St. Stan in St. Louis

[littlebreakdowns]

I'm not sure that this is interfaith debate, but it's certainly debate. I've been meaning to post about this, but haven't yet for a number of reasons. Here goes though.

Here in St. Louis, our Archbishop is Raymond Burke. We have a parish called St. Stanislaus' (St. Stan), which is an ethnic Polish parish. For 100 years or so, it's been operated by a lay board, and all finances have been controlled by that board. Originally, the bylaws were written to give the Archbishop control of the actual parish. However, the bylaws were changed (without consent of the diocese). When Burke became Archbishop, he removed the Priests (due to the fact that the lay board was ignoring the wishes of the priests) and put them at another church where they continued to perform Mass in Polish. They (back when Cardinal Rigali was our Archbishop, he'd said the same thing) told the lay board they had to move financial control and everything over to the diocese. The property was originally bought by the parishoners, though, from what I understand. The church is financially organized as a non-profit, not a Catholic church.

There's a link over at Yahoo News: [url="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051225/ap_on_re_us/polish_parish"]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051225/ap_on_...s/polish_parish[/url]

They went 17 months with no Priest before they (the lay board) hired a new one, who left his post without the consent of his own bishop. Burke promptly excommunicated the priest and the lay board. Then he said anyone who took Communion at Christmas Mass would be commiting a mortal sin.

Personally, while I feel for the people of St. Stan, I agree with the Archbishop. Do I wish it had never gotten to this point? Of course. Do I think the Archbishop was within his rights, though? Yes. Everyone says it's about property rights, but it's really about power from what I can see. As it were, if you're a Roman Catholic Church, the power goes to the diocese and the Archbishop.

I'm interested in what everyone here thinks. Should they have been excommunicated? What should happen now?

Teresa

[Cam42]

[quote name='littlebreakdowns' date='Dec 27 2005, 09:40 AM']I'm not sure that this is interfaith debate, but it's certainly debate.  I've been meaning to post about this, but haven't yet for a number of reasons. Here goes though.

Here in St. Louis, our Archbishop is Raymond Burke. We have a parish called St. Stanislaus' (St. Stan), which is an ethnic Polish parish. For 100 years or so, it's been operated by a lay board, and all finances have been controlled by that board.  Originally, the bylaws were written to give the Archbishop control of the actual parish.  However, the bylaws were changed (without consent of the diocese). When Burke became Archbishop, he removed the Priests (due to the fact that the lay board was ignoring the wishes of the priests) and put them at another church where they continued to perform Mass in Polish.  They (back when Cardinal Rigali was our Archbishop, he'd said the same thing) told the lay board they had to move financial control and everything over to the diocese. The property was originally bought by the parishoners, though, from what I understand.  The church is financially organized as a non-profit, not a Catholic church.

There's a link over at Yahoo News: [url="http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051225/ap_on_re_us/polish_parish"]http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051225/ap_on_...s/polish_parish[/url]

They went 17 months with no Priest before they (the lay board) hired a new one, who left his post without the consent of his own bishop.  Burke promptly excommunicated the priest and the lay board. Then he said anyone who took Communion at Christmas Mass would be commiting a mortal sin.

Personally, while I feel for the people of St. Stan, I agree with the Archbishop. Do I wish it had never gotten to this point? Of course. Do I think the Archbishop was within his rights, though? Yes.  Everyone says it's about property rights, but it's really about power from what I can see.  As it were, if you're a Roman Catholic Church, the power goes to the diocese and the Archbishop.

I'm interested in what everyone here thinks. Should they have been excommunicated? What should happen now?

Teresa
[right][snapback]836777[/snapback][/right]
[/quote]

I think that there is a thread on this already.

[littlebreakdowns]

[quote name='Cam42' date='Dec 27 2005, 08:42 AM']I think that there is a thread on this already.
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[/quote]

Indeed, but it wasn't in debate and I didn't see it.

Nonetheless, as that news article is newer than the last post in that thread, perhaps some would still wish to debate it. *shrug*

Teresa