Here’s the latest on the breakaway parish in St. Louis, St. Stanislaus Kostaka. A letter to the editor in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch extolled the virtues of St. Stanislaus, and more specifically the Polish priest who broke obedience to his own bishop in Cape Girardeau and Archbishop Raymond Burke in St. Louis to serve at the whim of the lay board of the parish. It’s no surprise that the people lauding this move are members of ... Voice of the Faithful.
Meanwhile, Archbishop Burke has apparently had enough. He has officially declared the parish in schism.
The members of the board of directors refuse to accept the governance of the parish by the Roman Catholic Church, insisting that they remain devout Roman Catholics by governing the parish themselves. They have, thereby, broken the bond of communion with the Apostolic See and the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
Burke also dispels the myth that he was only after their money, citing canon law that says the goods and assets of a parish belong to it.
Regarding money, there has never been a question that the money and all the other temporal goods of the parish belong to the parish, as is the case with every other parish in the archdiocese. I have no authority to seize the funds of any parish for any purpose, no matter how noble.
Hiring the Polish priest was the final straw
This is from Archbishop Burke’s column in the St. Louis Review:
“Finally, since the civil legal control of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish belongs exclusively to the members of the board of directors of the civil corporation and they have chosen to lead the members of the parish into schism, I will be obliged to suppress St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish.”
…that’s the term that is used when a parish is closed, right? What does this mean for St. Stanishlaus, since it isn’t closing? I’m confused.
As a Roman Catholic parish, St. Stanislaus will cease to exist. It will be suppressesed. A schismatic group calling itself St. Stanilaus parish will continue to use the building and claim to be Catholic, but it will not be a Catholic parish.
It’s a canonical distinction. When your parish goes into schism it is no longer a Catholic parish.
Domenico, thank you for explaining that to me.
Just caught an interesting snippet in today’s StL Post article.
“Krasnicki said Bozek was traveling in Peru, and the priest’s cellular phone was not accepting calls Friday.”
Krasnicki is spokesman for the errant board, referring to Marek Bozek, the priest they just hired.
travelling in Peru??
Here’s another version, of the story from the Springfield News Leader, with some additional information.
Apparently the wayward Fr. Bozek can’t be reached on his cell phone but he is getting email down in Peru while he “recharges” his “batteries”.
We all know God’s peace, universal power, and the personal growth afforded therein is something no human would ever be able to sever.
Burke can attempt it, but he can’t severe someone’s connection to the Divine- as much as he really seems to like the idea or pretends he can.
This really reinforces what I posted just now under the previous St. Stan post in early December…
And I’ll say it again – Dzienki Bogu Ze Jestem Polski!!
Hell is a real place and the road to it is wide and well paved. There are too many who have severed their link to him. It is not the archbishop who has broken communion, but the recalcitrant people of St. Stanislaus.
God’s greatest gift to us is our free will. We are free to love Him or reject Him. Too many reject Him and do so by rejecting His Church.
Oh and I place my Catholicism far above my national heritage or place of birth. Only my faith will save me, not a country or cultural.
As you might imagine, the local newspaper’s on-line forums have been burning up with anti-Catholic tirades written by people who have no interest and no clue as to what’s really happened.
You have to hand it to the schismatics at St. Stan’s. They were caught with their hands in the till and by extremely skillful manipulation of the local media, have managed to deflect the blame onto the person who caught and exposed them.
No public figure in my memory has been the subject of such a non-stop barage of hatred as our Archbishop. Please pray for him.