Text of the Vatican decree regarding St. Stanislaus Parish

This is the text of the Decree from the Congregation for the Clergy on Protest No. 20041975, filed by the board of directors of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in North St. Louis:

Whereas, the Saint Stanislaus Kostka Parish (the “parish”) was founded in 1880 in the Archdiocese of St. Louis by the Most Reverend Peter R. Kenrick, the Ordinary of the Archdiocese, and organized as a civil corporation in 1891 bearing the name “Polish Roman Catholic St. Stanislaus Parish” (the “civil corporation”);

Whereas, the board of directors of the civil corporation was intended to function as an advisory board to the pastor in accordance with the norms of the law of the Roman Catholic Church in force at the time of the formation of the civil corporation;

Whereas, in light of the Response from the Pontifical Commission for the Authentic Interpretation of Legislative Texts, dated 29 April 1987, which received Papal approval on 20 June 1987, promulgated on 12 December 1988 (cf. AAS 80 [1988] 1818), in which the following question was posed and answered:

Editor’s note: the next two paragraphs in the decree are in Latin, translated as follows:

D. Whether a group of faithful, lacking juridical personality and even recognition envisaged in canon 299, No. 3, can legitimately make hierarchical recourse against a [decree] of its own diocesan bishop?

R. Negative as a group, affirmative as individual members of the faithful acting either singly or together, provided that they really have a grievance. However, in estimating the grievance, the judge must be allowed suitable discretion.

Editor’s note: the decree from this point resumes in English:

Whereas, the board of directors of a civil corporation lacks the aforementioned “juridic personality” to proceed in hierarchical recourse;

Whereas, the current board of directors of the civil corporation, in cooperation with the members of the corporation, have amended the By-Laws of the civil corporation in such a way as to deny the authority of the parochus (editor’s note: Latin for pastor) and the canonically provided oversight of the Archdiocese of St. Louis;

Whereas, the current board of directors and members of the civil corporation have amended the corporate documents of the civil corporation so that the parish is not in conformity with the canon law of the Roman Catholic Church, namely cann. 209, 519, 532, 536, 537, 1257, and 1276;

Whereas, on 19 March 2004, the Most Reverend Raymond L. Burke, the Ordinary of the Archdiocese of St. Louis, wrote to all of the faithful of the parish insisting that the parish structure comply with the norm of Church law, or it would be declared to be no longer a Roman Catholic Parish;

Whereas, the current board of directors and members of the civil corporation, through their duly appointed representative Roger C. Krasnicki, have made recourse to the Congregation for the Clergy against the dispositions of the Most Reverend Ordinary as set forth in the letter of 19 March 2004;

and Whereas, considering that the current board of directors lacks the juridic personality to proceed in this hierarchical recourse, this Congregation accepts the petition for recourse as being made by Roger C. Krasnicki in his individual capacity.

Now, therefore, the Congregation for the Clergy hereby decrees that the petition for recourse against the Most Rev. Ordinary’s dispositions of 19 March 2004 is rejected both de decernendo and de procedendo and judged to have no basis in law or in fact.

(Signed Dario Cardinal Castrillon)

Given at the Seat of the Congregation for the Clergy, 11 November, 2004.

Source.