A priest no more: Bozek laicized

Deacon's Bench ^ | March 10, 2009 | Deacon Greg

[NYer]

The priest who has been at the center of a firestorm in the Archdiocese of St. Louis has been officially stripped of his faculties, according to the Associated Press:

A priest who defied his Roman Catholic bishop in 2005 to become pastor of a largely Polish-American parish at odds with the archdiocese has been stripped of his priesthood.

The decision by Pope Benedict XVI to return Marek Bozek from priest to lay person came a year after the move was recommended by former St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke.

In 2005, Bozek was serving in southern Missouri's Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese when he accepted the pastorship of St. Stanislaus Kostka parish in St. Louis at the invitation of parishioners. Only bishops can assign priests.

Burke had removed the Polish-heritage parish's two priests over a long-festering dispute over control of parish assets. Parishioners then took it upon themselves to hire the Polish-speaking Bozek.

Bishop James Johnston said the Vatican's decision resulted from Bozek abandoning the assignment in Springfield-Cape Girardeau.

But Bozek said Monday he will not leave St. Stanislaus and will take his orders from a reformed Catholic bishop, who granted him temporary priestly faculties last year in anticipation of the Vatican's decision.

That bishop, Phillip Zimmerman, is affiliated with the late 19th century reformed Catholic church movement which rejected the declaration of papal infallibility, he said.

Bozek said he was read the formal pronouncement in Springfield late Monday but that he learned the Vatican issued the decision Jan. 31. He said he was not given a copy.

At a Monday night news conference at St. Stanislaus where he was joined by dozens of parishioners, Bozek said he was disappointed by the move but will continue his ministry and offer valid Catholic sacraments.

There's more at the link.

[iowamark]

The “Reformed Catholic Bishop” referred to in the article is, of course, a gay rights activist:

http://www.lgbtran.org/Profile.aspx?ID=207

[VidMihi]

Your comment is right on the mark - how about a survey of the track records of the many Polish priests imported in the past few years. How many took off for who knows where after receiving an American education. - the priests of JPII.

[Coleus]

The often forgotten third vow; obedience. >>

some priests have stated that it's harder to follow the vow of obedience than it is to adhere to the vow of chastity.

[BlackElk]

Is it not true that each Roman rite priest, at ordination, vows chastity and obedience and that many missionary priests also vow poverty?

Bozek was apparently incardinated in the Sprinfield-Cape Girardeau diocese in Missouri, was assigned to a parish by the bishop there and then abandoned his assignment to waltz over to the utterly scandalous St. Stanislaus Parish in St. Louis. There are some grave idiosycracies as to civil law due to mistakes made by a 19th century bishop of St. Louis in allowing this parish an inexcusable degree of independence from the bishop's control unique to St. Stanislaus. Nonetheless, the assignment of priests to parishes is a prerogative of the diocesan bishop and Bozek has no license to revolt against that standard. His behavior is abominable as is that of many St. Stanislaus parishioners.

The next archbishop of St. Louis would do well to suppress the parish, make every effort to reclaim the real estate and assets, publicly renounce any responsibility for debts incurred by the rebellious, evict those who attend St. Stanislaus from setting foot upon its premises for now, remove Mr. Bozek from the rectory as now being a stranger to the clerical state, obtain an injunction to keep Mr. Bozek from setting foot upon any property of the Archdiocese of St. Louis unless and until the archbishop says otherwise and formally excommunicate any persistent resisters or other revolutionaries in that congregation.

Some burnings at the stake would also be nice but would probably be resisted by ignorant buttinski civil authorities. God will likely forgive the failure to burn those deserving at the stake but no effort ought be spared in applying the other aforementioned remedies.

[BlackElk]

You have a problem with JPII??? Do you have a problem with dead and rightfully excommunicated Marcel Lefebvre, another ecclesiastical revolutionary who made a late career of massacring his vows of obedience not unlike Mr. Bozek??? You should.

[sitetest]

Dear VidMihi,

“To incred Joe, who mentioned a ‘third vow -obedience’, while I do not know for sure, since Bozek is not a ‘religious’, it is highly unlikely that he ever took any vows, much less a third one of obedience.”

Although diocesan priests don't take vows, they do promise obedience to their bishops. Mr. Bozek has violated his promise of obedience.

Even though the Church distinguishes between vows and promises, most ordinary folks don't, and thus, incredulous joe's remarks were on-target, even if he didn't use a particular word in its most technical ecclesiastical sense.

“To Venturer, who said ‘the priest is no longer a priest’ -”...

While it's true that ontologically, once ordained a priest, a man is a priest forever, it's also true that a priest removed from the clerical state may no longer licitly present himself as a priest or function as a priest (with some narrow exceptions). As well, in dismissal from the clerical state, he no longer holds the ecclesiastical office of "priest." Thus, it isn't unreasonable to say colloquially “the priest is no longer a priest.”

Although not entirely correct, it certainly doesn't merit the remark:

“the Council of Trent in effect said ‘go to hell’ - ‘Si quis dixerit, eum qui semel sacerdos fuit, laicum rursus fieri posse, anathema sit’ - Den. 964”

What an uncharitable post.

sitetest

[VidMihi]

To your first question - No it is not true. The church makes a careful distinction between a vow and a promise, though some would like to equate the two. The simple promise is for the obvious purpose of order in the service to the people of God, whereas a vow is a promise made to God and is seen as a good end in and of itself.

[VidMihi]

As to Lefebvre - big problem, but he did not do as much damage to the Church as did JPII. Loss of Europe, south America,etc.

[VidMihi]

Words “anathema sit” are Trent’s not mine. Charity does not mean be untruthful.

[bronxville]

This story makes me sad. Maybe it’s the picture, he does look lonely.

I wish they’d get rid of the leftiesas fast as they do the conservatives.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Deacon Greg needs to use correct terminology. Bozek has been dismissed. The word laicized is a secular term not found in canon law.

[A.A. Cunningham]

Bozek has been dismissed from the clerical state and has thus lost his faculties.

[knittnmom]

Thanks - that sentence makes sense.

[sitetest]

Dear VidMihi,

“Words ‘anathema sit’ are Trent’s not mine.”

But they only apply to those who formally deny the doctrine of the Church, not those who use words in a colloquial manner on an Internet chat forum.

“Charity does not mean be untruthful.”

If the post had dealt truthfully with the matter, that would be a different story.

sitetest

[BlackElk]

Yours is a remarkable and uniquely creative (however inaccurate) imagination for one who does not claim allegiance to dead excommunicated Marcel. I may have been born at night but it was not last night.

[BlackElk]

What on earth is conservative about Mr. Bozek, an ecclesiastical revolutionary??? Is there a single instance of a genuinely conservative person being excommunicated by Rome? Revolutionaries against Church authority do not count as conservative.

If Mr. Bozek is lonely, he made his own bed and now wallows in it. Bear in mind that his rebellion was against Archbishop Raymond Burke who, as Archbishop of St. Louis, was one of the outstanding conservatives in the Roman Catholic Church. Archbishop Burke has been promoted to the post of Chief judge of the Church's supreme court, the Apostolic Signatura.

What are Mr. Bozek's "conservative" credentials??? Rank disobedience? Violating his vow of obedience to his ecclesiastical superiors? Collaborating with and encouraging other revolutionaries?