St. Louis Archbishop expresses regret over defiant parish

St. Louis, Mo., Feb 13, 2005 / 22:00 pm

In a letter published in the St. Louis Review on Friday, Archbishop Raymond Burke sought to clarify his stance in the ongoing struggle between the Archdiocese and a parish on the city’s north side.

According to the Archdiocese, the civil structure of St. Stanislaus Kostka Polish Parish is currently incorporated in a manner which is contrary to Canon Law.

As attempts on both sides at negotiation have looked grim, the parish board members now face denial of the sacraments as ordered in an interdict given by Archbishop Burke.

The “adamant resistance” on the part of the parish board members to the directives of the Archbishop reached all the way to the Vatican when a board member hand delivered an appeal to the Holy See asking for help.

The Archbishop clarified that he has “no desire to take the assets of the parish or to close the parish, contrary to what has been repeatedly said by members of the board of directors of the parish corporation and some other parishioners.” He added that, “Such statements are simply and completely untrue.”

In the statement given to the Review, the Archbishop noted that, “In the case of the interdict imposed upon the members of the board of directors of the civil corporation of St. Stanislaus Kostka, the archbishop of St. Louis has the authority to lift the censure and must lift the censure, as soon as the offending party has made known his or her repentance to the archbishop.”