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Perspective, PNCC,

On St. Stanislaus in St. Louis

From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, James Rygelski writes on the St. Stanislaus Church in St. Louis in ‘Do widzenia,’ St. Stanislaus Church

It is a great reflection on what might have been with a little bit of mutual charity and living with the wisdom of original intents in relation to the parishioners ownership of its property. of course this is the wisdom of the Polish National Catholic Church which maintains its catholicity and its democratic tradition.

I never was a registered member of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish. But the Roman Catholic church founded by Polish immigrants at 20th Street and Cass Avenue was always a part of my life.

My father graduated from its grade school. My maternal grandmother was a longtime parishioner. I grew up in St. Leo Parish, a few blocks west, and we sometimes joined my grandmother for Mass at St. Stanislaus. While registered in my geographical parish as an adult, I occasionally attended St. Stanislaus, and not just the festivals. When the communist government in Poland declared martial law on a cold Sunday morning in December 1981, the appropriate place for me to attend Mass that day was St. Stanislaus.

There was an aura inside St. Stanislaus’ red brick exterior befitting a house of God, enhanced by the inspirational murals, particularly the one behind the main altar depicting Christ before He is nailed to the cross, and augmented by the singing of Polish hymns. But despite its cathedral-like proportions, the church also afforded the solitary kneeling worshipper an intimate visit with the Lord.

For nearly a decade, St. Stanislaus’ lay leaders battled the St. Louis Archdiocese for the church’s property. The fight extended to the parish’s heart and soul. Last week the archdiocese dropped its legal claims. St. Stanislaus Kostka Church is now a denominational free agent, something its members didn’t want when the conflict began. Archbishop Robert Carlson’s recent and sincere reconciliation efforts came too late, after the moat around St. Stanislaus became impassable during the tumultuous reign of his predecessor, Raymond Burke.

Full disclosure: I was editor of the St. Louis Review, the archdiocese’s weekly, when the rival forces stopped posturing and started firing. I asked my reporters to get both sides, until word filtered down that we were to publish only Archbishop Burke’s version. I obeyed but felt like a Polish Benedict Arnold, though I hoped always for a resolution that would keep St. Stanislaus Roman Catholic. Still do.

This was a tragedy in two acts. In Act One, most worshippers – Catholic or otherwise – united in opposing Archbishop Burke’s request that the parish’s lay board of directors turn over the property without his giving written assurance that the church would stay open. Those who declared loyalty to him, mostly recent Polish immigrants who’d had tiffs with the older Polish-Americans over the years, were given their own parish near the Anheuser-Busch brewery. In Act Two, the lay board’s hiring of a renegade Polish priest to make St. Stanislaus a breakaway parish deeply divided both the board and the congregation. Some quit the board and joined the archdiocese in lawsuit to reclaim the parish for the archdiocese.

But there was more to the conflict than just an archbishop trying to take the money and property of a small north St. Louis parish that had been granted a unique contract by Archbishop Peter Kenrick in 1891. That agreement gave the archbishop the right to appoint the pastor but gave the parish’s lay board ownership of the church property and control of its finances. A teacher could fashion a lively course around the resulting legal/ethical issues.

The archdiocese coveted the St. Stanislaus land in 2003 while reorganizing all archdiocesan property to avoid being crippled financially if a jury ruled against it in a massive clergy sex-abuse case. Perhaps if ordained Catholic leaders across the country had properly removed the predators masquerading as priests and prevented the scandal they hushed over during the previous decades the St. Louis Archdiocese wouldn’t have been interested in reclaiming a few acres at 1413 N. 20th St.

The archdiocese’s 2008 lawsuit to restore the original agreement, which it dropped last week, came a few years too late. If it was going to sue, it should have when the St. Stanislaus board wrongly tinkered with the 1891 contract by cutting the pastor and archbishop out of the loop on important matters, which was before Archbishop Burke arrived. That’s when the archdiocese’s lawyers could have said, “If you expect us to play by the 1891 rules you’ll have to also.” Still, one Catholic organization suing another disregards what Christ told His disciples about reconciling with people before going to court (Matthew 5:25).

If some St. Stanislaus board members altered the agreement in hopes of saving the parish amid rumors that the archdiocese would try to sell the property to developers, they only made the situation worse. Nevertheless, they and the congregation wanted only to ensure that the parish remained open, a desirefor which they can’t be faulted. The archdiocese has closed many city parishes abandoned by white people who fled to the suburbs; St. Stanislaus parishioners moved but kept coming back and kept it viable, particularly in the 1970s, when rival gang violence outside left bullet holes in the church walls.

Many St. Stanislaus parishioners descended from the immigrants who’d built and maintained that parish with their own money, labor and faith, which is what those attending St. Stanislaus have done since. This was shown in the magnificent church restoration in the late 1970 the parishioners and friends fully financed on their own, and their fully financing the decade-old Polish Heritage Center on the parish grounds. My grandmother and parents donated to the former, and I to the latter.

Some have criticized St. Stanislaus people for “disobedience to authority” in not turning over the property when first Archbishop Justin Rigali then Archbishop Burke requested it. Yet the parishioners were engaged in no collective sinful, immoral or heretical activity before the issue arose. If they had and been ordered to cease, they’d have no recourse but to comply, and no sympathy from many of us if they hadn’t. Archbishop Burke and his predecessors didn’t like the 1891 agreement, but it was valid. When the archdiocese has acquired property for its churches and schools, it’s had to comply with the law. When it comes to property, to give God what is His, the church hierarchy has first had to give Caesar what is his.

Archbishop Burke could have granted them in writing the assurance that the parish would stay open if parishioners could continue financing its operation. It was a unique situation, and granting that assurance would have neither affected other parishes nor undermined his authority. It might have gained him respect as a shepherd making sure that the 100th sheep not be separated from the other 99 (Luke 15:4-7) rather than bringing him criticism for threatening people with eternal damnation over a few acres.

Poles have been devoted to the Catholic Church. Their liturgical language may have been Polish, but rites and beliefs were always fully Roman Catholic. They’ve rebelled when they perceived that ruling clergy got in the way of that devotion. There’s precedent for the St. Stanislaus action: some Polish immigrants in America in the 1890s founded the Polish National Catholic Church to protest what they thought was the ruling Irish clergy’s indifference to them. A local PNCC parish, Sts. Cyril and Methodius, operates near St. Stanislaus.

Last week’s legal victory of St. Stanislaus is nothing to celebrate, though. Regardless how Catholic St. Stanislaus looks, it’s now an orphan church. You can’t pretend to be something you’re not…

When the PNCC broke away, it established a creed close to that of Roman Catholicism and required its bishops, priests and lay people to follow it. St. Stanislaus’ freelance pastor, former priest Marek Bozek, can remake St. Stanislaus Kostka Non-Denominational Church as he wants it, with no ecclesiastical oversight or guidance. How will that church’s board replace him, if he leaves on his own or it fires him because it doesn’t like what he’s doing? How many excommunicated Polish priests are there to fill that post?

Everything Else,

Vagante group falls apart

An older story, but worth noting for those who dabble in the vagante world.

This is why I am a firm believer in the Cyprianic definition of Orders. If one is in the Church you are ok, outside the Church, who knows… Also, to answer any response to those who would say that they are part of the “Old Catholic Union of Utrecht,” the Utrecht Union does not recognize any denomination in the United States or Canada other than the Episcopal Church. A list of member Churches is here.

The “Reformed Catholic Church,” a vagante group, fell apart in late November, early December amid a scandal involving its “Archbishop” and other “clergy.” The Columbus Dispatch covered the details in Catholicism offshoot dissolves after scandals:

An independent Catholic denomination with its global headquarters in Columbus has disbanded, having been torn apart after publicity about the criminal backgrounds of its top leader and a former priest.

Critics of former Archbishop Phillip Zimmerman of the Reformed Catholic Church say he covered up his 2005 felony conviction and allowed participation by a convicted child molester.

…

Zimmerman resigned last week because “I was becoming the focus of controversy,” he said Wednesday. The church’s bishops then voted to dissolve the denomination, which was founded in 2000.

Individual parishes probably will continue to operate. Most Reformed Catholic congregations rent space or meet in homes, and none received funding from the Columbus headquarters.

Zimmerman said he will continue to serve at the Ascension of Our Lord Basilica on E. Broad Street on the Near East Side, which will stay open. He wouldn’t rule out organizing a new denomination.

…

Its membership numbers are difficult to pin down, but Zimmerman has estimated the worldwide body at 200,000. A Web site lists six parishes and missions in Ohio; it’s unclear if they all have a physical address.

At the Ascension of Our Lord Basilica, the most-attended Sunday Mass might have 30 or 40 people, said Bishop Marcis Heckman, the church rector.

Zimmerman came under fire when e-mails and Internet postings pointed out that a convicted child molester and former priest was allowed to participate in the denomination’s annual meeting in October. Sean-Michael Lyons wore vestments and sat with priests during Masses.

Then, news of Zimmerman’s own conviction circulated online.

Zimmerman, whose full name is George Richard Phillip Zimmerman, pleaded guilty in 2005 to fraud for his role in a scheme that cost the U.S. Department of Education more than $533,000…

Per the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, this was the group that the Rev. Marek Bozek (could have developed something if he sought Catholicism rather than vagante fun and other nonsense) had reached out to for coverage.

Perspective, PNCC, Poland - Polish - Polonia

Closing the book on the Rev. Marek Bozek (and St. Stans)

From St. Louis’ FOX Affiliate KTVI: Controversial St. Stanislaus Pastor Marek Bozek Dismissed From Priesthood

Pope Benedict XVI has dismissed Marek Bozek from the clerical state. Therefore, he may no longer function as a priest, with the exception of offering absolution to the dying. The dismissal from the clerical state focuses solely on Bozek, and does not address the status of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Corporation…

As I had noted over multiple posts, the Rev. Bozek took his parish off the deep end, and as far from Catholicism as possible (excepting certain externals). I had initially hoped that the parish would look to the PNCC as its model. Unfortunately, they decided to retain all the extravagances so much a part of Rome’s Novus Ordo Ameri-church. Eucharistic ministers, communion in the hand, etc, would have made for a very poor fit with the PNCC. Those extravagances coupled with the Rev. Bozek’s liberal views will soon have St. Stans in the hands of the vagante’s (or as some parishioners hope — and what would likely be best — back under Rome).

The parishioner’s initial understanding of responsibilities was correct: lay control over the parish’s assets and a democratic lay structure, which were provided to them in response to the PNCC’s growth in St. Louis, and adherence to the Catholic faith. With that they would have been able to recognize themselves in the mirror. As it is, they and their ancestors (if they exist) will never know who their grandparents were, nor what they represented. In attempting to save their way of life they destroyed it — regardless of how things turn out.

Christian Witness, Perspective, PNCC,

Heard of, commented on…

A few things heard out and about with my comments.

What would you do?

Let’s say that you have a small PNCC parish with Holy Mass in the Polish language every Sunday because some of your parishioners have requested it (you also have Holy Mass in the English language).

Your typical attendance at this Holy Mass is about 40 to 60 people.

Now let’s say that you have a neighboring Roman Catholic parish that’s predominantly Polish-American. It is a large parish, with several thousand parishioners.

There is a core group of people who attend this Holy Mass at your PNCC parish and there are others who come and go. One Sunday a woman you do not know shows up for this Holy Mass. You don’t pay much attention, you welcome everyone.

Several Sundays later almost no one shows up for that Holy Mass.

What happened?

Well, the woman that showed up one Sunday was a Sister sent over by your neighboring Roman Catholic pastor. She attended Holy Mass for the express purpose of taking down the names of all the folks attending your Polish language Holy Mass. Later she personally visited each person/family that had attended Holy Mass in your parish and expressly told them that if they continue to attend Holy Mass at the local PNCC parish they were going to Hell (yes, literally).

Two months later those folks begin to wander back to the PNCC parish.

Now in my opinion the local R.C. pastor is not all that concerned about the eternal salvation of those 40 to 60 people. Frankly the approach taken is bad theology and bad practice.

Such an episode would be sad and unfortunate. Thankfully it is becoming less and less common.

In my experience this attitude toward PNCC parishes exists among older R.C. clergy who are in predominantly Polish-American parishes. The letters I personally received, marked with the return address of the Albany R.C. Diocese’s chancery, were threatening in a silly manner.

As I said, thankfully this doesn’t occur so much anymore.

There are traditionally Polish R.C. parishes and PNCC parishes that get along great (most in Buffalo, N.Y. and in Hamtramck for example).

On the whole the R.C. parishes that surround my parish are welcoming, open, and positive. They have supported many of our events and we support theirs. Those I have visited for family funerals have welcomed me.

People may ask about the dialog between the PNCC and the R.C. Church. Oddball examples like the one noted above are one of the very reasons dialog is necessary. Unless we talk any good that exists will be drowned out by the loudness of such unfortunate events.

So to the question: What would you do? I say pray and talk.

That full, immediate, and universal thing

The Young Fogey had a post on Ecclesiastical bibs and bobs. In it he notes, as he has elsewhere, on non-compliance among R.C. Bishops with the Bishop of Rome’s recent Motu Proprio.

At a recent gathering I heard R.C. clergy confirm that. Their Bishop has said in effect ‘no Latin masses.’

I previously noted that the Bishop of Rome’s exercise of full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction is a problem in ecumenical circles. No one, excepting the R.C. Church, believes that such power exists.

Thinking on this it occurred to me that the negative “non serviam” reaction of U.S. and Western European Bishops (the Central and Eastern ones will catch up soon) is a huge ecumenical problem as well.

The Bishop of Rome actually does believe and teach as his Church believes and teaches, but his brother bishops do not accept such teaching. They do not believe what they proclaim vis-í -vis the Pope.

How does this play out?

For sake of argument say that a Church were to come into union with the R.C. Church. That Church would have to accept that the Pope has full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction (unless the R.C. Church redefines itself – not likely). That Church might even see that, as some Roman Catholics posit, the Pope’s full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction is a rock against a changing world. That full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction is a protective and positive thing.

The Church coming into union with Rome accepts all that. Thus the dilemma.

If the Church coming into union accepts all that, then that Church will quickly find that a majority of its brother Bishops actively reject what they themselves have accepted. They will be in conflict (at least in the U.S., Canada, Australia, and Western Europe) with their fellow believers. They will be stuck between their neighbors day-to-day dismissal of the Pope and their adherence to what they proclaimed in achieving unity. Further, if they were to rely on the protection of the Pope as to the terms and conditions of their union, they would quickly find that the Pope could do little to help them. Their neighbors day-to-day actions would wear them down while they await the Pope’s protection (the bureaucracy would tie that up for two to three Papacies).

On the other hand, if the Church coming into union rejects all that, except on paper, expecting to live from day-to-day like the majority of its fellow R.C.’s do, then that Church lied to attain unity. That’s simply disingenuous and not a basis for any real unity.

The argument could be made that there are always a few bad bishops. I can accept that. But in the case of the U.S. and Western Europe it would seem that those who stand as adhering to the Pope’s decrees are far fewer than those who give a wink and a nod.

Even among those who live in active unity with the Pope, someone like Archbishop Raymond L. Burke from St. Louis, what is the extent of their unity. Is it unity because they personally like the Pope’s direction? What if the Pope were to tell Absp. Burke that Masons are great and to lift the excommunications from St. Stan’s? In all cases, unity with the Pope is only as good as the person’s humility before his full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction.

The argument could be made that so many disagreeable bishops should not be the yardstick by which unity is measured. After all, look at the extent of the Arianism. It could not withstand the power of the Church.

True, but that was a Church governed by Councils, with universal agreement, and further backed by the political means to suppress disagreement.

So for unity, what value in proclaiming and confessing if the majority of those you are coming into union with do not actively believe or live that which they verbalize (beyond the Bishops look at the congregation)?

None really. Thus the problem and dilemma of full, immediate, and universal jurisdiction. Thus the major hurdle to unity.

So we pray for unity and catechize.

We all need to teach and to try to reform what is broken. Maybe that is the first and best move toward unity.

Everything Else,

Miscellaneous

St. Stan’s gets a new website

St. Stanislaus Kostka in St. Louis, MO has a new website.

I like the layout (albeit with a few layout modifications needed, the pages are too wide and you have to scroll left to right). There’s less of an emphasis on conflict (although you can still find info about the conflict between the parish and the Diocese) and more emphasis on the practice of the faith and parish life.

Interestingly, in their links section they provide a link to St. Agatha’s, the Roman Catholic parish set up in opposition to St. Stan’s by Abp. Burke.

I’ve surpassed 500 items of comment spam

Akismet reports that it has filtered 502 items of comment spam to date. What a great plug-in!!!

Current Events, PNCC

Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam attacks PNCC

The folks at Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam are at it again.

Not satisfied with dealing with the problems in their own Archdiocese in St. Louis (St. Stan’s, Archbishop Burke, and all, which they have ranted on about incessantly in their ‘we’re more Catholic than thou’ way), they now have to take pot shots at the PNCC.

In commentary about some Roman Catholics from Toledo who have left the R.C. Church for the PNCC due to the Toledo Bishop’s closing of their parishes the AMDG folks said:

How many disgruntled individuals go about starting their own “church”? How many professed Catholics do this?

“Some people will say we are not Catholic. That is not true,” Father Nowak said after the service. “We are independent but Catholic.”

A defective understanding of what it means to be Catholic…A defective understanding which has been propagated among the faithful for years by many who have claimed to be Catholic and who have been allowed to spread their poison of dissent and heresy due, in part, to the failure of leadership to discipline those responsible for leading souls away from the Church.

And how exactly are the clergy in the PNCC, and former Roman Catholics to be disciplined by the leadership of the Roman Catholic Church?

I would imagine that the AMDG folks would have us all whipped, put in stocks, and then burned at the stake. Better yet, why not advise their leadership to start closing cemeteries too. Perhaps then they could dig up our R.C. ancestors and throw their bodies out —“ you know they must have had a hand in fomenting heresy.

I’ll even one up that. Since you’re so bent on punishing heretics why not drive down to St. Stan’s on Sunday and forment a pogrom. Give them a taste of the hell fire you so adamantly claim they are destined for.

The article on the Toledo situation is available at the Toledo Blade.

Of course the Toledo Diocesan spokesman gave the typical line:

The Rev. Michael Billian, episcopal vicar of the Toledo Catholic Diocese, said “it is important to note” that Father Nowak and the PNCC are “not affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Benedict XVI, or Bishop Blair.”

Uh, yup. That’s right. No mystery there. The PNCC never purports to be R.C. I think these people very well know that. That is what they are running from.

Did you ever notice that this is a stock statement? They pull it out when the SSPX shows up too.

A final word to the AMDG folks: Read Dominus Iesus, specifically IV, 17. Also check out the Code of Canon Law, the USCCB Ecumenical Directory, and the R.C. —“ PNCC Dialog Documents.

You will find that the members of the PNCC are not heretics (unless of course you consider Orthodox Christians heretics as well – which you probably do.)

So, get busy pulling the plank out of your own eye, while you sit inside your comfy parish, before you pull the speck out of the eyes of the folks in Toledo while they sit outside their closed churches.

Everything Else

St. Stan’s – What’s up?

As you may know, I have been following the events at St. Stanislaus Parish in St. Louis for some time. Because of my personal history with church closings and my membership in the PNCC the issues raised there resonate with me.

I came across this posting over at Catholic World News. They were posting on Fr. Marek Bozek’s appearance at the installation of a pastor in a St. Louis area church which styles itself as the —Ecumenical Catholic Church—

I cried. Sts. Clare and Francis, it appears, belongs to something called the Ecumenical Catholic Communion, which received its warrant of apostolic succession from the Old Catholics of Utrecht, along with an accredited degree in refrigerator repair at the same low price. SCF’s pastor, unsurprisingly, is a partnered gay man who used to be a Catholic priest, and who’s done a great job of coaching his flock that it is they who sit in judgment of the Gospel, and not vice-versa. Parishioner Jessica Rowley gushes:

Now just to clear things up for the sake of accuracy:

The —Ecumenical Catholic Church (ECC)— is not a member of the Old Catholic Churches in the Utrecht Union. Their membership directory makes no mention of the ECC. As a matter of fact, the only North American Church that was a member of Utrecht was the PNCC. Thankfully, once Utrecht went all innovative with gay marriages and women priests the PNCC said goodbye.

As of today, there is one North American parish, a former PNCC parish, in Toronto Canada, that is a parish under the jurisdiction of the International Bishop’s Conference of Utrecht.

Generally, these American churches are churches that style themselves as Old Catholic, Liberal Catholic, etc. and trace their way back to Episcopal vagantes like Joseph Rene Vilatte, Arnold Hans Mathew, Carmel Henry Carfora, William Francis Brothers, etal.

In my opinion, Fr. Bozek is reaching. I was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt, but he is so far outside the mainstream by cavorting with people who are heretics and self obsessed that I could not see myself as being supportive of that.

I began to get suspicious when I heard he was creating more —Special Ministers of Holy Communion— at his parish (nooooooooo!). That action, coupled with his statements about the ECC show him to be just another N.O. created ‘do whatever feels right’ cleric.

I would hope that the Board at St. Stans sets him back on the road to traditional Catholicism, be it Roman Catholic, PNCC, Orthodox, or SSPX. The faithfulness of the St. Stan’s parishioners will be harmed a second time by yet another clergyman who cannot see the beyond his own ego.

And, when did our catechesis begin turning out non-Catholics?

The following are excerpts from an article at the Times Newspapers Online about the ECC pastor’s installation, the history of this church, and Fr. Bozek’s appearance:

Sts. Clare & Francis
Ecumenical Catholics establish Parish in Webster Groves
by Fran Mannino

Sts. Clare and Francis Parish was welcomed into the fold of the Ecumenical Catholic Communion on Saturday, Feb. 25, during a celebratory Mass at its borrowed home, Evangelical United Church of Christ in Webster Groves.

“Inclusivity” is a word that resonates with the ECC, and is what distinguishes it from the more traditional Roman Catholic Church.

The clergy of the ECC are a prime example of these beliefs in action. The newly-elected pastor of Sts. Clare and Francis, Rev. Francis Krebs, is an openly gay former Roman Catholic priest. ECC presiding bishop Peter Hickman is the married father of five.
Sts. Clare and Francis parish currently has two women pursuing the deaconate and priesthood, Jessica Rowley and Lisa von Stamwitz.

In The Beginning

The ECC is a group of independent Catholic faith communities with roots in the Old Catholic Church. The Old Catholic Church separated itself from the Roman Catholic Church in 1870, in rejection of the First Vatican Council’s decree of Papal Infallibility, and other church dogma.

“Most of the clergy who are part of the ECC are former Roman Catholic clergy,” said Hickman. “I was raised in the American Baptist Church, and ordained a baptist minister in 1979.”

Three years later Hickman converted to Catholicism through the Old Catholic Church. He founded St. Matthew Church in Orange, Calif., in 1985, and became a bishop in 1996.

“I began to have contact with other independent Catholic faith communities and Roman Catholic clergy who wanted to look at another way of being Catholic,” he said. “That’s how the ECC came into being. We’re about 21 communities at this time across the nation, and continuing to grow.”

Sts. Clare and Francis

“Sts. Clare and Francis has been around in a formative stage for slightly more than a year,” said Rev. Krebs. “Our first eucharist together was on the 23rd of October, 2004.”

Inclusion is evident even in the name parishioners chose for their parish – that of St. Francis of Assisi, a man, and St. Clare of Assisi, a woman. The two were contemporaries in the 13th century, and are important figures in Catholic history.

In his former calling as a Roman Catholic priest, Krebs served as pastor of St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Soulard for 13 years. Although he left the priesthood in 1990, he missed the ministry.

“I’m a gay man, and have been in a committed relationship for the past seven-and-a-half years,” he said. “That’s a primary feature in my life, and I didn’t want to leave that. I thought, ‘How can I be a priest and still live as a gay man?'”

Krebs began searching for options. He looked to the Episcopal church, a community he admired, but soon found what he calls a “more cultural fit” within the Ecumenical Catholic Communion.

Krebs, along with another ECC priest, Bob Blattner, began forming a faith community that eventually became the parish of Sts. Clare and Francis. The congregation now has approximately 50 registered members, with about one-third of them coming from the Webster-Kirkwood area.

“We would love to be able to have our own space, and when we grow I presume we will,” said Krebs. “At the moment, we are very grateful to the Evangelical United Church of Christ.”

Sts. Clare and Francis draws parishioners from all over the St. Louis area. Acting president of the parish council, George von Stamwitz, lives in the Lafayette Square neighborhood of St. Louis.

“We’re trying to grow, develop ministries, and be a lively, functioning church,” he said. “Within the next couple of years, we hope to certainly have another ordained person, and also hope to have space of our own.”

…

“The Catholic Perestroika”

Bishop Hickman spends part of his time traveling the country, speaking to lay Catholics and Catholic reform organizations about the ECC.

While in St. Louis he spoke with local and visiting clergy, including Rev. Marek Bozek, pastor of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church.

Bozek was recently excommunicated from the Roman Catholic Church for his efforts to minister to the parishioners of St. Stanislaus, which is battling with the Archdiocese of St. Louis over control of the church.

“I wish Sts. Clare and Francis all the best, and congratulate the new pastor and the new candidates for ordination,” said Bozek. “I wish there was a way that Sts. Clare and Francis could be part of the Roman Catholic Church, because I believe that what they are doing is very Catholic.”

Bozek received a standing ovation from celebrants at the installation Mass for Sts. Clare and Francis, but said he was not there looking for options for either himself or St. Stanislaus.

“I hope and I pray that there will be a day when there will be room in the Roman Catholic Church for diverse communities such as Sts. Clare and Francis,” he said. “The purpose of theology is to bring God’s word to a new generation of people. The message does not change; how we proclaim this message and the means we use has to change.”

“It’s an issue of justice,” said Hickman. “The church needs to be a voice of hope for the future, rather than looking like an antiquated institution dragging us back to the past. If the church is the people of God, let the people have a voice.

“The Catholic faith tradition is much larger than the Roman Catholic hierarchy, or the Roman Catholic Church,” he added. “We need to put our emphasis on the Gospel of Jesus, rather than canon law. We’re the Catholic Perestroika.”

…

Current Events

St. Stanislaus Suppressed

I guess I stayed away from the St. Louis news for too long after the New Year. Thus, from the Associated Press via the Springfield News-Leader:

Archbishop ends St. Stanislaus’ status as parish in archdiocese

St. Louis —” St. Louis’ Roman Catholic archbishop has issued a —decree of suppression— of St. Stanislaus Kostka church, ending the historic church’s standing as a Catholic parish in the St. Louis archdiocese.

The traditional Polish parish, which is at odds with the archdiocese over control of the parish’s property and assets, is appealing the suppression, along with last year’s interdict and last month’s excommunication of its lay board of directors and priest.

—We saw it coming,— parish spokesman Roger Krasnicki said, adding that St. Stanislaus has retained a canon lawyer. —We’re doing as much as we can as fast as we can.—

According to church law, a move to —suppress— a parish ends its affiliation to the larger Catholic church.

The decree, dated Dec. 29, but announced in the archdiocesan newspaper today, was delivered Wednesday (Jan. 4, 2006) to the parish’s lay board along with a cover letter from Burke.

…

The move to —suppress— the parish was the latest development in a two-year dispute between Burke and the parish’s lay board of directors over control of St. Stanislaus’ $9.5 million in assets.

The church’s property and finances have been managed by a lay board of directors since its founding 126 years ago.

Since Burke arrived here in January 2004, he has sought to make the parish conform to the same legal structure as other parishes in the diocese and hand over control of its assets. As the parish resisted, Burke responded with increasing pressure —” removing its two parish priests, issuing an interdict denying sacraments to the parish’s board, and establishing another parish as the official home for Polish Roman Catholics.

Last month, Burke declared the board and Father Marek Bozek, the former assistant pastor at St. Agnes Church in Springfield who was hired to serve St. Stanislaus, had been excommunicated.

Krasnicki, an attorney, said it’s possible that suppression might be used as a prelude to a civil attempt to get back the property, but doubted such a move would succeed.

Now, here is the most interesting part of the story:

For more than a century, St. Stanislaus has been the religious, cultural and historical home of Polish Americans in St. Louis. The tradition of self-governance in matters of property and assets dates back to the European immigrants who brought the church to America in the 19th century. But that model has faded over the years as the nation’s bishops have asserted control.

The Rev. William Barnaby Faherty, official archdiocesan historian, said late last month that many of St. Louis’ immigrant parishes closed after descendants of the founders moved to the suburbs.

—But enough of the Polish people stayed to keep St. Stanislaus alive,— Faherty said. —The thought was, ‘who cares about those Poles down there?’ No one bothered about them. They went on their way, kept things alive and spent money on their church.—

Yes, they kept the faith, and were largely ignored by the Diocese, especially when they asked for help.  They probably understood the subtext, which has now been made abundantly clear by Rev. Faherty, an archdiocesan representative: Who cares about you, we’re not bothering with you, go on your way.  Now I can add —“ but ooops you have $9.5 million.  Now its time to care, bother, impede and close —“ just like the rest of the ethnics.

Another thought —“ since I like coining odd phrases, perhaps the nativist influences affecting American Roman Catholic bishops, at the time of the 3rd session of the Council of Baltimore, left an ingrained feeling that —ethics do not count with ethnics—

The Roman Church stands by in amazement at the fact that Hispanic ethnics are leaving in droves for Pentecostal and evangelical churches.  Since Spanish, being a great romance language, is so closely allied with Latin, perhaps they intuit the term Modus Operandi and can see the handwriting on the wall.

Another aside, from KSDK, Abp. Burke was away on retreat at the time the suppression was announced:

Archbishop Raymond Burke is on retreat, but released a faxed statement that said, “It is not possible for St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish to remain a parish of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and, at the same time, to operate completely independently of the Apostolic See and the Archdiocese of St. Louis.”

Everything Else

On Schism and Point-of-View

On Schism

With the recent goings on concerning schism from the Roman Catholic Church, perhaps you would be interested in a primer on schism.

First of all, schism is defined in Roman Catholic Canon Law #751 as:

Schism is the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him.

For an in depth analyses from the Roman Catholic point-of-view see Definition of Schism.

Much of the information and additional discussion that is available in regard to formally leaving the Roman Catholic Church centers around the sacrament of marriage and annulments. Canon #1117 covers it rather well.

The form prescribed above is to be observed if at least one of the parties contracting marriage was baptized in the catholic Church or received into it and has not by a formal act defected from it, without prejudice to the provisions of canon 1127.2 (dispensation from form by the local ordinary)

From the Roman Catholic Diocese of Fargo (emphasis mine):

If a Catholic has formally left the Catholic Church, he or she is not bound by Canonical Form. The law has not defined what constitutes a formal act of defection. If there is the possibility of this having happened, in each individual case this will have to be determined by a Tribunal. Items that would lead to suspicion of having formally left would be an open declaration of abandonment of the Catholic faith, a formal enrolling in another religion, a public affiliation to an atheistic ideology or movement manifestly opposed to the Catholic faith or being involved in an established heresy, apostasy or schism. Merely ceasing to practice the faith even over a considerable length of time, regular attendance at the religious services of another religion or similar actions would not prove the formal act of leaving the Catholic Church. (The Canon Law Letter and Spirit, p.603).

I found an excellent write-up (can’t exactly remember where) that discusses joining an Orthodox Church and the implications of Dominus Iesus:

Dominus Iesus clarifies that the Catholic Church does not teach that the Orthodox Church and the Catholic Church are sister churches, but that the constituent sui juris Churches of Catholicism are sisters to the particular Orthodox Churches, who are, despite being fully “churches” (and not “ecclesial communities”, as are the Protestant Christians), nevertheless lacking in full communion because of the refusal to acknowledge the role of the Bishop of Rome. So from the Catholic perspective, someone who leaves Catholicism for Orthodoxy has (1) broken communion with Rome, which of course is a sin in itself and (2) joined a church which, despite its ‘churchiness’, does not have the same degree of fullness as the Catholic sui juris churches do. The person has embraced schism from the Catholic Church by rejecting communion with it, from the Catholic perspective: breaking communion with Rome is, per Catholicism, a personal act of schism, and hence an act which makes one a schismatic in the eyes of Catholicism, regardless of how Catholicism may view other people who are members of the Orthodox Church.

 

On Point of View

Now having been raised a Roman Catholic, and having a fairly good idea of the rules, my having left the Roman Catholic Church, having officially joined the PNCC, and having received Holy Orders in the PNCC is a blatant act of schism. So accused, so guilty.

However, one would have to believe that the Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church is binding upon them. If I fly over to Poland and break the laws there (or God forbid Singapore or Saudi Arabia) I am by my act of going there making myself subject to their law. By manifestly removing myself from the jurisdiction of the Roman Catholic Church (yes and I know that there is some reasoning that the Roman Catholic Church has universal jurisdiction over all humanity, including me, whether I like it or not) I make myself not subject to its laws.

In my mind, and in accordance with Dominus Iesus, para. 17, I am still part of a particular Church (why —“ because I need the sacraments and a Church in valid Apostolic succession).

Dominus Iesus states:

Therefore, there exists a single Church of Christ, which subsists in the Catholic Church, governed by the Successor of Peter and by the Bishops in communion with him. The Churches which, while not existing in perfect communion with the Catholic Church, remain united to her by means of the closest bonds, that is, by apostolic succession and a valid Eucharist, are true particular Churches. Therefore, the Church of Christ is present and operative also in these Churches, even though they lack full communion with the Catholic Church, since they do not accept the Catholic doctrine of the Primacy, which, according to the will of God, the Bishop of Rome objectively has and exercises over the entire Church.

On the other hand, the ecclesial communities which have not preserved the valid Episcopate and the genuine and integral substance of the Eucharistic mystery, are not Churches in the proper sense; however, those who are baptized in these communities are, by Baptism, incorporated in Christ and thus are in a certain communion, albeit imperfect, with the Church. .Baptism in fact tends per se toward the full development of life in Christ, through the integral profession of faith, the Eucharist, and full communion in the Church.

As a member of a —true particular Church— (cf. Canon 844) i.e., the Polish National Catholic Church along with members of the Orthodox Churches, and the Assyrian Church of the East, I have exercised my ability to choose to honor the Roman pontiff as first among equals, but not the administrative head of the Church, to belong to a Church with valid Holy Orders, and that is in Apostolic succession.

So to me, it is the point-of-view that determines. That all should be one, I agree. That all should be part of the one, holy catholic and apostolic faith, I agree. That all are saved by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ and are required to cooperate in that salvation, I agree. In Catholicism there are many houses and means to come unto Christ.

For those who wish to comment, I welcome your perspective. I also respect your right to follow the law you have subjected yourself to, and to follow it thoroughly, as you should. However, I also expect you to respect my right to be unbound from your laws.

Everything Else

Truth vs. Blackmail and What is Evidence – via the St. Louis Dispatch

An interesting story today, recapping the Christmas Eve story from St. Stanislaus Kostka church in St. Louis and Fr. Bozek’s homily for Christmas Day.

Fr. Bozek’s Christmas morning homily was a revelation as to his character. It is the speaking of truth in the face of those who resort to blackmail to get what they want. Blackmail cannot stand if the accused has no fear. Those who have no fear or do not let themselves be ruled by fear are those that have the Lord as their shield.

It would appear that the lavender mafia of the American Roman Catholic church is at work again.

For those not familiar with the lavender mafia, there are tons of internet resources about it. Just do a Google Search or check out The Gay Question by Rod Dreher from the National Review Online. To wit:

THE LAVENDER MAFIA

The raw numbers are less important, though, if homosexual priests occupy positions of influence in the vast Catholic bureaucracy; and there seems little doubt that this is the case in the American Church. Lest this be dismissed as right-wing paranoia, it bears noting that psychotherapist Sipe is no conservative —” indeed, he is disliked by many on the Catholic Right for his vigorous dissent from Church teaching on sexual morality —” yet he is convinced that the sexual abuse of minors is facilitated by a secret, powerful network of gay priests. Sipe has a great deal of clinical and research experience in this field; he has reviewed thousands of case histories of sexually active priests and abuse victims. He is convinced of the existence of what the Rev. Andrew Greeley, the left-wing clerical gadfly, has called a “lavender Mafia.”

“This is a system. This is a whole community. You have many good people covering it up,” Sipe says. “There is a network of power. A lot of seminary rectors and teachers are part of it, and they move to chancery-office positions, and on to bishoprics. It’s part of the ladder of success. It breaks your heart to see the people who suffer because of this.”

In his new book, Goodbye! Good Men, Michael S. Rose documents in shocking detail how pervasive militant homosexuality is in many seminaries, how much gay sex is taking place among seminarians and priest-professors, and how gay power cliques exclude and punish heterosexuals who oppose them. “It’s not just a few guys in a few seminaries that have an ax to grind. It is a pattern,” says Rose. “The protective network [of homosexual priests] begins in the seminaries.”

The stories related in Rose’s book will strike many as incredible, but they track closely with the stories that priests have told me about open gay sex and gay politicking in seminaries. The current scandal is opening Catholic eyes: As one ex-seminarian says, “People thought I was crazy when I told them what it was like there, so I finally quit talking about it. They’re starting to see now that I wasn’t.”

Goodbye! Good Men links homosexuality among priests with theological dissent, a connection commonly made by conservative Catholics who wonder why their parish priests have practically abandoned teaching and explaining Catholic sexual morality. But one veteran vocations-team member for a conservative diocese cautions that Catholics should not assume that theological orthodoxy guarantees heterosexuality or chastity. “You find [active homosexuality] among some pretty conservative orders, and in places you’d not expect it,” he says. “That’s what makes this so depressing. You don’t know where to turn.”

So it would seem that those who do not like Fr. Bozek’s decision have decided to attack his call by labeling him (excerpts from the St. Louis Dispatch):

It wasn’t until Christmas morning, in a different homily, that Bozek told his new parishioners about a prior episode in his life that helped prepare him for this latest challenge to authority. “God tries us with fire to make our faith stronger,” he told them.

Five years ago, Bozek and Catholic church leaders in Poland were at odds about something more personal than the St. Stanislaus dispute. It was an accusation that forced him to flee his homeland, landing in Missouri, and, finally, in the pulpit at St. Stanislaus parish.

…

The next morning, Bozek returned to the pulpit, this time with a different homily. “It seems so many things happen by accident, that paths cross by accident,” he said. “But that is the mystery of our faith – nothing happens without a reason.”

With a startling revelation, he signaled to his parishioners on Christmas morning that he had been through controversy with church authority before. And he believed it had made him stronger.

Bozek told his new parishioners the story of his struggle five years ago at a seminary in Poland with an accusation made against him – “a witch hunt” he called it. “Some people accused me of being a promiscuous homosexual,” he said. He told the rector of the seminary to provide proof, and said the rector couldn’t, but persisted in the
accusations.

Bozek said he went to his Warmia Archbishop Edmund Michal Piszcz, and told him to call off the rector. He threatened to sue the archdiocese. “They have no proof,” he told Piszcz. Bozek said Piszcz agreed. Nevertheless the priest left the seminary and Poland, landing in Springfield, Mo.

“What would have happened had I not been accused?” he asked the congregation. “I probably would still be in Poland living happily near my parents. I probably never would have heard of St. Stanislaus Kostka church.”

Jan Guzowski, the rector at the Hosianum seminary in Olsztyn when Bozek was there, said in a telephone interview from Poland that Bozek had been told to leave because of suspected homosexuality.

“We thought he was homosexual. We had several problems with him. He said he wasn’t homosexual, but we had certain proof that this wasn’t true.” Asked what proof, Guzowski said that other seminarians told him so.

Oh yes, —we thought—, how convenient. We thought therefore it must be so. The rector and some students wishing to paint seminarian Bozek as a ‘promiscuous homosexual’. Perhaps they had only wished it to be true? See I can draw innuendo as well as the next person. Being in the profession I am in during my regular 9 —“ 5 I should know what having evidence is all about. Dr. Guzowski has the luxury of making ‘evidence’ be anything he wishes it to be. Read on…

Guzowski, who left the seminary two years ago, is now professor of moral theology at a state-run university in Olsztyn.

Do I even have to point out the irony?

In an interview after his second Christmas Mass on Sunday, Bozek denied Guzowski’s charges. “Of course the rector is going to say I was kicked out; that’s his side of the story,” Bozek said. “But I have a recommendation from Archbishop Piszcz which says I left by my own request.”

Bozek said he then decided to be “a missionary” resulting in his acceptance to study as a priest for the diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, his arrival there in 2000, his studies at St. Meinrad School of Theology in Indiana, and his eventual ordination three years ago.

…

Bozek said he brought up his flight from Hosianum in his Christmas homily because he had received phone calls threatening to leak the accusations to the press. “I wanted to tell this to my new parishioners in my own words,” he said.

…

So what will the new priest say when his parishioners ask him the inevitable question: Are you a homosexual? “When people ask me that, I just say, I am a celibate and chaste priest, so it doesn’t matter,” Bozek said.

Fr. Bozek makes an important note here that the press often misses. Celibacy and chastity are not the same thing. Now celibacy by rights would presume chastity. You cannot be married and as such you should not be having sexual relations with anyone. Chastity is the key. Fr. Bozek is neither married (therefore celibate) and is not engaging in sexual relations (therefore chaste).

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