Bishop’s Threat Creates Furor....Jan 2005

Polish-American Journal
www.polamjournal.com

     Editor’s note: St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has threatened to withhold the sacraments, including Communion, from board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in a dispute over control of the church. The board members are Robert Zabielski, John Baras, William Bialczak, Edward Florek, Stanley Novak and Joseph Rudawski.

     Built in the 1890s by Polish immigrants, St. Stanislaus, located at 1407 N. 20th St., has always been run by its own parishioners. The archbishop at the time, Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick, gave the people full right to run the church themselves. He signed the church to them, writing that it would be in their possession and under their control forever.

This, according to Archbishop Burke, is a violation of church law.

     Parishioners appealed to Rome, which sided with the Archdiocese.

     “I warn you that your refusal to comply with the legitimate directives of the Holy See and me, your Archbishop, carries with it, the punishment of ‘interdict or other just penalties’”, wrote Burke in a letter to the board members. The archbishop set a date of Feb. 4 for the board to comply with his directives.

     Burke’s letter was sent just days before St. Stanislaus parishioners were to vote on whether to hand control of the parish to the archdiocese. (See cover story.)



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     “I consider it (denying sacraments) a badge of honor. I’m sticking up for what is right. Pedophiles in this church are transferred from diocese to diocese while good faithful people are excommunicated.”

­­---St. Stanislaus board member Robert Zabielski, who said he was not surprised to receive the letter.

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     The archbishop’s spokesman, Jamie Allman, speaking of the penalty threatened against the St. Stanislaus board said: “It might be rare, but it’s even rarer for a board of directors to hijack a Catholic church.” Give me a break! “If it weren’t for the board of St. Stanislaus and like-minded parishioners, there wouldn’t even be a church to hijack.” “It seems to me the only hijacking attempt here is from the archdiocese wanting the $9 million in parish assets.”

--- Becky Elfrink from her letter to the editor of the St. Louis Post Disparch, Jan. 6, 2005.

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     “Archbishop Raymond Burke should repent of his recent behavior toward the board of St. Stanislaus Church, admit his errors and apologize to the board and to the archdiocese. His actions regarding the good, harmless people of the parish and his interdict against the board are nothing more than bare-knuckles brawling for control. “It is a scandal for a representative of Jesus Christ, who preached a message of mercy, humility and peace, not canon law. “And Burke needs to find a new spokesman. Jamie Allman’s comments are not conciliatory, but inflammatory.”

--- Kevin McGrane to the editor of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Jan 6, 2005

….from Polish American Journal, February-2005

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