Interview with Archbishop Raymond Burke

 

Part 1: The first question concerns the continuing election of Jewish people who are baptized and enter the Catholic Church.

David: Shalom haMashiach, the Peace of the Messiah. I am David Moss, President of the Association of Hebrew Catholics, AHC for short. The AHC was launched in 1979 by Elias Friedman, OCD, a Carmelite friar, and Andrew Sholl, a holocaust survivor. Fr. Friedman believed we had entered a new phase of salvation history, a phase which was characterized by a great number of Christians falling away from the faith, simultaneous with a great growth in the number of Jews coming to faith. The AHC was launched, therefore, to gather Catholics who would help support the rekindling of the Hebrew Catholic witness analogous to that witness which existed in the first couple of centuries of the Church. This rekindling, however, raises a number of issues or questions, the answers to which will affect the work of the AHC.

We are honored and blessed to be able to address some of the most basic questions to a man of deep faith and great love for Christ and His Church, Archbishop Raymond L. Burke. In 2006, Archbishop Burke of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, welcomed the relocation of the AHC to St. Louis. Then in 2008, His Holiness, Pope Benedict XVI, appointed Archbishop Burke Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. Now residing in Rome, Archbishop Burke is also a member of five congregations, is the founder of the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, and the International Director of the Marian Catechists apostolate. We are most grateful to be given the gift of this interview.

Archbishop Burke: In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. Almighty God, we ask You to bless us as we celebrate the great gift of Your covenant of faithful and enduring love with us, first given through Your chosen people, and through them, given to all the nations. We ask You in a very special way to bless the members of the Association of Hebrew Catholics, and to give them the grace of a strong witness to Your faithful and enduring love in the world, most perfectly manifested in the incarnation of Your only begotten Son, through His taking of our human nature in the womb of the Virgin Mary. Finally, we ask through her intercession that all of us may be ever more faithful witnesses to the great gift of Your love given to us in Your holy Church. We ask this through Your Son, our Lord Jesus Christ, Who is with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever. Amen. In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

David: Before we begin, your Excellency, I just want to convey the love and the good wishes of your many friends in St. Louis and around the world. I promised them I would do that.

Archbishop Burke: Well, thank you, and I have to say that St. Louis is always in my heart and in my daily prayers and the many wonderful people that I met in St. Louis and with whom I was privileged to work, including the Association of Hebrew Catholics.

David: Thank you, your Excellency.

1. David: This first question concerns the continuing election of Jewish people who are baptized and enter the Catholic Church.

In the Old Testament, the People Israel are called an elect people, chosen by God to be a holy people, to give witness to the one true God and His revelation, to be a light and a blessing to the nations, and to prepare for the Messiah.

Fr. Elias Friedman OCD, founder of the Association of Hebrew Catholics, believed " that the purpose of the Election was to give the world both Jesus and his prolongation in the Church." (cf. Jewish Identity, pg 96)

Additionally, Father believed that "The final aim of the Election is the vocation of Israel to bear collective witness to the Messiah." (cf. Jewish Identity, pg 83)

However, objections to the ongoing election of the People Israel (i.e., the Jewish people) have been raised.

Some have argued that after the Messiah came, the election of Israel was fulfilled and therefore came to an end, having no further reason to exist.

Others have argued that the election of the People Israel is absorbed in the general election of all who believe and who are baptized in Christ. Thus, they argue that there is no longer anything distinctive about the election of the People Israel and that their calling, as a People, has ceased to exist.

[Question] Would you explain the Church's view of the election for Jews who have been baptized into Christ and His Church?

Archbishop Burke: (I'm) very happy to respond to the question. First of all, I think we need to set the response of the question within the context of the historic nature of our Catholic faith. God has indeed entered into time. God the Son, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, has taken our human flesh, has taken a human heart under the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and entered into history. That coming of the Messiah, that coming of the Savior, was prepared by the Jewish people and was entrusted by God the Father to the Jewish people, His chosen people. (They were) as the Scriptures say, a small nation but chosen by God for this most important task, that is, to present the Messiah to the world. That can never change.

Our faith is historical. Once our Lord enters into history and acts on our behalf, that becomes something for us that is forever treasured. We can never say, "Well, now that the Messiah has come, this great gift given to the Jewish people no longer has significance. It has even more significance because we recognize in the coming of Christ the great gift of God's love, and it increases in us, as Pope Pius XI said, a great love for the Jewish people, who brought Christ to the world, (who) presented Christ to the world.

We needn't [even] say that our Lord Himself was a member of the chosen people. His mother in the human flesh, the Blessed Virgin Mary, was a devout member of the chosen people. So that election is not ended. This remains always the great vocation of the Jewish people, to present the Messiah to the world. As St. Paul reminds us, once God has chosen us for some particular mission, He doesn't change His mind. In other words, this is part of His eternal plan for our salvation and is the particular, distinctive role of the chosen people, the Jewish people, in the work of salvation. That, for us as Roman Catholics, creates a most special bond always with the people of the Jewish faith because we are, again as Pope Pius XI said, "We are all spiritual semites." We are the sons and daughters of Abraham, and we feel the closest bond with the Jewish people.

When Christ came, he made it very clear in the Sermon on the Mount that He did not come to abolish the law and the prophets. He did not come in some way to repudiate all that God had done in the history of the Jewish people, but he had come to bring it to fulfillment. So all of that is treasured in the Old Testament, and it remains treasured by us in our time. One excellent example, I always think, is the privileged place that the Psalms have in the Catholic liturgy and in the daily prayer of the Catholic. These are the great prayers of King David so dear to the Jewish people, and also to us. That to me is one of the great signs of the bond that exists between us.

So to sum up, I would say simply this. Once God made that election of the Hebrew nation, of the Jewish people, to be the light to the nations and to be the instrument by which all peoples would be welcomed into the household of God, He never turns back from that election. It remains today as treasured in the Church as it has been from the beginning of that election. So, a Hebrew Catholic has a very distinctive witness to give in the Church, and we ought to recognize that. All of us who come from different backgrounds give a distinctive witness in the Church, and this is how God works. But the witness of a Hebrew Catholic is particularly treasured by the Church because of the rich heritage which they bring to the Catholic faith and this mission of presenting the Messiah to the world.

 

Part 2: The second question concerns the collective nature of the election of Jewish people within the Catholic Church.

2. David: This second question concerns the collective nature of the election of the People Israel within the Church.

In the Old Testament, we learn that the election of the People Israel is collective, deriving from the call of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and their descendants. The collective nature of their election is what has bound them together, striving to be a holy people, to be a blessing to the nations, and to prepare for and receive the Messiah.

Outside the Church, most of Jewry continues to live in accord with the collective nature of their election.

Since World War II, there has been a large and growing number of Jews who have come to believe in Jesus as the Messiah and Son of God. The most visible and dynamic of these are the Messianic Jewish congregations, whose doctrinal and theological beliefs find their home in non-Catholic Christianity. There, they attempt to follow Jesus while trying to preserve the collective nature of their identity and heritage. And this, in turn, removes a great obstacle in evangelization.

Since the Second World War, Jews have also entered the Catholic Church and have quietly assimilated to the prevailing culture. Fr. Friedman launched the AHC because he believed that there should be a dynamic and visible Hebrew Catholic presence within the Church, where their collective identity and heritage were preserved. He believed that their presence would be a living witness, to those inside and outside the Church, that the Church is the Mystical Body of Christ in which Jew and Gentile have been reconciled. Additionally, a collective presence of Hebrew Catholics, approved and encouraged by the Church, would help ensure the survival of the Jewish people and their witness within the Church. Further, it would strengthen their ability to serve the Lord, the Church, and all peoples in accord with their irrevocable calling.

[Question] How would the Church view the development of a collective presence of Hebrew Catholics, or is there anything doctrinal or theological that would argue against such a development?

Archbishop Burke: I do not see that there would be anything in doctrine, or theologically, which would argue against such a collective presence of Hebrews within the Catholic Church, of Jewish people within the Catholic Church. In fact, on the contrary, it seems to me that it's a great gift to the Catholic Church that that collective identity as the chosen people would be cultivated, would not be lost, but it would be handed down from one generation to the next. One of the sadnesses in the Church, and I think in society in general, is when people of a certain heritage do not hand down that heritage to their children, and it's lost. It could be a great enrichment to a culture, to the faith. For instance, I, myself, am the child of Irish Catholics, and I treasure very much the spirituality in which I was raised which had a particularly Irish character to it. It was nurtured in Ireland and was brought here by my ancestors. But with the Jewish people, this once again, as I said in answer to the first question, takes on a very particular and important nature because it is an identity of the people to whom the Messiah came, in order that they, in their turn, might bring Him to all the nations. So for the Jewish people, to be a source of unity among all nations, it is very important that first, they be united themselves in the great gift that God has given them, the election that is theirs. So I say, on the contrary, rather than there being some objection to a collective identity among Hebrew Catholics, I see it as a great gift.

Then if I might make some particular applications, it has seemed to me in my study of the sacred liturgy, (and) in my own personal contact with Hebrew Catholics, that the Hebrew Catholic brings a tremendous richness to the appreciation, for instance, of the liturgical prayers -- the Psalms, the Holy Scriptures, especially the readings from the Old Testament, and also the whole ritual because we know that the ritual of the Church, the order of the Mass, grew out of the worship of the chosen people, which is most natural and understandable. Pope Benedict XVI has been very wonderful in drawing this to our attention and helping us to appreciate it.

Also, the great gift of Gregorian chant has its roots in the chant of the chosen people, (as do) so many aspects of our liturgy. The Hebrew Catholics, to the extent that they're steeped very much in the heritage of their nation, of their people, can offer, then, a great richness to all of us. For that reason, for my part, I would see it as a loss, were there not to be a strong collective identity among Hebrew Catholics.

Also, Hebrew Catholics would have a fraternity with one another in order to deepen their appreciation for the roots of the Catholic faith in the faith of the chosen people. When I participated, for instance, in St. Louis in the Seder supper, the Christian Seder supper, I saw this in a wonderful way, how the Hebrew Catholics were bringing through this celebration an ever-deeper appreciation of the meaning of the coming of Christ into the world, of His saving death, and then of the continuation of the fruits of His saving death through the Holy Eucharist.

 

Part 3: The third question concerns the legitimacy of celebrating various traditions of our Jewish heritage, in the light of Christ, within the Church.

3. David: The third question concerns the legitimacy of celebrating various traditions of our Jewish heritage, in the light of Christ, within the Church.

The Church and the sacramental economy can be understood in part as fulfilling the Torah's prescriptions, enabling the deepest, most profound understanding and observance of all the commandments that God intended for his People Israel, and made possible through His Son.

There are Hebrew Catholics who wish to preserve their identity and heritage through the prayers, celebrations, and discipline of life that is in continuity with their lives as Jews before they discovered the Messiah and entered His Church. Their prayers, celebrations, and practices would all take place in the light of Christ and in accord with the teaching and discipline of the Magisterium.

Fr. Friedman believed that Hebrew Catholics, with the support of the Church, could make an important contribution to the new evangelization through their collective witness to (1) God's revelation and mercy throughout the Old Testament, and (2) to the continuity and fulfillment of that which was hidden in the Old Testament and revealed in the New Testament.

However, there are those who argue that any Catholic who participates, for example, in a Passover Seder commits a mortal sin. They believe that the Seder was a rite of the Old Covenant, which they hold is now superceded by the New Covenant.

The AHC would argue that Hebrew Catholics are not celebrating the Seder as a rite of the Old Covenant. Like everything else in the Old Testament, the Seder, which is the historical practice of most Jews, is now part of the heritage of every Catholic. The Seder celebrated in the light of Christ could be considered a New Testament devotion. It can offer us another opportunity to praise God for His mighty deeds and enable us to more concretely experience and understand the drama of salvation history as it is ultimately fulfilled in the Mass.

[Question] What would the Church say today about Hebrew Catholics observing their traditions in the light of Christ?

Archbishop Burke: I think the key is, as you've said repeatedly in your introduction to the question, that these celebrations are all carried out in the light of Christ, in other words, fully informed by the Christian faith, but not losing that preparation for Christ which was in the Seder meal and in other prayers and rituals of the Jewish people. So, as long as those prayers--let's take, for instance, the Passover Seder--are celebrated with full Christian faith in which they take on their fullest meaning, this, I think, is a wonderful devotion, and I would think a particular devotion for Hebrew Catholics, but also for non-Hebrew Catholics who would understand fully the meaning of these celebrations.

I remember that when I took part in the celebration, it was a very careful presentation, a narrative that accompanied the celebration, to make very clear that the celebration was being carried out with the fullest sense that everything that the Seder was about had been fulfilled in Christ and in His supper, the last supper, the Holy Eucharist. So for me, these are I believe, very important devotions which should be continued. Also, (it is) one of the important ways for Hebrew Catholics--what we were talking about before--to cultivate their particular identity within the Church, and the particular gift that they bring to the Church. As I observed, it's not something that's done in any hidden way, or 'This is only for us, because we're better than everyone else.' On the contrary, I was invited, and others were invited, lay people and other priests, to participate in this devotion which was very enriching for me, I must say, as a non-Hebrew. So I would encourage (it) very much, and I don't know of anything in the Church which says that this is prohibitive or this is wrong for Hebrew Catholics to have these special devotions particular to their own heritage.

 

Part 4: The fourth question concerns the way in which we are to approach, interpret, and understand the historical documents of Sacred Tradition. Statements by Pope Eugenius IV and Pope Benedict XIV are contrasted. Another aspect of this question concerns the way in which we interpret the relation between the shadow in the Old Covenant and the reality in the New Covenant.

4. David: This fourth question… I hope you'll have a little patience with this one because it concerns the way in which, as we do things and we're bringing new treasures out of the storehouse that have not been done in the Church for centuries, we're challenged, and often we're challenged by (those) bringing some argument from some part of Sacred Tradition. So the question is going to be concerning how to understand and deal with this.

Some who have observed our work have claimed that if we observe any of the traditions of our heritage which the Church does not currently observe, then we are judaizing and violating the faith of the Church. To make their case, they refer to the Council of Florence and quote some passages from the Bull of Union with the Copts (1442), by Pope Eugenius IV. These passages forbade the Coptic Christian practice of male circumcision. The pertinent passage reads, and I quote:

"Therefore [the Holy Roman Church] denounces all who after [the promulgation of the gospel] observe circumcision, the sabbath and other legal prescriptions as strangers to the faith of Christ and unable to share in eternal salvation, { unless they recoil at some time from these errors. Therefore it strictly orders all who glory in the name of Christian, not to practice circumcision either before or after baptism, since whether or not they place their hope in it, it cannot possibly be observed without loss of eternal salvation." } 

[Ed. The text between the brackets above is included here for a more complete statement.]

In contrast, about 300 years later, in 1756, Pope Benedict XIV in section 67 of an encyclical entitled "Ex Quo", wrote the following. I quote:

{ "Certain schismatics have tried to calumniate the Latin church by saying that it judaizes by consecrating unleavened bread, observing the Sabbath, and retaining the anointing of kings among the sacred rites. But Leo Allatius counters their rash claim in his splendid work de perpetua consensione Ecclesiae Occidentalis et Orientalis, bk. 3, chap. 4. He refutes them particularly by arguing as follows: "Since Jews observe Sabbaths, a man who observes Sabbaths acts in Jewish fashion: therefore the man who does not eat the flesh of strangled animals acts in Jewish fashion since the Jews are forbidden by the Law to eat such food: but the Greeks do not eat such food: therefore, the Greeks judaize" (loc. cit. n. 4). Then to Our purpose he concludes (n. 9) that } ... it cannot be absolutely asserted that the man judaizes who does something in the Church which corresponds to the ceremonies of the old Law. "If a man should perform acts for a different end and purpose (even with the intention of worship and as religious ceremonies), not in the spirit of that Law nor on the basis of it, but either from personal decision, from human custom, or on the instruction of the Church, he would not sin, nor could he be said to judaize. So when a man does something in the Church which resembles the ceremonies of the old Law, he must not always be said to judaize."  

[Ed. The text between the brackets above is included for a more complete statement.]

The encyclical by Pope Benedict XIV provides a different perspective than the bull by Pope Eugenius. Of course, they were each treating different problems. Neither was dealing with the issue of preserving the identity and heritage of Israelites within the Church, an issue whose time had not yet come.

[Question] Can you give us some guidance as to how we are to approach, interpret, and understand these two teachings, which seem so contrary?

Archbishop Burke: Yes. One has to understand that you're dealing with two different contexts: first of all, the situation that Pope Eugenius faced, and that which Pope Benedict the Fourteenth was facing. But at the same time, you're observing what we call a development of doctrine, in the sense that it's the one and the same doctrine of the truth of the Catholic faith, but a development in the understanding with regard to the practice of that faith. I believe also in the text of Pope Eugenius that what he's dealing with is people who would carry out these practices in a way to renounce their Catholic faith, in other words, to make them conditions for salvation, which they are not, as opposed to someone who circumcises or takes part in some other ritual as a Catholic but is not imposing this on everyone else, for instance, the situation in the early Church where the Judaizers were trying to impose circumcision on everyone. The Church didn't condemn the people for being circumcised. It just said you can't impose this on everyone as a condition for salvation.

In the same way, too, St. Paul cautioned the people that they shouldn't do things that would be a scandal to the Jewish people with regard to eating meats that were prohibited, and so forth, because this was harmful to their faith. We see this kind of understanding that certain observances are not contrary to the faith. Circumcision is not a denial of the Catholic faith. A certain care about eating some foods out of respect for others doesn't deny your Catholic faith. In fact, it shows a rather charitable and understanding attitude. So Pope Benedict the Fourteenth is reflecting that more clearly in his text, that you could have a very devout Catholic, even like the members of the Association of Hebrew Catholics, following, I would say, the inspired leadership of Fr. Friedman, who continue certain practices that they had as Jews, as devout Jews, but with a fully informed Catholic faith and not in any way trying to deny their Catholic faith.

There should not be anything in Jewish practice which is in itself a denial of the Catholic faith because everything that our Lord revealed to His chosen people was in view of the coming of the Messiah. So all of those rituals and practices understood properly are going to be able to be carried out and practiced by Hebrew Catholics, once again, with a fully Catholic faith. If there was some practice, for instance, let's say that there was some practice which involved a denial of the victory of Christ over sin and death, that would be a different story. For instance, if someone was having recourse to a shaman for a healing, not believing that it is Christ alone Who heals us and restores us, that could be a difficulty. But not these practices, all of which were preparing for Christ's coming. Christ Himself said, I haven't come to abolish these things but to bring them to their fulfillment. So I don't see that difficulty, and I think one has to be very careful in bringing forward texts like this to condemn a present situation without putting then first, that text in its context, and then also the present situation. As you say, the time hadn't come yet for this kind of distinctive identity of the Hebrew Catholics within the Church. Now it has, but these texts don't present a hindrance to that, or a roadblock, or in any way discourage what I would see as a great gift to the Church.

4-A David: [Extra Question] In Hebrews, there's a discussion about the practices of the Old Testament or about a shadow, (that) even though they had a reality to them, they were but a shadow of the greater reality that comes about through Jesus, the Eucharist, the Sacrament. So the question that's posed to us: 'Why do we want to go back and entertain a shadow when we have the reality?' How would you address that?

Archbishop Burke: The word 'shadow' that's used can also be understood using a different term which is very dear to the Church. We call (it) a 'type' or a 'foreshadowing', not a shadow in the sense of something that was dark or dim, but a foreshadowing, something that was lighting the way or showing us, giving us a sign of what was to come. Take, for instance, the paschal lamb. Church iconography is filled with images of the paschal lamb. That's not viewed as something pagan or as something negative. In fact, that paschal lamb helps us to understand the richness of the salvation which was accomplished by our Lord Jesus Christ.

There are so many other symbols that we use in Church art, in iconography, that are taken directly from the Jewish religion and are not considered to be in some way, how should I say, retrograde or negative or poor representations. Instead, (they are) seen as something very rich. The figure of Melchizedek, for instance, and his offering, was classically represented on communion rails and on altars, and so forth, of the Catholic Church. Again, the paschal lamb is another example. I think, for instance, too, of the Ten Commandments, of the Decalogue. When I was growing up as a Catholic, that was foundational. Of course, it should be--the learning of the Decalogue as the way of life of a Catholic, certainly completed by our Lord Jesus Christ - but not in any way, not even in the slightest letter, lost. So I think that the passage from Hebrews has to be understood in that light, not 'shadow' in the sense of something that darkens our vision of the truth, but rather as something that leads us to a deeper appreciation of the truth. Does that make sense?

David: Thank you. That was an unexpected question…

Archbishop Burke: But a good question, I must say, not to flatter you.

 

Part 5: The fifth question concerns the life of Hebrew Catholics in the Church today and Archbishop Burke's counsel.

5. David: This fifth question concerns the life of Hebrew Catholics in the Church today.

A reading of the signs of the times inspired Fr. Elias Friedman to write the book Jewish Identity. Fr. Friedman believed that we had entered a new phase of salvation history, witnessed to by the disappearance of Christendom, the great apostasy from the Catholic faith, the holocaust, the return of the Jews to their ancestral home, Vatican Council II, the growing and aggressive forces of secularism, the large number of Jews coming to faith in Christ, and the reawakening of Islam.

Fr. Friedman also believed that the time had come when God would once again call the Jews to work within the Church in support of its mission of evangelization and sanctification, even confronting the forces of the anti-Gospel. And in keeping with God’s call to Fr. Friedman, Father and Andrew Sholl, a survivor of the concentration camps, launched the AHC.

To function as a people in bearing witness to the Messiah and His Church, it will be necessary to develop new ways to preserve their collective identity and heritage within the Church. Today, there is much that needs to be done in terms of catechesis, spiritual direction, and other types of support, to counter negative understandings and to help Hebrew Catholics live out the irrevocable calling they have received from God.

[Question] What counsel would you provide to Hebrew Catholics regarding the preservation of their identity, and heritage, and life within the Church?

Archbishop Burke: Well, I’m very inspired by Fr. Friedman’s vision, and I believe that he is quite correct. The Venerable Pope John Paul II repeatedly called Catholics to the work of the new evangelization (and) brought to our attention the “de-Christianization”, as Pope Paul VI said, of the world. Nations which were once Christian, and strongly Christian, now were carrying out a life, to use Pope John Paul II’s term, “as if God did not exist.” Pope Benedict XVI has talked about it as “the tyranny of relativism”, a secularization that’s taking place. So there’s a need to live the Catholic faith, as Pope John Paul II said, with the enthusiasm and energy of the first disciples, of the first missionaries. I see in this a particular gift of the Hebrew Catholics because of the strong sense that is inherent in the Jewish faith, as I understand it, of God’s presence with us in the world. It’s absolutely contrary for a true person of Jewish faith to not have a sense that God is always with us, guiding and directing all the affairs of man and of the world. This is what we need to recover so much, and of course, the Hebrew Catholic understands this in a very particular way: the presence of Christ, now seated in glory at the right hand of the Father, but alive in His Church through the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I believe that the Hebrew Catholics have a particularly strong sense, almost a palpable sense, of the work of the Holy Spirit, the presence of the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, and that’s literally true, and dwelling within the whole Church for the work of the salvation of the world.

So my counsel to the Hebrew Catholics would be to take up in a particular way the work of the new evangelization to assist the Church in bringing the great gift of Christ alive in the Church through the Holy Spirit to the world, responding to that great hunger and thirst that’s in every human heart, really, for the knowledge and love of God which our Lord Jesus Christ gives us. I believe that the Hebrew Catholics have this gift in a most particular way to offer and can help the rest of us to understand better how to carry out the new evangelization and also to be more ardent in carrying out the new evangelization. We cannot understand enough its importance, and we cannot be ever too ardent in carrying it out in our time. These are critical times, and the answer to the times, as our present Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI has so often reminded us, is a Person, and the Person is Jesus Christ.

David: Thank you, your Excellency. I truly believe your words are going to be a blessing to our work.

Archbishop Burke: I hope so, and I’m going to pray very much for the conference in October, and I’m very sorry I can’t be there in person. But I think this is the next best thing.