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Anne Burke receives the 2005 U.S. Catholic Award for Furthering the Cause of Women in the Church
Illinois Appellate Judge Anne M. Burke received the 2005 U.S. Catholic Award for Furthering the Cause of Women in the Church on October 3 at Chicago's Newberry Library. Presenting the award, U.S. Catholic's Managing Editor Heidi Schlumpf said, "Tonight we are honored to recognize the first female head of the U.S. National Review Board," explaining to the the 200 friends and well wishers gathered at a public reception that Burke had been selected for the prestigious award because of "[her] bravery and for [her] love of the church, for [her] outspokenness and candid honesty" and for her leading role in protecting America's children and in encouraging "laypeople to take responsibility for their church." The award is being presented to Judge Burke in recognition of her distinguished service on the National Review Board, which was charged with implementing reforms related to the U.S. clergy sexual abuse crisis. As one of three core members originally tapped for the board, Judge Burke later served for 17 months as the board's interim chair before finishing her term in November 2004. Accepting the award, Burke said, "I believe that our common heritage as U.S. Catholics has never been more important, more dramatic, or more threatened. We live in precarious times, not just because of terrorism, global warming, and urban street crime, but because of a steady loss of confidence in the direction of our church, the truthfulness of its leadership, the role of the laity, and the persistent inability of the church to recognize our Catholic place in the modern world." Noting how "the worst crisis in the history of the church in our nation" had brought the American hierarchy to a "breaking point at which they finally went to the laity of America to ask for direction and help," Burke called on Catholic laity to continue to take a stronger role in overseeing church affairs. "I do not for a minute believe that the bishops would have adopted the charter and norms for dealing with the abuse crisis or permit the unprecedented freedom that our original board enjoyed in getting to the bottom of the crisis had they not had their backs to the wall," said Burke. "Nor do I believe that without continuous scrutiny by the laity will the bishops refrain from tinkering with the burdens of justice and accountability placed on them by the charter." "We are proud to be giving this award to the first female head of the U.S. bishops' National Review Board as well as an accomplished jurist," said Claretian Father John Molyneux, publisher of U.S. Catholic magazine. "In the midst of a very difficult time in our church, Judge Burke gave her honest and candid opinion to the U.S. bishops. She has also been vocal with a continuing call to lay Catholics—women and men—to become more actively responsible for their church. Burke's example as a woman of strength and integrity, her love for and commitment to the church, and her willingness to speak her mind publicly exemplify what the U.S. Catholic Award was founded to honor." Since beginning her work on the board, Burke has been a tireless and outspoken advocate of episcopal accountability, never shying away from confronting bishops who were unwilling to cooperate with the process initiated by the bishops' themselves. At the same time she has always been careful to acknowledge the unprecedented nature of both the crisis and the review board. The board had numerous accomplishments under Burke's leadership, including the creation of the bishops' Office for Child and Youth Protection, an audit of diocesan compliance with the Dallas charter, and the commissioning and release of studies documenting the extent and causes of sexual abuse of children by Catholic clergy. Since 1978, the editors of U.S. Catholic have been recognizing important contributions of women in the Catholic Church with the annual U.S. Catholic Award. Judge Burke joins a distinguished group of recipients, including last year's recipient, Sister Joyce Rupp, O.S.M., and Sister Helen Prejean, C.S.J., Sister Dianna Ortiz, O.S.U., the Erie Benedictine Sisters, Diana Hayes, the Catholic Theological Society of America, and Sister Joan Chittister, O.S.B.
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