AP - Sat Dec 24,10:51 PM ET The American flag flies between fire trucks in front of St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005, before the start of Mass with the church's new paster, the Rev. Marek Bozek. Archbishop Raymond Burke has said it would be a mortal sin for anyone to participate in a Mass celebrated by Bozek who was excommunicated, the Catholic church's most severe penalty. Burke, who was helpless to stop the Mass, said it would be 'valid' but 'illicit.' (AP Photo/James A. Finley)
AP - Sun Dec 25, 2:02 AM ET The Rev. Marek Bozek follows the altar boys following his first Mass as the leader of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in St. Louis on Saturday, Dec. 24, 2005. At least 1,500 people attended the Christmas Eve Mass, with the overflow crowd watching by closed circuit TV in an adjoining parish center. St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke last week excommunicated Bozek and the church's six-member lay board. (AP Photo/James A. Finley)
As the Rev. Marek Bozek moved into the nave of St. Stanislaus Kostka church, about 2,000 people, jammed into every crevice of the church and the church hall next door, stood up and cheered.
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.
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.