St. Louis Archdiocese and St. Stanislaus reach settlement that makes church independent
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I thank George Bouchey for this link. I have taken the liberty of reproducing George’s comments below.
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It was all so very unnecessary.
And it was SOSO.
RCC. Roman Catholic Crap. Brought on by The Rigali, who was AB from
‘94 to ‘02, before he graced the Philly AD with his pastorality.
Lets hope the Secret Settlement Surfaces! It would be interesting to know
what the RCC wants no one to know.
And after what the parish has been through, why would they want to be
known as Roman Catholic, when they are more Catholic than the
Roman Church!
Kudos to St. Stans!
pax . george
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St. Louis Archdiocese and St. Stanislaus reach settlement that makes church independent
http://www.stltoday.com/content/tncms/live/54
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Laurie Skrivan
Parishioner Mary Ellen Meyerhoff congratulates Rev. Marek Bozek, the former Roman Catholic priest who has led St. Stanislaus since parishioners hired him in 2005, about the news regarding the settlement between the St. Louis Archdiocese and St. Stanislaus after Ash Wednesday Mass on Wednesday Feb. 13, 2013, at St. Stanislaus in St. Louis. “It’s a relief. We have a neat opportunity to determine our future,” said Meyeroff. Photo by Laurie Skrivan,lskrivan@post-dispatch.com
12 hours ago • http://www.stltoday.com/search/?l=50&sd=desc&s=start_time&f=html&byline=By Tim Townsend%0Attownsend%40post-dispatch.com%0A314-340-8221By Tim Townsend ttownsend@post-dispatch.com 314-340-8221
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The St. Louis Archdiocese said Wednesday that it will end its appeal of a St. Louis Circuit Court decision handing over control of St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church.
In a joint statement issued in response to queries from the Post-Dispatch, attorneys for the archdiocese and St. Stanislaus said they had resolved their legal dispute.
“The Archdiocese will dismiss its appeal, and the judgment of the trial court is now final,” according to the statement.
As part of the agreement, St. Stanislaus agreed to abstain from representing itself as affiliated with the Roman Catholic church. Neither side made any payments to the other as part of the resolution, according to the statement. Attorneys said all other terms of the agreement were confidential.
“By bringing this legal dispute to an end, we pray that this will help to initiate a process of healing,” the statement said.
The Rev. Marek Bozek, the former Catholic priest who has led St. Stanislaus since parishioners hired him in 2005 in violation of canon law, said in an interview that he was “glad it’s over and done.”
“This won’t change anything besides making us breathe easier,” he said. “This statement only affirms the status quo of everything we’ve been since December ’05.”
Last March, St. Louis Circuit Court Judge Bryan Hettenbach ruled against the archdiocese in a sweeping decision affirming St. Stanislaus’ ownership of its property. The church is at 1413 North 20th Street.
Afterward, Archbishop Robert Carlson told reporters at a news conference that he would appeal Hettenbach’s decision “all the way to the Supreme Court if necessary.”
Carlson declined to be interviewed.
Kathleen Pesha, the archdiocese’s executive director of communications and planning, said in an email that “the lawyers retained by the Archdiocese of St. Louis are handling this matter completely.”
The modern battle between the church and the archdiocese went on for a decade, and the wider tumult is more than a half century old.
The legal battle for St. Stanislaus revolved around a 19th-century agreement with then-Archbishop Peter Kenrick that allowed the parish to govern its own finances. Its bylaws stated that a lay board would control the church’s property and assets while the archbishop would appoint the board and pastor.
Much of Hettenbach’s opinion centered on changes to the church’s bylaws in 2001 and 2004 that eventually allowed the board to eliminate the authority of the archbishop over those church decisions.
The archdiocese sued the St. Stanislaus Parish Corp. in 2008 to regain control of the church’s assets and property from the church’s lay board.
Hettenbach found that none of the language in the changed bylaws conflicted with the board’s purpose in the original articles of agreement.
“The Archbishop may own the souls of wayward St. Stanislaus parishioners, but the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation owns its own property,” the judge wrote in his decision.
At the time, Carlson said in a statement that Hettenbach had ignored the right of the Catholic Church to determine its own internal legal principles “and has substituted his own analysis of Church law.”
Despite the turn of events, Bozek said the congregation would not be celebrating, in deference to Ash Wednesday, “but the happy news has made our fasting a very rewarding experience.”
Tim Townsend is the religion reporter at the Post-Dispatch. Follow him on Twitter at@townsendreport.
13 Responses to “St. Louis Archdiocese and St. Stanislaus reach settlement that makes church independent”
February 15, 2013 at 1:25 am
This is so creepy. To begin with, title to all parish properties used to be in the name ot the parishioners, and all material matters where managed by them. Then about 100 plus years ago the bishops talked the people out of it under the pretense to lift the burden of administration off the laities shoulders.
It was Cardinal Raymond Burke now in Rome, who actually excommunicated the polish parhish, when he was the archbishop of St. Louis.
The bishops in Switzerland tried the same with the majority of parishes, who are under the control of the parish laity. In those parishes the bishops have no title to any parish property. Nor are they having their fingers in the finances of these parishes. But nobody has been excommunicated in Switzerland for not complying with the bishops and the pressure from the Vatican. They must know, that the church would loose most Swiss Catholics, if they would force the issue. Parishes there pay a yearly tax for diocesan administration, but will withold these, if they do not like their bishop. The Swiss example should get publicity around the world, in order tho wake up Catholics to shake off the tyranny of the hierarchs. There has to be a balance of power.
February 15, 2013 at 1:49 am
Once a priest, always a priest…good Catholic…bad Catholic, once a Catholic, always a Catholic.
February 15, 2013 at 2:54 am
not
February 15, 2013 at 3:14 am
I have my sources. Once a doxi, always a doxi…unless a foxy doxi, and then she is in a class all her own.
February 15, 2013 at 5:51 pm
Hey, I’ve got no complaints with the outcome. Everyone knows the Polaks always win.
Objectively speaking, of course.
February 16, 2013 at 9:50 am
Wake up and smell the vodka: Marek Bozek is infamous as a passionate gourmet of raw kielbasy; he has led them from the RCC to the LGBT and titters his mincing way to the bank.
February 16, 2013 at 11:23 am
William Henry,
What are you trying to say?
That Marek Bozek is gay?
Yes, he is.
So are lots of Roman Catholic cardinals. Examples include McCarrick and Wuerl.
So what’s your point?
Frank Douglas
February 16, 2013 at 1:15 pm
Mr. Douglas: Yes, that is my point. For over 50 years the Vatican had warned seminaries and novitiates not to accept homosexual candidates and such admonitions were summarily ignored. Now the Church is immersed in a pedophile scandal. As has been demonstrated, this is clearly not Rome’s fault but the crime of the “Lavender Mafia” within the American hierarchy that shielded these criminals who belonged to their “sorority.”
It is anathema in the United States to refer to the data but there is a correlation as documented by the New York Times. If 96% of the victims of sexual abuse possess the same apparatus as their assailants that means that they are of the “same sex” which, from the Greek derivation, is rendered, “homosexual.” Americans have a phobia of being perceived as “running outside of the pack” and, thus, it is unpardonably politically incorrect to acknowledge this fact. No, I am not accusing Bozek of being a pederast; but, there is no doubt that he is a Polack carpetbagger who had, more-than-coincidentally, been expelled from the seminaries in Poland.
February 16, 2013 at 2:23 pm
Mr. Henry,
The Roman Catholic Church is an absolute monarchy with the pope at the top of the pyramid. The buck stops with the pope. All educated persons know or should know this.
Mr. Henry, you say, “the Vatican had warned seminaries and novitiates not to accept homosexual candidates and such admonitions were summarily ignored.”
Mr. Henry, since the pope is the absolute ruler of the church, why doesn’t he, who has the vast resources of the Curia and lots and lots of money at his disposal, do something about it? Do you think the next pope will clean this mess up?
Mr. Henry, you say, “ Now the Church is immersed in a pedophile scandal.” Hr. Henry, the church has been immersed in a pedophile scandal for centuries (email me and I’ll send you information so you can keep yourself up to date with the facts about priests raping kids for centuries), and the popes can’t seem to do anything about it (I think they could and can if they really wanted to).
Mr. Henry, you say, “As has been demonstrated, this is clearly not Rome’s fault but the crime of the “Lavender Mafia” within the American hierarchy that shielded these criminals who belonged to their “sorority.” Mr. Henry, nothing of the sort has been demonstrated. Where did you get this claptrap from? Bill Donahue? Tim Dolan? The scandal is worldwide, not just confined to the USA. Read/google stories about priests raping kids in Ireland, Australia, the Netherlands, Germany, etc., etc. The New York Times is a good source for this information about lives ruined by pedophile priests and bishops who cover their crimes up so even more kids are raped by these same priests. Mr. Henry, have you seen the HBO documentary “Mea Maxima Culpa”?.
You say, “It is anathema in the United States to refer to the data but there is a correlation [correlation of what to what?] as documented by the New York Times [Is the New York Times a primary source of your opinions? If so, perhaps you read this paper selectively.]. If 96% of the victims of sexual abuse possess the same apparatus [do you mean gender?; please clarify] as their assailants that means that they are of the “same sex” which, from the Greek derivation, is rendered, “homosexual.” Americans have a phobia of being perceived as “running outside of the pack” and, thus, it is unpardonably politically incorrect to acknowledge this fact.”
Mr. Henry, what fact? Please clarify.
Mr. Henry, you say, “No, I am not accusing Bozek of being a pederast; but, there is no doubt that he is a Polack (Mr. Henry, this pejorative is offensive to me, an American of Polish descent) carpetbagger who had, more-than-coincidentally, been expelled from the seminaries in Poland.”
Mr. Henry, what does Bozak’s seminary record have to do with this discussion? Please clarify.
Frank Douglas
February 16, 2013 at 3:25 pm
Mr. Douglas: Concomitantly, as I proffer condolences on your ethnicity, I congratulate you on your literacy. I warmly suggest, however, that you reread, ever-so-slowly, my contribution to discern the answers to all your objections, at least implicitly; perhaps, indeed, it would prove more salutary if you were to ask someone to read them to you but, again, ploddingly. Furthermore, this entire blog in its very origin, spirit, and individual presentations reinforces, most powerfully, each and every consideration I have advanced.
February 16, 2013 at 3:43 pm
Mr. Henry,
Thank you for your comments.
Feel free to comment on my blog in the future.
Frank Douglas
February 16, 2013 at 5:55 pm
OMG…a papist out of control…and even kryptonite doesn’t work where reason has failed.
February 17, 2013 at 9:54 pm
Does it really matter what gender identity anyone is anymore? Those are the least of our worries. The Church in St. Louis has struggled for many years with hatred and oppression. Burke did this to St. Stans…such a pompous fool to think that he is any better than anyone else and that he is the epitome of Roman Catholicism. As they say…the sorrier the ass, the more putrid the air is surrounding it! Can you imagine him up against the girl with the dragon tatoo…he would never survive to tell about it?!!!!!