Interview with Cardinal Burke on Extraordinary Synod

This week's Wanderer carries an interview with Cardinal Raymond Burke evaluating the Extraordinary Synod on the Family. He points out some major problems with the outcome (no surprise to orthodox Catholics) including its giving the widespread impression that doctrine on marriage can change.

Does this sound familiar?
Remember when the Birth Control Commission recommended approving contraception? Everybody predicted Church teaching was going to change. Well, it didn't; it couldn't. But that didn't keep the confusion from causing devastating damage to marriage and the family. We haven't recovered from it to this day! How many Catholics in the pew contracept? How many EVER hear a homily warning against the diabolical results of embracing the lie that contraception is a marital good? I can count on one hand - maybe even one finger - the number of sermons I've heard since the release of Humanae Vitae urging Catholics to embrace God's plan for marital love.

This sweet family awaits #5 in April & has one in heaven.

Well, the assault against marriage goes on and it makes sense. What is the greatest obstacle to Satan? Catholic families formed and living according to God's plan for marriage. What does a family like that look like? Here are just a few hallmarks:

• A husband who loves his bride like Christ loves the Church and is willing to heroically sacrifice for her;
• A wife who respects her husband as head of the family and aids him in that role, never competing with him to see whose boss, but always encouraging him when he's right and gently challenging him when he's wrong;
• A family that prays together and celebrates the liturgical life of the Church with frequent Mass, Confession, the Rosary, and other devotionals;
• Open to life and generous, with parents who recognize that the greatest gifts they can give their children are brothers and sisters, not games, gadgets, and glitzy garbage.
• Supports other families in their journey;
• Is like yeast in the community - "They will know we are Christians by the love we have for each other."

I'm sure you can come up with your own list. Are striving Catholic families trouble-free? Not hardly! But they persevere and they never stop loving one another even when they can't approve of sinful choices among family members. 

Cardinal Burke is calling on all of us to defend and uphold marriage in the year ahead as the Church prepares for the ordinary synod next fall. A good place to start is with the Catholic Catechism on the Sacrament of Marriage and reading scripture passages that relate to marriage. I'm beginning with Genesis when God created Eve because "It wasn't good for the man to be alone." Then I'll move on to the wedding feast of Cana, St. Paul's description of love, etc. Here's an online Catholic Concordance with some verses for matrimony, contraception, etc. Check it out!