UNITED STATES
Bilgrimage
The following is Anne M. Burke’s speech to Voice of the Faithful, 14 September 2012. This comes to us courtesy of a request by Jerry Slevin to Anne Burke to permit it to be posted here.* I appreciate Jerry for bringing this to us, and Anne Burke for her graciousness in allowing Bilgrimage to post her speech, which follows:
————
As Thomas Edison, the man who changed the world for millions with his application of electricity and inventions, lay dying in 1931, at his bedside was Henry Ford, the man who revolutionized how Americans moved. As Edison died, Ford captured his last breath in a bottle. He was certain that Edison’s genius would be part of what he seized. He sensed the energy of Edison’s reason even in his dying gasp.
Perhaps there really was something there to capture, but as we all know Edison’s genius was more expansive than his breath. Edison used to say, that genius was one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration. Genius was hard work, but it did permeate every aspect of his colossal imagination and sense ofcreativity.
I am here today, to salute you and your sense of imagination and creativity – two critically important components of Christian discipleship. I sense the energy of reason in all you do. Your imagination and creativity are what give you your “voice.” And now, after ten years, we realize that without your voice, here in the United States, everyone’s freedom as a Catholic would be more threatened. Everyone’s liberty as a disciple would be more contained. We never needed you more. You do not need me to give you a list ofthe ways in which the liberty of disciples is being threatened. I think I gave up cataloguing things when they arrested the Pope’s butler for leaking information. The Vatican’s assault on American religious women also pushed me to the very edge. That’s why I need to hear your voice – the Voice of the Faithful.
What effect your voice has made. Just when we thought no one was listening, you opened your mouth and the faithful found a fresh opportunity to shatter the sinister machinations of leaders who do not listen. Just when it looked like no one would confront the poor leadership and tattered wagon circling of the bishops a decade ago – you spoke and a voice of faithfulness uttered words of love for the church, and challenge for its leadership. In the process, Boston received a new archbishop. The formation of the Voice o fthe Faithful established a new American vocabulary for the truth. What you have done reminds me of something St. Catherine of Siena said – Be who God meant you to be and you will set the world on fire.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.