew up without any of this. Why did you hide this from us? Yes. Well, it's a legitimate question. Yes, it's similar to how a Catholic—and my wife, in fact, when she first learned the

beauty of the Catholic Church's teachings on human sexuality, she said the first thing she felt was anger. And it was, I think, a righteous anger. Why did nobody tell me about this? Why did they keep offering me this patronizing nonsense about, you should do what makes you happy? And I think something similar with the liturgy. Yes, no, I understand.

Yeah. Okay, well, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you about the dubia, the dubium. Would you please explain to my audience what a dubium is and the context in which you and some other cardinals brought this dubia before Pope Francis in 2016? Yes, or if there's more than one, the pluralist dubia are simply questions posed to the legitimate authority in the Church, to the Holy Father, for clarification, because in some way or another, a central teaching of the faith has been called into question. And so this is an old institute. People simply formulate the question in their mind, for instance, does the church indeed still teach

that the marriage bond is indissoluble, or does the church still teach some other truth of the faith? And these are presented to the Holy Father, not as a challenge or as a sign of disrespect, or as a sign of disrespect, but presented to him to give him the occasion to clarify the church's teaching, which has been called into question. And that for instance, is what Cardinal Walter Braunmuller, Cardinal Carlo Caffrata, the late Cardinal Caffrata, Cardinal Joachim Meisner, who also has passed away since,

and I were doing when we presented the five dubia to Pope Francis, which arose during the discussions of the synod, the two sessions of the synod of bishops on the family. And they had to do with the question of the indissolubility of marriage and also of the incompatibility of a person who was living in a marital way with someone who was not his or her spouse approaching to receive our Lord in Holy Communion? And so these these questions were posed but sadly no answer was given. So what does church history instruct us in situations like yours where dubia remain unanswered for over five years now?

Well, it's a good question because I don't believe that this has happened before. What we did, and some people criticized us, we presented the dubia and we waited for a response, and then we were informed that there would not be a response because when we presented the dubia, we presented them not only to Pope Francis, but also to the congregation for the doctrine of the faith. Eventually, we were hoping that there'd be a response. And eventually we received word from the congregation for the doctrine of the faith that they were instructed that there was to be no response to these dubia.

Well, we continued to hope for that. But what we also had to do, because many of the faithful were saying, well, is the church still teaching the same things about the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of matrimony and the sacrament of the Holy Eucharist. And so we published the dubia so that the faithful could know, yes, there were at least four cardinals who share their concern and their questions and had raised these to the Holy Father. And we believed that that was the right thing to do in order to also fulfill our responsibility for the faithful. We gave the Holy Father all the possibility to respond, and then we thought that the faithful needed to know that these questions had been posed.

And what to do now is a good question. Now it's five years since those dubia were proposed, more than five years, I believe. And so it's something that we'll have to consider. Well, we certainly live in strange and interesting times, if you want to put it that way. Certainly living in the United States, having a Catholic president, or at least somebody who was baptized Catholic and still claims to be Catholic. was baptized Catholic and still claims to be Catholic. This just came out that he left out the word God from the National Prayer Declaration.

I wanted to ask you your opinion on our President Joe Biden. And I also wanted to ask you if you think Joe Biden should be denied Holy Communion if he were to approach the altar. Should he be or is he already excommunicated? Well, his actions, for instance, with regard to human life, he's done everything to make possible a procured abortion right up until the moment of birth. He's taken away any kind of restrictions on the practice of procured abortion. He also has shown himself to be in violation of the church's teaching on the integrity of marriage between one man and one woman, even himself as vice president officiating at a marriage,

a so-called marriage between two persons of the same sex. Also menacing the Little Sisters of the Poor and other people of good faith, trying to force them to accept practices which are contrary to the moral law and therefore to their faith, this violation of religious freedom. So he simply is not a good Catholic.

He may have been baptized in the Catholic faith. He may have up to a certain point practiced the Catholic faith, but in the Catholic faith. He may have, up to a certain point, practiced the Catholic faith. But in the present moment, his actions show an abandonment of the Catholic faith because the teaching on the inviolability of human life, innocent, defenseless human life, on the integrity of marriage and religious freedom are at the very foundations the church is teaching. And someone who is acting obstinately and aggressively for programs and policies that violate these sacred truths has effectively abandoned the Catholic faith.

And I, in fact, have suggested also in a statement that I made that the president has at least fallen into apostasy, which is the term we use for someone who has abandoned the Catholic faith in that he, by the positions he's taken, he has practically shown that he does not accept Christ and his teaching in the church.

And so to think otherwise leaves us in a situation of really complete contradiction. In other words, we say on the one hand, I'm a devout Catholic, and on the other hand, I'm in favor of abortion. Well, the two are mutually exclusive, and so it doesn't work. And so I believe that he has fallen into apostasy,

and apostasy incurs automatically the penalty of excommunication, and it remains for the church to declare that. A comedian, Bill Cosby, back in the day, said that we parents don't want justice, we want peace. And I thought that was really funny because very often I find myself not terribly interested in settling disputes among my children. I'm more interested in them just being quiet so I can just have an easier day. And I think there might be some of us Catholics who feel that way towards perhaps more conservative voices within

the church who are raising these questions, who are pushing back on things like what you just did there with Joe Biden, or who are hopefully, as you have done, asking in a humble way questions of the Holy Father. It seems like some Catholics, they don't want justice. They just want everyone just be quiet so we can just kind of get along. And if we don't get along or if you raise any sort of question, then you're rocking the boat, and therefore it's your fault. Maybe speak to why we shouldn't have that attitude. Well, our Lord himself said that he didn't come to bring peace on the earth. In other words, he came to bring the truth. And the truth will divide those who are pursuing the truth from those who are rejecting it, and that's simply a reality.

And to pretend that it is otherwise is false. And so we can, I know, who likes conflict? I don't care for it either. But on the other hand, if for the sake of the truth that is at the foundation of our life, as individuals and as a community, is in question in danger, if it requires a conflict to defend the truth,

then I embrace the conflict and willingly so. People say, well, you're dividing people. I don't divide anybody by speaking the truth. They're already divided. And in the light of the truth, the division is evident. So the only way to have this so-called peace, which is really not peace because the foundation of peace is justice. It doesn't exist without just relationships.

So to pretend that everything is just fine is simply to put a kind of false covering over a situation which is more or less abominable. And we can't live that way. And all we have to do is look at our Lord himself. How did he end up? I mean, he was put on trial, false accusations and so forth, but he defended the truth of his identity

as God, the Son incarnate. And he died on the cross to defend that truth. And if we look in the history of the church from the very first days, there were the martyrs. There are the martyrs who defended the faith in the midst of those who wanted them to go along with whatever was popular in society. For instance, yes, burn some incense to the pagan gods. instance, yes, burn some incense to the pagan gods. Or in the case of England, for instance, in the time of King Henry VIII, accept that the king can have another wife, even though he's validly married to his real wife. And now in China, for instance, the Chinese who want to remain faithful to the Roman

Pantevin, to the church in her integrity, are very fiercely persecuted. And anyway, I could cite endless examples. And so each one of us in our daily lives, for instance, who doesn't in his daily life encounter somebody who says something that's false, contrary to the faith, contrary to good morals? Well, we have to be willing to speak up and to say, well, that isn't right. And I don't accept that. And so the witness begins in small ways, but it also is going to also manifest itself in big ways.

Excellent answer. Thank you, Your Eminence. I'd like to ask your opinion and maybe your advice and your wisdom for Catholic YouTubers, that's what they call people who run videos on YouTube, and Catholic bloggers. Some of us, gee, this could be a terrible thing, but we have bigger audiences than many bishops. And I wanted to ask your wisdom and advice on how we can be both speaking the truth in love and mercy. Sometimes it feels like people are being uncharitable when they're addressing our Holy Father or the bishops. But I sympathize with their frustration, but I want it to be tempered with love. And I just wanted to get your wisdom on that for myself, and foremost and other youtubers and bloggers who are watching

yes our lord tells us uh through the through saint paul that we're to speak the truth in in charity and uh we must be very firm in our defense of the truth but that never involves in our defense of the truth, but that never involves saying hateful things about other people or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, or, to answer for themselves with regard to whatever their own personal motivations, whatever their own personal situation is.

And so I think what happens is when we defend the truth with a lack of serenity, when we defend the truth in a kind of angry way, in a kind of angry way, in a way that's personally attacking other people, what we refer to as ad hominem arguments, then we weaken our witness because we're not confident that the truth will stand on its own. If we speak it and defend it, it will stand on its own. We think we have to add something more to it, namely personal attacks and innuendo or calumny or whatever else.

And in fact, that only calls into question the truth of what we're saying. And I understand all of us get battle weary. And the world we're looking at today is really crazy. Things we see and read today, I was just reading a ridiculous thing about how now they're trying to perform treatments on men so that they could, what they call, chest feed their little children. Well, this is, at what point have we arrived? getting very strung out, as we say, or very angry, but through our prayer life and through our reception of the sacraments, we stay close to our Lord, then we can serenely defend the truth,

and then people are going to more likely receive our message than if we lose control of ourselves and actually kind of descend to a form of arguing and relating to other people that isn't charitable. And so that is, I hope that's somewhat helpful. That's extremely helpful, Your Eminence. I can't help but think of 1 Peter 3.15, where our first pope says those three things, in your hearts, reverence Christ as Lord, always be ready to give a defense to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that's in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence. And that's just an excellent answer there. I think it can be tempting for us in this crazy world that you've referred to, to get addicted to refreshing our news feeds or even our Catholic news feeds.

And we feel like we're being productive, perhaps, because we're staying abreast of all that's happening. But really, we're just kind of getting angry and we're not doing anything terribly productive. It seems to me that, and I'm sure you would agree, that we really have to be seeking and striving after intimacy with Jesus and faithfulness to him and his church. So I wanted to ask you, what would your advice be to us in this time where we do feel pulled on every side and we live in a turbulent time, not only in the society in which we find ourselves, but the church itself in some instances? How do we keep ourselves grounded and grow in our prayer life? but the church itself in some instances. How do we keep ourselves grounded and grow in our prayer life? Well, the social communications are marvelous.

I mean, we can receive information and communications from people instantaneously, which is a marvelous thing. But there's only so much that the human soul can take in at a time. And I know myself, people are constantly sending me links to various articles about very important matters. A lot of it's bad news, I have to say, I'm sorry to say. But I can only take so much of that. And what I can only receive that kind of information correctly, if first of all, I'm grounded in prayer. First of all, I'm grounded in the knowledge of Christ's presence with me.

And I opened my heart to him. I want my heart to be more and more like his own sacred heart. Both the intercession of blessed mother, the saints keep their company. Only in that context am I able to read this news and to respond to it in a Christian way, in that way which St. Peter

in his epistle describes so beautifully. So I think that we have to be really careful that we have all of these good things available in terms of sources of news, but we have to know how to use them in a way that expresses who we really are as Christians, who we really are as sons and daughters of God the Father and his only begotten Son. And that way then we can handle it. Otherwise, it's overwhelming. And I know people who take very drastic decisions in their lives because they just can't deal with all of this.

they just can't deal with all of this. And in some way they have abandoned their prayer life or they've forgotten to turn to our Lord for his help. He said to us, I am with you always until the end of the age. And people say to me too, because of some of the strange things that are going on inside the church, they say, well, the only answer is schism. I'm going to leave the Catholic church. And my response to that is, but our Lord has told us, and he doesn't lie to us, that he's with us in the church. I'm not going to abandon him. I'm staying with him

in the church, even if it means that there is going to be suffering to be endured. I want to be with the Lord. I'm not going off on my own. And I'm not the Lord. I don't know better than he does. And although his permissive will, as we call it, is sometimes so hard for us to understand, we realize that we are his subjects. He is Christ our King, and therefore we stay with him as his royal soldiers. Excellent. Yeah, thank you. I'm reminded of the parable of the wheat and the tares,

the weeds growing up, and it'll be that way until the end of the parable of the wheat and the tares, the weeds growing up, and it'll be that way until the end of the world. And I think maybe sometimes we have a wrong view, even like a non-biblical view of what the church ought to look like here and now, namely filled with perfect people. Yes. I forget who said this. It may have been Jose Maria Escriva.

I think it's great advice. He said, there are many devotions within the church's treasury. Choose only a few and remain faithful to them. So I wanted to ask you, what are some of your favorite devotions? Well, I could name two or three. I could name two or three. I've always, from the time of my childhood, had a strong devotion to our Blessed Mother. It was taught to me at home.

Of course, the faith itself teaches us that the Mother of God, the Blessed Virgin Mary, is also our mother. So the rosary is a very favorite devotion of mine. At the same time, too, I have a very strong devotion to the Sacred Heart of Jesus, the revelations to St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, but really a teaching that is much earlier than that, where it's actually in the Scriptures where God gives us his heart,

gives us this expression of his love with the coming of our Lord, our Lord Jesus Christ, taking a human heart in the womb of the blessed Virgin Mary, or as Pope St. John Paul II used to say so beautifully, that God the Son took a human heart under the Immaculate Heart of Mary. Also, in our family, every year we took a pilgrimage to a holy place,

a shrine, and I'm a very strong believer in that. And that's one of the reasons why, when I was named Bishop of La Crosse, I began immediately to work to establish in the diocese a place of pilgrimage where people could go and discover, lead the ordinary circumstances of their daily lives, go to this holy place and discover there the extraordinary nature of our life because Christ is with us. And this is a, I was able to bow in thanksgiving to God and to so many generous helpers, the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, whom I also have a great devotion, at La Crosse, Wisconsin. And we have pilgrims coming there, more or less 80,000 a year. And there are so many wonderful testimonies about the consolations received, strength received, conversion, just all the many wonderful graces

God gives to us in the holy place. And then of course, there's our communion with the saints and with the poor souls that we need to cultivate and to know that it's not just the church's job, not just those of us who are on earth, but it's also our brothers and sisters who are in purgatory and to whom we remain very united. They've died.

They're making satisfaction for any temporal punishment due to their sins and also all the saints in heaven what a wonderful thing to know that that we're part of this great communion that would be a just a little bit of an idea that's excellent thank you well if it's okay we just have a few questions that have come in. The first comes from patron Aaron Murphy. He says, Cardinal Burke, if you could give one piece of advice to young men discerning a call to the priesthood and seminarians, what would it be? As long as you can make a visit in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament,

either in the tabernacle or in an adoration chapel where our Lord, the sacred host is exposed in the monstrance. And go there as you can, even every day, and ask our Lord to show you what his plan is for you. And accepting that God has a plan for you. It's not your plan, but it's what God wants of you. And if you do that in the presence of the Blessed Sacrament, you will know what God wants you to do.

And you also have the courage to do it, even if it's something that you really didn't want to do. For instance, if he's calling you to the priesthood, sometimes the young man is very hesitant about that. But our Lord gives us strength and courage. Thank you. Orvin asks, let's see here. He says, I'm still confused about why Pope Benedict stepped down as pope.

Have you spoken to him about his reasoning, and do you believe it was the best choice for the Church, should it become more common? Well, I have visited with Pope Benedict since the time that he abdicated the office, and he knows that I did not agree with his abdication. I am of the mind that as long as a pope is able to continue to serve as the vicar of Christ on earth,

he should serve until he isn't able any longer. And certainly it should not become common that the popes abdicate and that we have a situation of someone who has served as pope. And now we have this confusion because many people think that Pope Benedict XVI is still in some way the pope, but this isn't true. How does one become Pope?

Our Lord shows his choice of the man through the College of Cardinals. And in the conclave, the College of Cardinals elect the man and the cardinal in charge goes to him and says, do you accept? And according to the church's teaching, the minute the Pope makes the act of the will and says, I accept, then he becomes the vicar of Christ on earth. of Christ on earth. So that at the moment that he says, no, I no longer am willing to continue in this office, perhaps for valid reasons, he ceases to be Pope. And in the past, the person returned to the former condition of a Cardinal. So there's been a

a condition of usually a cardinal. So there's been a confusion spread by the use of Pope Emeritus, but you can be a Pope Emeritus if you're not Pope anymore. Bishops are called Emeritus because they receive ordination as a bishop. And even if they no longer are in charge of their diocese, they remain a bishop. But the Pope, the minute he doesn't continue in the office of Vicar of Christ on Earth,

he ceases to have that title. So this has to be clarified and I'm hoping that it will be clarified because it's leading to a lot of confusion. And I have the greatest respect and affection for Pope Benedict XVI and thank him for so many wonderful things which he did as Pope. But I have to just be honest and say that I don't think,

I think he made a mistake when he abdicated his office. Thanks. Joey says, How do I make a good examination of conscience, particularly in relation to my prudence in my judgment of the issues in the church today? I'm not exactly sure what he means by that, but feel free to. the issues in the church today. I'm not exactly sure what he means by that, but feel free to. Well, it's good to use examination of conscience in general about everything, and there are wonderful prayer books, but to make sure that they go through the Ten Commandments and the various

virtues, and to examine oneself carefully and to recognize the sins that one has committed. I think with regard to the question of the current issues in the church, many people today are having questions of conscience because they they they're honestly critical of certain situations in the church and yet they they uh have a sense of guilt about this because they think somehow it's not being respectful to the office of the pope or the office of the bishop or whatever it may be and i think what in examining your conscience the question to ask is this are you critical of certain objective situations without making without being disrespectful or calling into question the office of the Roman poptive or the office of the bishop. And we can be, and look at St. Catherine of Siena.

She was very critical of the Pope at that time, but she did it with a great deal of love and respect. And as much as said, the reason why I say these difficult things to you is because of who you are. You are the maker of Christ on earth, and you need to address these situations. You are the vicar of Christ on earth. You need to address these situations. Even in the Code of Canon Law, Canon 212 in the third paragraph,

it states very clearly that the faithful have not only the right but the duty to make known to their pastors their serious concerns about matters in the Church. So in that regard, too, I would urge you to seek out a good and faithful priest who could give you some direction. Thank you. Why don't we have this be the final question? And I apologize for those in the live chat who are trying to get some questions in, but we want to be respectful of His Eminence's time. The question, and I think it's a good one to end on, what recommendations or advice

would His Eminence have for someone working to establish a better prayer life? God bless you always. I suggest this, that one, first of all, practice what is called the practice of the presence of God, in the sense of before one begins to pray, to really put oneself in the presence of God. Oftentimes, we come to prayer, we have a number of things we're concerned about, where we're distracted. of things we're concerned about, where we're distracted. As much as possible, be calm. You see now this time, no matter how long or brief it may be is for you Lord.

So you will put it. And then there are many wonderful prayer books that in which we can pray beautiful prayers that have written by the saints or that come from the holy scriptures whatever and that helps us to speak to our lord and we say those prayers and then oftentimes enough we can also begin to speak to our lord uh spontaneously also uh not necessarily out loud, but in our hearts, we're speaking with our Lord. And so the important thing is that all your prayers be tied to your communion with our Lord in the Holy Eucharist and to your regular encounter with him in the sacrament of penance or confession.

encounter with him in the sacrament of penance or confession, this you'll find that your prayer life will grow steadily and really beautifully. Okay, excellent. Would you, maybe as we just wrap up here, Your Eminence, would you offer a Hail Mary, and maybe all of us who are watching right now, we've got almost 600 people in the stream right now, we could all pray together that our Blessed Mother, who always leads us to her Son, would indeed do that. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women,

and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and at the hour of our death. Amen. Amen. Pray for us. In the name of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, I of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Well, I want to thank you kindly for coming on. I know you're obviously a very busy man, and we're so grateful for you, for your courage, for your fidelity, for your charity. And I'm very much looking forward to being with you in Mexico next month for this lovely ordination and excellent conference. And again, for those in the live stream now, if you want to learn more about that conference, if you want to join us down in Mexico,

be sure to click that first link in the description below because we'd love to have you there with us. Thank you so much, Remnants. Thank you, Matt, and God bless you and your apostolate. Thank you. yeah សូវាប់ពីបានប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពីប្រាប់ពាប់បានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបានបា Thank you. Bye.