Most Rev. Raymond L. Burke has served on CUF’s episopal advisory council since 1999. He has written a number of articles for Lay Witness magazine and was a contributing author to Servants of the Gospel: Essays by American Bishops on Their Role as Shepherds of the Church. In addition, Archbishop Burke is serving as the honorary chairman of CUF’s capital campaign “Lay Witnesses for Christ: Faithful to the Mission . . . Focused on the Future” for CUF’s new headquarters.

Archbishop Burke attended Holy Cross Seminary in La Crosse, Wisconsin. He then attended The Catholic University of America in Washington, DC, where he studied as a Basselin Scholar from 1968–71. He studied at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome from 1971–75 and was ordained to the priesthood by Pope Paul VI in 1975 at St. Peter’s Basilica.

Archbishop Burke's first assignment was as associate rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph the Workman in La Crosse. He later took on the additional duty of teaching religion at Aquinas High School in La Crosse. In 1980, Archbishop 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, Archbishop Burke returned to Rome when Pope John Paul II named him Defender of the Bond of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura. He is the first American to hold this position on the Church's highest court.

After five years at this post, the Holy Father appointed him Bishop of the Diocese of La Crosse. He was ordained to the episcopacy by Pope John Paul II in 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.

In 2003, then-Bishop Burke was named Archbishop of St. Louis. He was installed in St. Louis on January 26, 2004, the fifth anniversary of Pope John Paul II's historic pastoral visit to the archdiocese.

In 2006, Pope Benedict XVI appointed Archbishop Burke to the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura, where he had previously served as Defender of the Bond.

Visit the Archdiocese of St. Louis website at www.archstl.org.