The Truth Will Set You Free
Cardinal Raymond BURKE
Trinity Academy Chapel of the Holy Spirit
Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE
Keynote Address - “Faith and Freedom Gala” - December 3, 2023
Introduction
It pleases me very much to give the Keynote Address for the 24th Annual Faith and Freedom Dinner of Trinity Academy. I have known Trinity Academy for many years and have followed carefully its outstanding work of Catholic education of children and youth. In recent years, I have been honored to serve as President of the Board of Directors of the Academy.
The topic which I am addressing tonight has everything to do with the excellence of the education imparted at Trinity Academy since its foundation. Education in the truth – first in the family and then in schools – is the irreplaceable means to remedy the slavery of sin and its deadly effect upon individuals and society. Trinity Academy has always been keenly aware of the lethal reality of sin and evil, and of their author, Satan, who, in Our Lord’s own words, “was a murderer from the beginning, and has nothing to do with the truth, because there is no truth in him.”[1] Our Lord identifies lying with the very nature of Satan, declaring Satan to be “a liar and the father of lies.”[2] The greatest gift which Trinity Academy gives to its students is cultivation of the truth, recognizing the presence of lies, of falsehood, in their lives and seeking the divine light which uncovers and dispels such darkness. At Trinity Academy, the students come to know Christ Who assures us each day: “I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”[3] They learn to love Him and to desire nothing more than to serve Him, according to their vocation in life and the distinct gifts which God gives to each of us.
In speaking with you, tonight, I want, from the beginning, to express deepest gratitude to Dr. Robin and Susan Mitchell, Dr. Elizabeth Mitchell, to the faculty and staff of Trinity Academy, and to all who, in any way, contribute to the excellence of the education imparted at the Academy. May tonight’s joyous celebration be the occasion for all of us to renew our support of Trinity Academy.
On June 1st of this year, I celebrated Solemn Vespers at Saint Francis de Sales Oratory in Saint Louis, which was founded during my years as Archbishop of Saint Louis. After the Solemn Vespers, there was a reception for the priests, consecrated persons and lay faithful present. It was a source of so much encouragement for me to speak, at least briefly, with those present. One conversation was particularly unforgettable.
A man of some 35 years of age approached me and immediately declared that he had come to offer me his apologies. When I asked him the reason for his apologies, he asked me: “Do you remember Ash Wednesday of 2004?” In fact, I did remember the day because of what happened during my offering of the Holy Mass at one of the most prestigious all-male Catholic high schools in Saint Louis. As the procession entered the gymnasium in which the Holy Mass was being celebrated for the large student body, I noted immediately a group of students with arm bands in the colors of the rainbow. During the Holy Mass, these students stood with their arms crossed on their chests and refused to respond to any of the prayers. After the Holy Mass, one of the students charged with the writing of an article for the school newspaper to commemorate my visit as the new Archbishop – I had been installed as Archbishop of Saint Louis on January 26, 2004 – explained to me that the students in question belonged to a so-called “gay club” and that they were protesting my teaching regarding the disordered nature of homosexual acts. In fact, in the State of Missouri, there was in progress a referendum to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, and I had taken the occasion to set forth the Church’s teaching on our nature as man and woman, and on the gift of sexuality.
The man then explained to me that he was the leader of the gay club at the school and had organized the protest of my presence in the school, that he had gone on to lead a sexually dissolute life, and that, thanks to the beauty of the Sacred Liturgy which he had discovered at Saint Francis de Sales Oratory, he was, with the help of a priest, undergoing a conversion of life. In short, the Sacred Liturgy had shed light on the misery of his life and at the same time was leading him, in the light, to overcome his sinful inclinations. He concluded by saying that he was deeply sorry for not having accepted the Church’s teaching as I had presented it and for rebelling against the truth.
My conversation with the man led me to reflect upon the fundamental work of the priestly ministry, namely, to impart the truth with love in view of the destiny of each soul, eternal life in the company of the Holy Trinity. Christ called the Twelve, and He calls today’s priests not to please souls in the present but to nourish them with the truth which serves them best in the present and will lead them in the way of eternal life. As I have had occasion to say to brother priests, “We are in this for the long haul.”
In 2004, teaching the truth about the sinfulness of homosexual acts meant reception of a good deal of unpleasantness, not only at the all-male Catholic high school, but in general. But my only justifiable concern was to speak the truth clearly and charitably, knowing that it would, in time, work for the salvation of the souls in my care. My conversation with the man after the Solemn Vespers confirmed the efficaciousness of speaking the truth with love. It is not always that we receive such a dramatic confirmation, but the occasional experience of such a confirmation should help us to be steadfast in announcing the truth and to be confident that it does indeed redound to our freedom.
Parenting and teaching have a particularly priestly nature in that they are essential to bringing our children and young people to know the truth and to embrace it with courage. As Saint Paul teaches us in the Letter to the Romans:
But how are men to call upon him in whom they have not believed? And how are they to believe in him of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without a preacher? And how can men preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach good news!” But they have not all heeded the gospel; for Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed what he has heard from us?” So faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes by the preaching of Christ.[4]
Often, as was the case with the protest of the students on Ash Wednesday of 2004, our teaching of the truth is met with resistance and rejection. While that concerns us, what must be our ultimate concern is that we have taught the truth, we have shown the beauty, and we have practiced the good which comes from God Who is Truth, Beauty, and Goodness and has revealed perfectly the True, the Good, and the Beautiful in Christ. If we are only concerned to please children and young people, we will leave them without the substance which will sustain them for a lifetime and for eternal life. The pleasure they may know for the moment because of our irresponsible indulgence is ephemeral and cannot sustain them.
Just, in these days, a former school administrator informed me about the phenomenon of children in school insisting on their identity as an animal and the fostering of such behavior by school authorities. If I understand correctly, the children call themselves “furries,” they make animal noises, and insist on being treated as animals. I had not heard of this before, but the former administrator told me that some teachers are leaving their profession because of the disruption which such behavior causes. What should be done in the case of a child who insists that he or she is a cat or dog or other animal, or in the case of a male child who insists that he is female or a female child who insists that she is male? Apparently, the administration of the schools believe that children should be affirmed in such confusion, that they should not be told the truth announced in the Book of Genesis: “So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.”[5] Children who engage in such thinking contrary to right reason and the good order of Creation must be taught in a kindly way the objective order of things, which human reason equips us to know and respect.
Some years ago, a young Italian couple, good friends of mine who have four children, came to me to ask what to do with their oldest son, 10 years old at the time, who had come home from school, announcing to them that he is a girl. My response was that no 10-year-old boy comes to such an idea on his own, but that I was certain that his teacher was expounding gender-identity theory and the 10-year-old, like any child of that age, wanted to please his teacher by choosing a gender identity different from his objective identity.
I suggested that they sit down with the boy and explain to him how God calls us into being, giving us many gifts, including the gift of being either a boy or a girl, and that we should accept God’s gifts with gratitude. I suggested that they read him the story of Creation from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. They were not entirely convinced of the efficaciousness of such an approach, but they agreed to try it. It will not surprise you to learn that it worked. The little boy quickly abandoned the idea of being a girl. Can you imagine the irreparable harm that would have been done to him had his parents fostered the idea and, as some have done, had even taken him to physicians to begin the false so-called therapy which mutilates the human body and violates the human soul which is either male or female by God’s gift not by man’s design.
In this regard, I must note the fundamental importance of language. We are often assaulted today by a barrage of words, which may have the appearance of truth and very effectively excite people emotionally, sentimentally, but which, in fact, are tools of manipulation. Language manipulation always precedes social manipulation. One of the fundamental gifts of a solid education is the ability to read, write, and speak in a clear way, respectful of truth, and thus to be able to recognize the nonsense and lies which profoundly harm individuals and our society.
I think, for example, of the critical question regarding procured abortion. In the various campaigns in the States of the Union to pass legislation regarding procured abortion, since the handing down of the Supreme Court decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization of June 24, 2022, there is a manipulation of the understanding of procured abortion by the use of words which do not correspond to its objective nature. What is key is to speak clearly and charitably about the reality of procured abortion for the baby who is killed, for the mother whose very nature is to give and nurture life, and for the father whose very nature is to give and protect life, and for all who are related in some way to the little one.
Presently, in the Church, there is a manipulation of words to bring about the so-called “new church.” One hears incessant discourse about synodality as the essential mark of the Church, whereas the term, synodality, has never before existed in the language of the Church. It has substituted for what was first called a paradigm shift. In all of this, there is little or no mention of Christ, when, in fact, the nature of the Church is to be the Mystical Body of Christ, that is Christ the Vine Who gives life and strength to us, the branches, in accord with the nature of the Church as He constituted her during His Public Ministry and through His Passion, Death, Resurrection, and Ascension. The marks of the Mystical Body of Christ which is the Church are: one, holy, catholic, and apostolic.
Both in civil society and in the Church, there is the denial of the gift of human life, of the family, and of religious freedom, handed down to us from the time of the Apostles. There is the denial of the unchanged and unchanging nature of human life, of family life, and of religious faith as transmitted to us. Civic and ecclesial wokeism which denies the truth, beauty, and goodness which are God’s gift, received by us, thanks to the Tradition, would have us believe that we can create society and the Church itself new, without reference to the past which is depicted as dark and evil. Wokeism denies Christ’s promise to those who would be His true disciples: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”[6]
Education, first in the home and then in the school, is, first of all, leading children and young out of the darkness and confusion of a life of lies and sin, and leading them into the light of the truth taught to us by Christ alive in His holy Church. Education, whether it be in the arts or sciences or skills, opens a child’s or young person’s eyes to the wonder of being, with Christ, “fellow workers in the truth.”[7]
Catholic education is a complete education, that is the development of reason through the competent imparting of knowledge and skills within the context of the faith through the study of God and of His plan for us and the world, as He has revealed Himself and His plan to us in Christ. Catholic education fosters the intimate communion of the student with Christ, which inspires in them the desire of sainthood, the desire to lead a good and holy life in Christ. Saint Paul, when he had to correct the Galatians who, after first receiving the Gospel with enthusiasm then were led astray by false teachers and prophets, asked them: “Have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?”[8] Saint Paul then described his teaching of the faith using the image of a mother giving birth to a child: “My little children, with whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.”[9]
In the same way, Saint Paul reminded the Christians at Colossae that the Christian life “is hidden with Christ in God.”[10] In the midst of the trials inherent in following Christ, in taking up the cross daily with Him, Saint Paul promises us: “When Christ who is our life appears, then you will also appear with him in glory.”[11] In his Second Letter to the Corinthians, Saint Paul reminds us that our daily conversion to Christ, with the suffering it necessarily entails, is, in fact, a manifestation of Christ alive in us: “For while we live we are always be given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”[12] A sound education, in fact, teaches us to view all things under the aspect of eternity, sub specie aeternitatis, knowing that our communion with Christ is a communion in His mission of the Redemptive Incarnation. Our Lord Himself has taught us in plain words: “Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me, cannot be my disciple.[13]
Pope Pius XI, in his Encyclical Letter Divini Illius Magistri, quoting the words of Saint Paul to which I have just referred, described a Catholic education with these words: regulate and perfect it, in according with the example and teaching of Christ.
The proper and immediate end of Christian education is to cooperate with divine grace in forming the true and perfect Christian, that is, to form Christ Himself in those regenerated by baptism, according to the emphatic expression of the Apostle: “My little children, of whom I am in labor again, until Christ be formed in you.” For the true Christian must live a supernatural life in Christ: “Christ who is your life,” and display it in all his actions: “That the life also of Jesus may be made manifest in our mortal flesh.”
Hence the true Christian, product of Christian education, is the supernatural man who thinks, judges and acts constantly and consistently in accordance with right reason illumined by the supernatural light of the example and teaching of Christ; …”[14]
The great challenge of Catholic education is to avoid the multiple distractions of a mundane and materialistic philosophy and to remain focussed on communicating Christ as He comes to us through the living Tradition of the Church.
We live in very troubled and troubling, sometimes seemingly apocalyptic, times. The rebellion before God, the revolution against His Truth and Love handed down to us in the Church, has reached an unimaginable level. What is more, the rebellion and revolution is sustained from within the Church even by some who are called and ordained to shepherd the flock. We have seen the devastating results for the Church in Germany. The current sessions of the Synod of Bishops – which, as Father Gerald Murray has rightly shown, – is no longer the Synod of Bishops, threaten to extend the same devastation to the universal Church.
Devout Catholics are rightly disheartened and discouraged, and justifiably angry at the profound suffering inflicted upon the Mystical Body of Christ by the apostasy, the abandonment of Christ to embrace the ways of the world. What are we to do in such circumstances which, in certain respects, are unprecedented in the history of the Church?
Certainly, the answer is not to leave Christ Who is alive for us in the Church but to be His faithful “fellow workers in the truth,”[15] teaching His saving Word and bringing His saving grace to the world with ever greater fidelity and generosity, even in the face of indifference, ridicule, persecution, and death. God the Father has confided to each of us the care of some portion of the Kingdom of His Divine Son Incarnate. We should only be concerned to be faithful and generous followers, disciples, of Christ the King.
Let us recall the words of Saint Paul in his Letter to the Colossians: “[Christ] is before all things, and in him all things hold together… For in him all the fulness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.”[16] Following Christ means loving God and His plan for the salvation of the world. If we deny Christ at work in the Church, nothing else in life any longer makes sense. Trusting Christ’s Word and His promises, we do not lose heart but, rather, are confident that He will win in us the victory over sin and death.
Christ is the King of Heaven and of Earth, pouring out His life for us, as He declared to Pontius Pilate who questioned Him about His Kingship:
My kingship is not of this world; … You say that I am a king. For this I was born, and for this I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.[17]
God the Father has come to reign lovingly over His children through God the Son Incarnate, Christ the King. Through the Redemptive Incarnation of His only-begotten Son, God the Father speaks to us the truth which purifies us of the lies of our sins and frees to us to worship Him “in spirit and truth.”[18] In the words of Saint Paul, “speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ.”[19]
In Christ is realized the right order of all things, the union of heaven and earth, as God the Father intended from the beginning. Christ conquers the disorder introduced into the world by the sin of man, by the rebellion of our First Parents against the will of God for us and for the world. It is the obedience of God the Son Incarnate which reestablishes, restores, the original communion of man with God and, therefore, peace in the world. His obedience unites once again all things, “things in heaven and things on earth.”[20]
Catholic education is a preeminent part of the vineyard of the Lord, helping students to be true branches on the Vine Who is Christ. Let us recall the words of Our Lord in the Gospel:
I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. Every branch of mine that bears no fruit, he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. You are already made clean by the word which I have spoken to you. Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in me, and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. If a man does not abide in me, he is cast forth as a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned. If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall be done for you. By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be my disciples.[21]
Catholic education is nothing less than working with God the Vinedresser in caring for the branches so that they may more and more bear the all-beautiful and lasting fruit of a life lived in Christ. Catholic education, above all, gives hope to all that Christ continues to be at work in us through the teaching of the truth and the manifestation of its beauty in the Sacred Liturgy and of its goodness in a virtuous life.
May these reflections be a source of encouragement and strength for the fundamental mission of Christ at work in Trinity Academy. Blessed to be with you tonight, I pledge to continue my daily prayers that Trinity Academy may ever increase in its most timely mission of true Catholic education, of forming children and young people to know, love, and serve God in Jesus Christ, His Incarnate Son. May Trinity Academy be always true to its mission: to bring others to Christ Who alone is “our wisdom, our righteousness and sanctification and redemption.”[22] May the students blessed to study at Trinity Academy never fail to recall the promise of Our Lord: “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”[23]
Thank you for your kind attention. May God bless you and your homes.
Raymond Leo Cardinal BURKE
Trinity Academy
24th Annual Faith and Freedom Dinner
Ingleside Hotel
Pewaukee, Wisconsin
3 December 2023
[1] Jn 8, 44.
[2] Jn 8, 44.
[3] Jn 8, 12.
[4] Rom 10, 14-17.
[5] Gen 1, 27.
[6] Jn 8, 31-32.
[7] 3 Jn 8.
[8] Gal 4, 16.
[9] Gal 4, 19.
[10] Col 3, 3.
[11] Gal 3, 4.
[12] 2 Cor 4, 11.
[13] Lk 14, 27.
[14] “Eo proprie ac proxime intendit christiana educatio, ut, divina cum gratia conspirando, germanum atque perfectum christianum efficiat hominem: ut Christum scilicet ipsum exprimat atque effingat in illis qui sint Baptismate renati, ad illud Apostoli vividum: «Filioli mei, quos iterum parturio, donec formetur Christus in vobis». Vitam enim supernaturalem germanus christianus vivere debet in Christo: «Christus, vita vestra», eandemque in omnibus rebus gerendis manifestare «ut et vita Iesu manifestetur in carne nostra mortali».
Quae cum ita sint, summam ipsam humanorum actuum, quod attinet ad efficentiam sensuum et spiritus, ad intellectum et ad mores, ad singulos et ad societatem domesticam atque civilem, christiana educatio totam complectitur, non autem ut vel minime exenuet, verum ut secundum Iesu Christi exempla et doctrinam extollat, regat, perficiat.
Itaque verus christianus, christiana educatione conformatus, alius non est ac supernaturalis homo, qui sentit, iudicat, constanter sibique congruenter operatur, ad rectam rationem, exemplis doctrinaque Iesu Christi supernaturaliter collustratam: …,” Pius PP. XI, Litterae Encyclicae Divini Illius Magistri, “De Christiana iuventutis educatione,” 31 Decembris 1929, Acta Apostolicae Sedis 22 (1930), 83. English translation: Five Great Encyclicals, ed. Gerald G. Treacy (New York: The Paulist Press, 1939), pp. 64-65.
[15] 3 Jn 8.
[16] Col 1, 17. 19-20.
[17] Jn 18, 36-37.
[18] Jn 4, 23-24.
[19] Eph 4, 15.
[20] Eph 1, 10.
[21] Jn 15, 1-8.
[22] 1 Cor 1, 30.
[23] Jn 8, 31-32.
