Looks to me like Burke made a grab for their millions of dollars, possibly to pay the victims of homo molestations that he or some other bishop could have prevented, and when they told him to pound sand, he pulled their priests and threw them out of the church.
You can put all the lipstick you want on that, but it still looks like a pig to me.
Will be interesting to see how this plays out.
Looks to me, after living here my whole life and knowing the WHOLE history of this little affair, that the Poles were in violation of Canon Law for over 100 years - through Kain, Glennon, Ritter, Carberry, May and Rigali (archbishops) - and Burke tried to correct it. These people are incredibly hard-headed. They also live in some of the wealthiest suburbs in the county. They are used to getting their way and Burke wouldn't let them. Secretly around here, most people are glad it's finally over. Everybody else can comply, why can't they?
The truth is that that part of town is being redeveloped and that would have made a great parish for the young people moving back into the city.
Sorry, most people here outside the St. L Post-Disgrace and other media, really don't care. They brought it on themselves.
Actually, it was the Parish Board who made the grab for the "millions of dollars" in the event the parish closed. Under the original 19th century bylaws, the parish property was to go to the Archdiocese and the parish corporation was under the control of the Archdiocese and civilly subject to canon law and the rules of the Archdiocese. In recent decades the parish board changed that, illegally, so that they could hang on to the parish property in the event of a closure and so that they would have no regulation from the Archdiocese to prevent them from doing stuff like setting up a bar after Church for the parents to drink while their children are in CCD (the pastor opposed but he was _overruled_ by the board - doesn't sound very Catholic to me).
Burke offered to place the entire parish property in a civil trust and to promise to keep the Parish open so long as the Polish community supported it. If it was to close, the property would go to a civil corporation for the purpose of promoting the Polish heritage in the St. Louis area, under control of the parish board of directors. All this would be enforceable under civil law.
Instead, the Parish board has hired this liberal priest who preaches "open communion" and bizarre interpretations of scripture. It is about a fight for authority, and the Catholic principle is clear - the Bishop governs his diocese, not the laypeople. There would be no need for any of this if the Parish board had not made an illegal grab for power in the first place...
Documentation Regarding St. Stanislaus Parish
See the new and old bylaws here, as well as the proposed solution:
http://www.archstl.org/parishes/documents/st_stanislaus.html
Did this excommunicated Polish priest have some sort of "emergency" too????? Unless he took over as pastor without faculties in the archdiocese, there would be no more cash bar on premises for the parents to get soused while their kids were being brainwashed at whatever passes for CCD at St. Stanislaus Revolutionary??????
I find it odd,that the bishops are quick to excommunicate the right,but when lib catholics go off and murder blacks in abortion,commit genocide against all minorties the bishops are just so ho-hum...
Sounds to me like Bishop Burke did the right thing.
There are extensive discussions of this available on FR.
The priest is an impostor and, from reports, seems to be a clone of Rembert Weakland philosophically.
Still want to defend this?
More:
the appropriate Scripture passage is from St. Paul:
Christus factus est pro nobis, OBEDIENS usque ad mortem.
This responds to the Prots' FAQ "WWJD"