Archbishop Burke sends clear message to Polish parish

Burke makes demands clear to parish
By Aisha Sultan
Of the Post-Dispatch
03/21/2004

Archbishop Raymond Burke sent a clear message this weekend to an independent Polish church in St. Louis: Follow church law or cease to exist as a Catholic church.

Many parishioners of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church north of downtown received the letter Saturday from the archbishop outlining the reasons the church must hand over control of approximately $9 million in assets and its finances. Currently, the church is run as a civil corporation with a lay board of directors.

"It is simply not right that a parish call itself Catholic and be so recognized by Church authority, and, at the same time, be under the exclusive direction of a civil corporation, in which the parish priest ... is considered to be just one of several members," Burke's letter stated. "The parish priest ... has the responsibility to direct all of the pastoral activity in the parish."

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