St Stanislaus vs Archbishop Burke

Hello:

Way back in August, I made a passing reference to the board of St. Stanislaus parish being threatened with excommunication by Archbishop Raymond Burke. About a week ago Burke pulled the trigger on the equivalent of an ecclesiastical nuclear strike and excommunicated the 6 person Board of directors and Reverend Marek Bozek, the Polish priests the parish has hired.

What a stir! For a non-Catholic like myself with a fascination with pagentry, hierarchy and history; this stuff makes me say "Pass the popcorn, what do we have to drink". I apologize that I haven't followed this more closely at Dark Glass - but I've been busy this season the same as all of you. Besides to actually add anything worth reading, I'd have to become a junior investigative reporter and who has time for that. Instead, I think I will just be gossipy. I'll mention a few choice tidbits and then point you to articles that have details.

What's this all about?

• The St Stanislaus parish has had an older form of organization since it was founded. The arrangement is now unusual and may have been the last Church still held this way. In a nut shell, the Church and its resources were owned by the Board of Directors NOT the Bishop. Archbishop Raymond Burke, ordered them to relinguish control and conform to normal standards. The Board said "NO, You're closing parishes left and right while all over the country assets are being sold off to pay sexual abuse scandals. We're sitting on several million dollars and would like to keep it that way." [not an actual quote]

What does the Vatican have to say?

• "He's your Bishop, you have to do what he says." [not an actual quote]

Then what happened?

• Burke pulled the parish priests and forebid anyone from administering Sacraments there. He threatened to excommunicate the Board if the didn't comply.
• The Board stuck their tongues out (figuratively speaking) and brought in anonymous priests with concealed identities (remember the Fox special with the masked magician?) to perform services.
• Burke said "I mean it, I'll pull the trigger! You must respect mah a-thor-atee."[me paraphrasing]
• Then the Board hired a Priest (Reverend Bozek) from Poland who was living in Springfield, MO.

And then? Burke screamed "Schism! You're all excommunicated." [yep, paraphrased]

How have the people of St. Louis responded? Well 2,000 people attended Rev. Bozek's first Mass at the parish (Christmas Eve). More than 600 stood in the parish hall and watched via simulcast.

Whew, anything else? Well, Bozek told the congregation in his second Mass Christmas Day that he left Poland because of unfounded allegations that he was a "promiscuous homosexual" [that's a real quote]. Calls to his old seminary in Olsztyn indicated that he had been ridden out on a rail. Bozek says he has a letter from Archbishop Piszcz that reccommends his character.

What happens if a Catholic receives the sacraments from Bozek? "To participate knowingly and willingly in the celebration of the Mass by a suspended priest is gravely sinful" [A real quote].

I think that the St. Louis Post Dispatch has done a great job of covering this. You can read their articles on St Stanislaus vs Archbishop Raymond Burke for yourself and get the details. The best thing I have to reccommend from Liguori Publications' titles is Power and the Papacy: The People and Politics Behind the Doctrine of Infallibility written by Robert McClory. Not exactly on topic but it touches on some of the more intense political issues within the Church and sheds some perspective on the St Stanislaus issue.

Well, I'll try to revisit this topic as things continue to develop. I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas with their loved ones.

Peace,

P. Del Ricci - Dark Glass