The WSJ Picks Up on the St Stanislaus Rebellion

ST. LOUIS -- On the night before Christmas, parishioners of St. Stanislaus Kostka Polish Roman Catholic Church plan to join in what their archbishop considers a "gravely sinful" act.

After reciting Ojcze Nasz, the "Our Father" in Polish, hundreds of renegade parishioners expect to take Communion from their priest -- who has been stripped of his authority.

In the first two paragraphs we see "gravely sinful" and renegade...

Quite an article...Here are some more excerpts:

"Morally, everyone in our congregation knows they didn't do anything wrong," says William Bialczak, the board's chairman, who was married at St. Stanislaus and has now been excommunicated. "It's all about property and money."

Morally, this is about more than rejecting legitimate ecclesiastical authority - It involves the willful rejection of the Church and of Christ, Himself. But more on that later...

At stake are real estate, bank accounts and religious artwork valued in the hundreds of millions of dollars -- not to mention a hierarchy's frayed relationship with its flock.

I have heard for two years that the assets were roughly about 9.5 million - NOW we find out it's in the HUNDREDS of MILLIONS....Well, as the show goes..."That's a horse of a different color!"

But this is the true crux of the matter:

The effort to bring St. Stan's in line has never been about money, says Msgr. John Shamleffer, the diocesan canon lawyer. "We don't need their money," he says. "It's about who has governance over the parish."

There you go, folks - that's about as simple as it gets. If one goes back and reads the founding documents, it's quite clear that the Archdiocesan Bishop was to maintain governance of the parish...'nuff said. Don't believe me? Look here, here, and here.

Mr. Bialczak, the board chairman, says the parish won't yield. If it's drummed out of the Catholic Church, he says, St. Stan's will become independent. "When this priest comes here and we start having Mass and communion, I'll have it from him," he says. "He's still a man of God."

Yep...the parish won't yield...a true mark of obstinancy.

I bookmarked the article for reading later.