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Most Reverend
Raymond L. Burke, D.D., J.C.D.
Archbishop of St. Louis,
Missouri
National Director, Marian Catechist Apostolate
Raymond Leo Burke was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin, on June 30, 1948, the youngest of the six children of Thomas F. and Marie B. Burke. His elementary education was undertaken at St. Mary School in Richland Center (1954-1959) and at St. Joseph School in Stratford, Wisconsin (1959-1962).
He attended high school at Holy Cross Seminary in La Crosse, Wisconsin, from 1962 to 1966, and also completed college courses there (1966 -1968) before attending the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., where he studied as a Basselin Scholar (1968 -1971). He undertook his studies for ordination at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome (1971-1975) and was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Paul VI on June 29, 1975, at the Basilica of St. Peter.
Father Burke's first assignment was as associate rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse. In 1977 he took up the additional duty of teaching religion at Aquinas High School in La Crosse. In 1980 Father Burke returned to Rome to study Canon Law at the Pontifical Gregorian University. In April 1984, after completing his studies, he was named Moderator of the Curia and Vice Chancellor of the Diocese of La Crosse.
In 1989 Father Burke returned to Rome when Pope John Paul II named him Defender of the Bond of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, the first American to hold this position on the Church's highest court. After five years in this post, the Holy Father appointed him Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse on December 10, 1994.
Bishop Burke was ordained to the episcopacy by Pope John Paul II on January 6, 1995, at the Basilica of St. Peter, and was installed in the Diocese of La Crosse on February 22, 1995, the Feast of the Chair of St. Peter.
On December 2, 2003, Bishop Burke was named Archbishop of St. Louis, succeeding Justin Cardinal Rigali, who was appointed Archbishop of Philadelphia in July 2003. Archbishop Burke was installed in St. Louis on January 26, 2004, the fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's historic pastoral visit to the archdiocese.
On June 29th, 2004, twenty-nine years after his ordination to the priesthood by Pope Paul VI, he received the pallium as Archbishop of St. Louis, from Pope John Paul II.
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January 26, 2004
As you may know, on December 2, 2003, our Holy Father Pope John Paul II announced my transfer from the Diocese of La Crosse to the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. I took up my apostolic ministry in St. Louis on January 26, 2004, the Memorial of Saints Timothy and Titus, Bishops. Please pray for me that I may well serve His flock in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis.
My transfer will not change my dedication to the Marian Catechist Apostolate. I keep very much in my heart the request which Father Hardon made of me to direct the Marian Catechist Apostolate after his death. It is not possible for me to turn my back on the commitment which I made to Father Hardon during the last weeks of his life. Therefore, I will continue to direct the Marian Catechist Apostolate from Saint Louis, will continue to give the Annual Marian Catechist Retreat, and will assist the work of Marian Catechists, in general. The days of the Annual Retreat have already been placed on my calendar.
To the best of my knowledge, there are three members of the Marian Catechist Apostolate in the Archdiocese of Saint Louis. I am confident that there will be many good and devout Catholics in the Archdiocese who, after learning about the Marian Catechist Apostolate, will want to receive the spiritual and doctrinal formation so sagely developed by Father Hardon and become Marian Catechists. With time and with the help of Our Lady of Guadalupe, I hope to recruit a solid corps of Marian Catechists in Saint Louis.
The headquarters of the Marian Catechist Apostolate will remain in La Crosse, and Theresa Knothe will remain the National Coordinator. Very Father Roger J. Scheckel, the Spiritual Advisor for the La Crosse Marian Catechists, will assist Theresa in carrying out her daily responsibilities for the Marian Catechist Apostolate. I will meet with Theresa and Father Scheckel on a regular basis, also by conference telephone call, in order to give the necessary direction to the Apostolate. I am confident that, with the assistance of Theresa and Father Scheckel, I will be able to carry out my important responsibilities for the Marian Catechist Apostolate and its members.
As always, the work of the Marian Catechist Apostolate must be in our daily prayers. Because of the critical importance of the Marian Catechist Apostolate for the work of the New Evangelization, Satan will try in every way to destroy it with his principal tools of discouragement, confusion and division. Conscious of our own limitations and weaknesses, we humbly entrust ourselves to the Providence of God, knowing that what we could never do on our own alone, He can accomplish through us. Let us daily ask Our Lady of Guadalupe, our patroness, to intercede before the Throne of God on behalf of the Marian Catechist Apostolate.
Please keep me in your prayers. Be assured that I pray each day for all members of the Marian Catechist Apostolate.
May almighty God — Father, Son and Holy Spirit — bless you, your home and your apostolate of catechesis.
Our Lady of Guadalupe, Mother of America and Star of the New Evangelization, pray for us.
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