New Priest Introduced At St. Stanislaus Kostka Church

KSDK) - Christmas mass will go on at St. Stanislaus Catholic Church, even though the archbishop has excommunicated the priest and the entire lay board.

Wednesday afternoon, Father Marek Bozek arrived in St. Louis and was introduced to the media. Father Bozek said he's been the target of hate mail, ever since he decided to leave the Springfied, Missouri, diocese without church permission.

Archbishop Burke and St. Stanislaus have been battling for years over who controls the church and its assets.

The Archbishop says defiance by the board and the priest led to ex-communication. The seven are banned from taking part in Roman Catholic sacraments and functions. And, church leaders say anyone to attends the mass will be commiting a mortal sin.

Despite that, St. Stanislaus is planning to have a 10:00 p.m. mass on Christmas Eve.

A video from KSDK can be seen here.

Fr Bozek says that the excommunication causes him a lot of pain and fear.

Well that's what it should do, as well as be a wakeup call to repentance.

He also said that he has taken 10 years of theology. This must his way of telling us that he is an expert.

With respect to Archbishop Burke's statement (which is the teaching of the Church, by the way) that receiving Holy Communion from this excommunicated priest, except in danger of death, would be a mortal sin, Fr. Bozek claims receiving Holy Communion would never be a sin. This leads one to wonder what schools he attended where he learned such nonsense.

In fact, contrary to Fr. Bozek's claim, the Catechism states:

1857. For a sin to be mortal, three conditions must together be met: "Mortal sin is sin whose object is grave matter and which is also committed with full knowledge and deliberate consent."

817. In fact, "in this one and only Church of God from its very beginnings there arose certain rifts, which the Apostle strongly censures as damnable. But in subsequent centuries much more serious dissensions appeared and large communities became separated from full communion with the Catholic Church - for which, often enough, men of both sides were to blame." The ruptures that wound the unity of Christ's Body - here we must distinguish heresy, apostasy, and schism - do not occur without human sin: Where there are sins, there are also divisions, schisms, heresies, and disputes. Where there is virtue, however, there also are harmony and unity, from which arise the one heart and one soul of all believers.

2089...schism is the refusal of submission to the Roman Pontiff or of communion with the members of the Church subject to him."

Schism, as the Catechism tells us, and as Archbishop Burke reminds us, is a mortal sin.

With respect to receiving Holy Communion:

1385. To respond to this invitation [of receiving the Body and Blood of our Lord] we must prepare ourselves for so great and so holy a moment. St. Paul urges us to examine our conscience: "Whoever, therefore, eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of profaning the body and blood of the Lord. Let a man examine himself, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For any one who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment upon himself."(218) Anyone conscious of a grave sin must receive the sacrament of Reconciliation before coming to communion.

1457. According to the Church's command, "after having attained the age of discretion, each of the faithful is bound by an obligation faithfully to confess serious sins at least once a year." Anyone who is aware of having committed a mortal sin must not receive Holy Communion, even if he experiences deep contrition, without having first received sacramental absolution, unless he has a grave reason for receiving Communion and there is no possibility of going to confession...

And lastly having established some fundamentals, we read:

2120. Sacrilege consists in profaning or treating unworthily the sacraments and other liturgical actions, as well as persons, things, or places consecrated to God. Sacrilege is a grave sin especially when committed against the Eucharist, for in this sacrament the true Body of Christ is made substantially present for us.

2118 God's first commandment condemns the main sins of irreligion: tempting God, in words or deeds, sacrilege, and simony.

2139 Tempting God in words or deeds, sacrilege, and simony are sins of irreligion forbidden by the first commandment.

So, apparently it seems, Fr Bozek never learned of the sin of sacrilege. Being such an expert theologian (10 years of theology), how could he have missed this?

He also stated the his 'ministry' will be a 'ministry' of reconciliation. We can only hope and pray. He "believes" that the excommunication is a "very unjust decision", he "believes that he is a priest "rescuing a congregation in the midst of a war with the Archdiocese"...He is their "Savior", I suppose.

Please pray for them.