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Cardinal Raymond Burke Prosecutes Himself under Canon Law or Whatever Happens in Vegas – Stays in Vegas

Clergy Sexual Abuse
September 17, 2012

http://vu2103.katla.orangewebsite.com/cardinal-raymond-burke-prosecutes-himself-under-canon-law-or-whatever-happens-in-vegas-stays-in-vegas/

[with documents]

Cardinal Raymond Burke knew where to find McGuire…

In September 2001, then Bishop Raymond Burke of the Diocese of La Crosse Wisconsin was shopping for a retreat master. He asked around and then remembered hearing a name from his good Jesuit friend John Hardon SJ (Burke later goes on to nominate Hardon for sainthood). The name he came across was Donald McGuire SJ of the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus. He writes to McGuire, and McGuire accepts his invitation.



Bishop Burke wastes no time getting it scheduled with McGuire’s secretary.



However, there is a problem. McGuire is a known sexual predator of children. John Hardon SJ knew McGuire had been accused of sex abuse many times. The Chicago Province Jesuits knew it and apparently so did other Bishops in the United States.



But more on John Hardon SJ later. You can read some of it here.

The problem with Donald McGuire SJ, was that by the time Bishop Burke hired him in 2001 most bishops and the Chicago Jesuits knew McGuire was incapable of having a letter of good standing, he was on restricted ministry, faced numerous canonical warnings, couldn’t give retreats canonically speaking, and was definitely not allowed around minors.

That story began in December of 1999, when then Bishop Daniel Walsh of Las Vegas asked Donald McGuire’s Chicago Jesuit superiors for a letter of ‘good standing’ before he allowed McGuire into his diocese again. Apparently this was something new for both Walsh and McGuire, who had previously been allowed to go to Las Vegas unhindered by a background check. Bishop Walsh, who was no stranger to the dangers of child raping priests (here) in Las Vegas and later notoriously in Santa Rosa and who later resigned because of it, decided in a particularly rare moment of concern for child safety to ask the then Chicago Jesuit Provincial Fr. Richard Baumann SJ for a very specifically worded letter regarding McGuire. What followed internally is below.



Bishop Daniel Walsh knew about McGuire and knew how to cover his ass

This request from Bishop Walsh sent shockwaves through the Chicago Province of the Society of Jesus and was the beginning of the end for Donald McGuire SJ. Poor Richard McGurn SJ had to detail the sad history of their priest Donald McGuire for his Provincal Fr. Baumann. Then McGurn and Baumann had to figure out if they could use ‘mental reservation’ or in other words LIE to a bishop…

Richard McGurn SJ knew the history





The BIG PROBLEM was that Provincial Baumann HAD previously issued many letters of ‘good standing’ for Donald McGuire SJ having KNOWN all about this history. Like the one below from 1998 stating McGuire NEVER had any problems with raping children or even improprieties with minors.

Very Rev. Richard Baumann SJ… He knew more than enough…

McGuire’s history hadn’t changed, what had was Baumann’s fear of getting caught LYING to Bishop Walsh.



Donald McGuire, a man of enormous appetites of many varieties, enjoys a cold beer in 2002 after his retreat for Cardinal Burke. He knew, Cardinal Burke knew, he should not have been there.

Now back to Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke. Besides keeping the tailors of Rome in business and dressing as Jesus clearly would have, Cardinal Burke is also the “Chief Justice of the Vatican Supreme Court”. One would expect he would know a thing or two about canon law.

And so this past week Cardinal Burke proclaimed that sexual abuse of children by priests is the result of failure to follow, and disrespect for, Canon Law. In the NCR HERE. Forget criminal law for the time being, Cardinal Burke states:

“It is profoundly sad to note, for instance, how the failure of knowledge and application of the canon law, which was indeed still in force, contributed significantly to the scandal of the sexual abuse of minors by the clergy in our some parts of the world.”

“The years of a lack of knowledge of the Church’s discipline and even of a presumption that such discipline was no longer fitting to the nature of the Church indeed reaped gravely harmful fruits in the Church,”

Besides this he also blamed the 1968 Paris Student Riots for decades of children being raped and abused by clergy… But really who can pay attention to what he’s saying when we are so transfixed by what he’s wearing.

Now let’s go back to 2001 and Bishop Burke’s new retreat master Donald McGuire SJ. In 2000 it was common practice for Bishops in the United States to do a “background check” of priests they were allowing into their diocese by asking for a letter of good standing, just like Bishop Walsh did in Las Vegas, which lead to discovering (though I think Walsh obviously had a hint) that McGuire was a danger to his parishioners and children in general. Did Cardinal Burke request a letter of good standing for Doanld McGuire SJ in 2001 protecting his retreatants and children in Wisconsin?

No.

So now Cardinal Burke needs to ask himself (or the moderately less glamorously dressed Bishop Burke) if he ever heard of Canon 1389 of the 1983 Code?

Canon 1389 of the 1983 Code provides for a penalty, including deprivation of ecclesiastical office, for an official who abuses ecclesiastical power or who omits—through culpable negligence—to perform an act of ecclesiastical governance.

Negligence: I guess something like that would be failing to ask for a letter of good standing, which would have protected not only children, but the Cardinal’s reputation?

Does Cardinal Burke know where HIS letter of good standing is?



Also this week: The Jesuits have re-purchased Holy Name Church in Manchester, England. According to the England Provincial, ”The Jesuits are delighted to be returning to the Catholic Chaplaincy at Manchester University. Ministry to young people has always been at the heart of Jesuit values.”

The Church is famous for being referenced by the band The Smiths in the song that clearly foretold the rise of Cardinal Burke and his flowing skirts, entitled ‘Vicar in a Tutu’. Enjoy.

 

 

 

 

 




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