Ex-Ald. Edward M. Burke relied on the Catholic card to try to soften the sentence in a corruption case

Shortly after former Ald. Edward Burke was indicted on corruption charges in 2019, church officials said they would wait to see if he was convicted before deciding whether to return a $10,000 donation, one of his campaign funds, to a Catholic charity overseen by the Archdiocese of Chicago.

“We are awaiting the outcome of the case before making a decision on the donation,” Paula Waters, a spokeswoman for Cardinal Blase Cupich, said at the time.

Since then, Burke's campaign committees have reported an additional $50,000 in spending to Catholic organizations — and Cupich aides won't say whether they returned any money to Burke after his December conviction on racketeering, bribery and attempted extortion, or if they plan to do so.

Catholic groups have relied on Burke's campaign money over the years — with $100,000 contributed by Burke's political funds in the three years before his indictment. More recently, Burke has leaned on them to try to convince U.S. District Judge Virginia Kendall to be lenient with him when it comes time to determine how long he should go to prison, if at all.

Of the more than 200 letters of support sent to Kendall's court before it sentenced him Monday to two years in prison for corruption — it could have sent him back for eight years or more — 25 came from Catholic priests, nuns and lay figures in the church.

They shared stories about Burke's charitable deeds, his commitment to Catholic schools and causes, or his experience as a practicing Catholic and longtime seminarian.

One of Burke's attorneys said during the sentencing hearing that Burke was essentially a “priest without a collar.”

It is unclear whether Burke's lawyers used the Catholic card specifically to appeal to the religious sensibilities of a judge who attended a Catholic high school and whose husband is the president of a Catholic school in Waukegan. Burke's lawyers declined to comment.

Burke's wife, former Illinois Supreme Court Justice Anne Burke, invoked Kendall's faith in a letter in which she cited the judge's participation in a leadership event for Catholic women.

“Compassion,” you said, “is a value from your Catholic upbringing that you draw on and pray about before you make the difficult decisions you face in your work,” Burke wrote. “I pray that you will call upon the Holy Spirit to grant you compassion as you decide our future.”

It's unclear whether the letters from Catholic figures had an impact on Kendall's decision regarding Burke's sentence, which also included a $2 million fine. Kendall declined to comment.

But she referred in court to the good deeds conveyed by Burke's supporters, saying: “These are very personal acts that have nothing to do with authority or public office.” »

The Rev. Dan Brandt, Chicago police chaplain, wrote to Kendall: “I cannot say enough good things about Ed's rich and active life of faith, his good character and his love of neighbor. »

Years earlier, Brandt had spoken out against the imprisonment of then-Mayor Richard M. Daley's patronage leader Robert Sorich, calling his corruption conviction a “miscarriage.”

The Rev. Ken Velo, assistant to the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, wrote: “Your Honor, you are a fair and just judge. Knowing this, I hope that this good man, Edward Burke, is given every possible consideration.

The Rev. John Canary, who had served as vicar general under the late Cardinal Francis George, wrote that he was a longtime friend of Burke, with whom he had attended high school.

“It would be a blessing if he could have some quality time left with his family.” »

Milwaukee Archbishop Jerome Listecki, a priest for years in Chicago, wrote: “In my appeal for clemency, I hope that his charitable generosity and the character of his civic life will be taken into consideration. »

Some of the Catholic figures writing letters to Burke were leaders of groups that benefited from his campaign money, including Misericordia, which is based on the North Side and serves adults with mental and physical disabilities.

Burke's campaign funds — funded by donors who often did business with the mayor or wanted to do so — have brought in more than $3,000 in donations to Misericordia over the past five years, records show, and more than $100,000 total over the past 25 years.

The president of St. Rita High School, who is a Catholic deacon, and, separately, an Augustinian priest who previously led the South Side institution, each wrote on Burke's behalf.

The school has received a total of nearly $30,000 over the years from its political committees.

Burke's campaign funds have made 14 donations of $200 this year alone to St. Bruno Catholic Church at 4751 S. Harding Ave., with nearly $34,000 given over the past two decades.