Posted on 02/14/2013 10:28:19 AM PST by Alex Murphy
The Archdiocese of St. Louis and St. Stanislaus Corporation have resolved a legal dispute over the status of St. Stanislaus Church.
According to a joint statement issued Jan. 13, the archdiocese will dismiss its appeal in the case, and the judgment of the trial court is now final.
"St. Stanislaus has agreed that it will not hold itself out as affiliated in any way with the Archdiocese of St. Louis or the Roman Catholic Church," the statement noted. "Neither side made any payments to the other as part of this resolution. All other terms of the resolution are confidential. By bringing this legal dispute to an end, we pray that this will help to initiate a process of healing.”
A court decision last March on the status of St. Stanislaus Church was called a disappointment for Polish American Catholics who wished to see it returned to communion with the Roman Catholic Church. At the time it was announced that the decision would be appealed.
Judge Bryan Hettenbach ruled against the Archdiocese of St. Louis and former St. Stanislaus parishioners who had asked the court to declare the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation's amended bylaws void and restore the original bylaws, a move that the archdiocese believed would have returned St. Stanislaus to full communion with the Church.
A statement from Archbishop Robert J. Carlson last March noted that the judge had agreed that the corporate purpose of the parish corporation is to maintain a Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican had determined that the corporation, by revising its bylaws in 2001 and 2004, transformed St. Stanislaus into an entity which has no resemblance to a Roman Catholic parish, it noted. Archbishop Carlson supported the determination of the Vatican and tried to work with the parish to bring it into communion with the Church once again.
The judge also ruled against a judgment removing the directors and officers of the board of the parish corporation and a judgment declaring that the St. Stanislaus Church property be subject to a charitable trust with the archbishop as trustee.
Hettenbach ruled that all interest in the original St. Stanislaus Church property vests with the St. Stanislaus corporation.
In late January 2011, the trial on the lawsuit over control of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church ended and rested in the hands of Judge Hettenbach, who heard the case in St. Louis Circuit Court. The two-and-a-half-week trial focused on a return to the 1891 bylaws established at the time of the incorporation of the parish.
Archbishop Carlson issued a statement after the trial noting that the archdiocese and six former members of St. Stanislaus Parish "asked the court to set aside parish bylaws that we believe were adopted improperly, and to restore the original bylaws approved in 1891 by Archbishop Peter Kenrick. Our objective is to provide parishioners of St. Stanislaus with a way to return to full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. We pray that the court's decision will help us initiate a process of reconciliation and healing."
The six parishioners of St. Stanislaus who were plaintiffs with the archdiocese included four former board members of St. Stanislaus.
Polish Catholics began settling on the northern edge of the city in the 1800s. Polish Franciscan Fathers offered the first Masses for the immigrants in the basement of St. Patrick's school. A few years later, work began on St. Stanislaus Church on 20th Street near Cass. The church was consecrated by Bishop Patrick Ryan on November 12, 1882. Four years later, Father Urban Stanowski became pastor. He remained in the post for 40 years.
At the time, Archbishop Kenrick continued a practice of having special congregations for Catholics of different nationalities. These churches served German, Bohemian, Polish Catholics and others.
Pastoral care of Catholics of Polish heritage was temporarily moved in 2004, and the parish was suppressed in 2005 after the St. Stanislaus board hired Marek Bozek as its pastor. Since that date, St. Stanislaus has existed outside the Church's canonical structure. In 2010 Archbishop Carlson detailed an offer to re-establish St. Stanislaus as a parish for Polish Catholics.
Cardinal Raymond L. Burke told St. Stanislaus Kostka parishioners March 28, 2004, that if a restructuring plan there is in effect "you can count on my fullest support for your parish."
The cardinal's message — that bringing the corporate structure of the parish into compliance with Church law will not result in a closure of the parish or seizure of the parish's funds — often was hard to hear over some people who shouted out while he spoke.
Cardinal Burke noted that the effort to seek compliance with canon law began with his predecessor as part of a legal restructuring of all parishes in the archdiocese. He noted that parish priests cannot be seen as employees of the parish, under a lay board of trustees' authority rather than the bishop. Under the change, the cardinal said, the parish would continue to be responsible for its property and funds. A bishop is not permitted to take the funds for another purpose, he noted.
In August of 2004, Cardinal Burke wrote all registered parishioners of St. Stanislaus to inform them that the apostolate on behalf of Polish-speaking Catholics and Catholics of Polish heritage had temporarily been transferred to St. John Apostle and Evangelist Parish Downtown. He emphasized that he was hoping that the civil corporation of St. Stanislaus would be reconciled with the Church but that recent actions by the board preventing the parish administrator for carrying out his duties were in direct violation of universal Church discipline. The apostolate later was transferred to St. Agatha Polish Roman Catholic Church in south St. Louis — and it continues today.
In November of 2004, the Vatican Congregation of the Clergy affirmed the restructuring so the parish would be in compliance with all norms of Church law. Cardinal Burke then offered to establish an irrevocable charitable trust to hold all parish assets for the benefit of St. Stanislaus, and should it cease to exist as a parish then the assets of the trust would be used exclusively to provide religious and charitable services and programs for persons of Polish ethnicity or language in the archdiocese.
On Dec. 29, 2005, the parish, which had been administered from 1891 to 2005 by the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation, was declared to be no longer a part of the Roman Catholic Church because its board committed the delict of schism, or self-separation from the Catholic Church. The six directors of the board, along with their pastor were declared to have excommunicated themselves from the Church after the directors offered the job of pastor to him. Once a priest of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, Marek Bozek already was not in good standing with the Catholic Church and committed schism by accepting the offer. In the Catholic Church only a bishop can appoint priests to parishes.
Pope Benedict XVI later dismissed Bozek from the clerical state.
In July 2008, three board members of the St. Stanislaus Kostka Corporation reconciled themselves with the Church and asked the archbishop for help in reconciling the parish with the archdiocese. The lawsuit on the bylaws was filed.
"St. Stanislaus has agreed that it will not hold itself out as affiliated in any way with the Archdiocese of St. Louis or the Roman Catholic Church," the statement noted. "Neither side made any payments to the other as part of this resolution. All other terms of the resolution are confidential. By bringing this legal dispute to an end, we pray that this will help to initiate a process of healing.”
A court decision last March on the status of St. Stanislaus Church was called a disappointment for Polish American Catholics who wished to see it returned to communion with the Roman Catholic Church. At the time it was announced that the decision would be appealed. Judge Bryan Hettenbach ruled against the Archdiocese of St. Louis and former St. Stanislaus parishioners who had asked the court to declare the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation's amended bylaws void and restore the original bylaws, a move that the archdiocese believed would have returned St. Stanislaus to full communion with the Church.
A statement from Archbishop Robert J. Carlson last March noted that the judge had agreed that the corporate purpose of the parish corporation is to maintain a Roman Catholic Church. The Vatican had determined that the corporation, by revising its bylaws in 2001 and 2004, transformed St. Stanislaus into an entity which has no resemblance to a Roman Catholic parish, it noted. Archbishop Carlson supported the determination of the Vatican and tried to work with the parish to bring it into communion with the Church once again.
The judge also ruled against a judgment removing the directors and officers of the board of the parish corporation and a judgment declaring that the St. Stanislaus Church property be subject to a charitable trust with the archbishop as trustee. Hettenbach ruled that all interest in the original St. Stanislaus Church property vests with the St. Stanislaus corporation.
This excerpt from the thread St. Stanislaus scrum is going to trial today adds additional detail re the judge's final ruling:
In June 2003, Archbishop Justin Rigali, now a cardinal and the archbishop of Philadelphia, announced a massive legal restructuring of the Archdiocese of St. Louis that would transform each parish from an unincorporated association to a nonprofit corporation. Rigali hoped St. Stanislaus, like every other parish, would go along with the changes, but parishioners were unwilling to give up the deal it made [in 1891, wherein the church's lay board controlled the property and assets] with [then-Archbishop Peter Kenrick].See previous threads:
A “church” where sin is replaced with Marcuse ethics and “social justice” ?
Yeah, that`ll work.
oops,wrong post belonging to different topic
Wow, how sad.
Am I missing something though? Seems like an improbable decision. Generations of Polish Catholics built that property for the purpose of a Roman Catholic Church. Seems like unjust enrichment for a schismatic group.
". . . declared to have excommunicated themselves from the Church after the directors offered the job of pastor to him."
We need to see a lot more declarations of who has excommunicated themselves and why, one for each parish. Nitwits like Pelosi and Biden who have publicly stated that they don't accept Church doctrine but prefer to make up their own just like Luther did should be the first ones on the lists. Since any and all any and all of those who have excommunicated themselves would be included the scum ball politicos who have for so long lied about being Catholic couldn't claim it was being done because of politics.
I continue to pray for you.
One can never have too much prayer. Besides, there's no such thing as bad publicity!
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