Canon lawyer Ed Peters offers his perspective on the legal situation regarding St. Stanislaus parish and its new priest. He notes that Bozek has only been ordained three years, but thinks he knows better than his own bishop, the archbishop over St. Stanislaus, and the Vatican in how to deal with this difficult situation. Peters also warns Bozek that he should be worried about more than the censure and excommunication he’s received already.
That’s because with those penalties, as long as he seeks reconciliation with Archbishop Raymond Burke and his own bishop, those can be lifted. But with contumacy for an excommunication imposed for an act of schism, he could be dismissed from the clerical state, and only the Vatican can reverse that. Even then, such reversals are very rare.
Bozek himself acknowledges that Burke is on solid legal ground, but claims to be following a higher law.
To help explain his actions, Bozek quotes from part of Canon 1752, the final law in the Catholic church’s law code, which reads in part, “the salvation of souls, which must always be the supreme law in the Church, is to be kept before one’s eyes.”
“I think it’s significant that the code ends that way,” he said. “There are many canons, and I am breaking some of them. But to me, in that last canon, the word ‘supreme’ means it precedes all the other ones. To me, it’s about saving the souls of the people of St. Stanislaus.”
Sorry, but you don’t get to decide that. Bozek has set himself up as the final arbiter in all things. He decides which laws apply and which don’t. He has become his own pope.
Signs of immaturity?
He also comes off as very immature, even for a 30-year-old priest ordained three years.
Bozek also knows he may come off as high-minded. “My bishop told me I’m naive and idealistic, and I am,” he said. “I’m 30 and I have the right to be. If there’s a time to be idealistic, it’s now. Jesus was idealistic. He did things that were illegal but right. If we give up on our ideals, what are we left with?”
No, you’re a priest and you have no right to naivete. You have a duty to be an adult and to be obedient and to obey the law. Jesus wasn’t just idealistic. He is God. By definition any law that Jesus broke could not have been a just law, since Jesus is Justice himself.
It also sounds like Bozek has a bit of a Messiah complex.
As expected, other rumors and allegations are beginning to fly around as well. There is no solid evidence for any of this so I won’t comment on them. But it wouldn’t surprise me.
Dom:
I saw those allegations a few days ago… Warszawiak is from Poland and has information that we do not have, it appears.
He has indicated to me that if one wishes to confirm the veracity of the information about Marek Bozek that one should contact Fr. Jan Guzowski, former rector of Hosianum seminary at the time Marek was asked to leave.
Information on how to contact Fr. Guzowski is here:
http://www.uwm.edu.pl/tmor/a_kadra/kad_2.htm
But I can’t read Polish…I have forwarded this to a friend who is one of the group of humble faithful Catholics who have received another parish from Archbishop Burke for the Polish apostolate.
I question your decision to provide a link to “rumors and allegations.” If “they’re out there,” you don’t need to make them known; if they later prove true, that will be soon enough to air them.
A good rule is to ask: why is it necessary for me to air this derogatory information? Even if something is true, there has to be a good reason to air it—and in this case, I’m not sure what that would be. Not to mention that, in this case, the rumors etc. may not even be true!
The truth about Fr. Bozek needs to be brought into the light, quickly, before any more souls follow him into error.
Well, Dominic, better they have him than us, if it has to come to that. Swishy priests we don’t need. We’ve got a couple thousand too many already.
Fr. Fox,
You may be right. I put it there because the information is out there and I’m trying to confirm if any of it’s true. One of my reporters is following up on it now. Should I have waited instead of linking to it? Maybe.