Web Lights up with Commentary on Archbishop Burke Leaving St. Louis, by Kurt Greenbaum, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, June 27, 2008

Web Lights up with Commentary on Archbishop Burke Leaving St. Louis

By Kurt Greenbaum
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
June 27, 2008

http://www.stltoday.com/blogzone/virtual-st-louis/virtual-st-louis/2008/06/ web-lights-up-with-commentary-on-archbishop-burke-leaving-st-louis/

As you might imagine, there is no shortage of opinion out on web about the departure of Archbishop Raymond Burke from St. Louis. The Talk of the Day topic we posted on STLtoday had 33 comments within 90 minutes of posting it — and it's still going strong.

And even if Twitter is being a pain in the neck today, subscribers' comments are sneaking through. Readers found plenty to say (here's a link to my Summize search on the topic of Burke — limited to the St. Louis area).

Most of the comments on Twitter were either announcements — or not favorable to Burke. Examples were along these lines:

mpsecondjournal: OMG I'm so excited Archbishop Burke is leaving St Louis.. happy dance in my chair!

tfooq: Burke is leaving!!!! I hope there are some sweet Burke-no-more parties in STL soon.

That wasn't necessarily the view elsewhere online, where more conservative sites/blogs/forums expressed regret for St. Louis, but happiness for the Catholic Church as a wider body. One example is here:

"This is a great loss for St. Louis, but obviously good for the Archbishop and the Catholic Church as a whole. May God be with him in his new role. And, may St. Louis be bless with another great Archbishop." (Posted on Christian Forums)

"I woke up this morning to some of the saddest news of the year in our Archdiocese; I received a text message and an email announcing the departure of Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke….expect some dissension from certain parts of the media." (Posted on LifeIsAPrayer.com)

"On the more practical side, the return to the Vatican's top tribunal of the first US cleric to hold a senior post within its ranks — the second consecutive instance of an archbishop of the onetime "Rome of the West" being called out of town to a cardinalatial post — removes the American bishop most affiliated with the so-called "Communion Wars" from the domestic fray in advance of another presidential election season." (Posted on Whispers in the Loggia)

"It is certainly a bittersweet announcement for those in St. Louis and around the world who have rejoiced in the Archbishop's stalwart defense of orthodoxy, his courage, his perseverance, and his wise and faithful pastoral care. He has been a shining example of how a Bishop should guide and govern." (Posted on the Stella Borealis Catholic Roundtable)

"One big unanswered question: when Burke leaves, will he get to take with him the several souls he excommunicated in his brief tenure here, or will he be compelled to open the Mason jar on his nightstand and release them back into the wild?" (Posted on Waveflux)