Cardinal Raymond L. Burke, prefect of the Supreme Court of the Apostolic Signature and a former archbishop of St. Louis, made his remarks Oct. 23 in a written submission to the afternoon session of the world Synod of Bishops on the new evangelization.
The cardinal said that a secular version of "antinomianism" -- the belief that grace exempts Christians from obedience to moral law -- is "among the most serious wounds of society today," responsible for the legalization of "intrinsically evil" actions such as abortion, embryonic stem-cell research, euthanasia and same-sex marriage, and for the denial of conscience exemptions and other infringements of religious liberty.
"This antinomianism embedded in civil society has unfortunately infected post-council ecclesial life," he said.
"Excitement following the council, linked to the establishment of a new church which teaches freedom and love, has strongly encouraged an attitude of indifference toward church discipline, if not even hostility," he said.
"The reforms of ecclesial life which were hoped for by the council fathers were, therefore, in a certain sense, hindered if not betrayed."
The cardinal's remarks to the synod echoed a much longer address he delivered Aug. 30 in Nairobi, to the Canon Law Society of Kenya.
In that speech, the cardinal linked a breakdown in internal discipline with theologians' interpretations of Vatican II as a radical break with church tradition -- an approach that he said encouraged contempt for canon law.