Free Republic

In a defiant challenge to Archbishop Raymond Burke’s authority as the leader of the St. Louis archdiocese, the board of directors of St. Stanislaus Kostka church have hired a Roman Catholic priest from the neighboring diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau to be its parish pastor. The Rev. Marek B. Bozek, associate pastor of St. Agnes Cathedral in Springfield and Polish native, will take over at St. Stanislaus without Burke’s consent. Bozek, 30, will celebrate his first Mass at the church on Christmas Eve. “I am deeply saddened by this action, which causes further damage to the the Church, not only here...

Introduction I write, with heavy heart, about a situation which I, as bishop, had hoped that I would never have to address. I refer to the recent break with the communion of the Roman Catholic Church on the part of the board of directors of the civil corporation of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in the City of St. Louis, and on the part of the priest from the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, whom they have hired to serve them.  It saddens me, in particular, to address such a deep wound to the Church in our archdiocese in these days of our...