March 8, 2013 :: Catholic Action Leave a Comment

Columnist Austin Ruse considers the possible selection of Cardinal Burke in his piece forThe Catholic Thing:

Most of the faithful in St. Louis revered him and miss him to this day. The ones who loved him most and likely miss him most of all are the seminarians.

The seminary in St. Louis was packed with aspirants from across the country who wanted to be near Burke and he wanted to be near them. It is said he spent an inordinate amount of time with his seminarians and even spent one-on-one time with each of them on a regular basis.

A high-ranking Vatican official told me that, when he was a student at the North American College in Rome, then Bishop Burke went out of his way to take care of the students from small dioceses who may have been at the NAC by themselves. He regularly took them out to dinner and otherwise ministered to them.