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Archbishop Burke on Voting Responsibly and his Relationship with the USCCB

Says bishops not subordinate to Conference of Bishops and have right to act independently

ST. LOUIS, October 6, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Archbishop Raymond Burke of St. Louis has given an exclusive interview to Inside the Vatican reporter Tom Szyszkiewicz concerning his latest pastoral letter on voting and abortion. His letter, (covered on LifeSiteNews.com at http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/oct/04100405.html) is a clear articulation of Church teaching on voting, which notes that voting for unequivocally pro-abortion candidates is a sin.

The Archbishop says that while he was able to have his opinion heard at the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB), that "it's clear that Cardinal [Theodore] McCarrick and his (USCCB) committee did not accept at all what I had done."

However, Archbishop Burke points out that bishops are not subordinate to the Conference of Bishops, and have every right to act independently in union with the Pope. In fact, Burke indicates that bishops may often have a serious duty to act independent of their bishops' conference.

Burke stated,"I suppose that what is involved here is the question of a bishop's relationship to the conference of bishops. I think in some people's minds there's a notion that has developed which I think is wrong and also I think damages very much the exercise of the episcopal office. And that is that a bishop cannot take action in such a question even if he is convinced in his conscience that he must, without it first being studied by the conference of bishops, and there being some kind of action taken at the conference level. If we follow that line, then in any kind of really critical question of pastoral direction or correction, the individual bishop anymore doesn't act - and that's harmful to the flock."

The St. Louis bishop further expanded on what many Catholics and others do not appear to understand about the limited role of bishops conferences. He stated, "As I understand from my study of the whole nature of conferences of bishops, their purpose is to help bishops to organize joint pastoral action."

See the full interview from Inside the Vatican:
http://archives.insidethevatican.com/news/index.php?fdate=20041005&window=showfi...

See related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
Oregon Bishop says he is Answerable to Rome, not USCCB
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jul/04072107.html

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