Cardinal Raymond Burke broke his silence last week regarding the unfortunate appearance of his name on a list of senior prelates who received monetary gifts from Michael J Bransfield, the disgraced former Bishop of Wheeling-Charleston. Bransfield is accused of sexual misconduct with adults and financial impropriety, including the use of diocesan funds to reimburse himself for the gifts he made to clerics — many of them high-ranking churchmen. (Bransfield denies misusing the funds and the allegations of misconduct.)