Group Defends Archbishop Raymond Burke

By Rebecca Wu

(KSDK) A newly formed group has now jumped into the fray over St. Stanislaus.

The grassroots group calls itself "Defenders of Archbishop Burke." They showed their support at St. Agatha Parish on Sunday. Bill Mckenzie is the group's founder. Mckenzie said, "We are here to defend the Archbishop against attacks from people who are disgruntled."

Earlier this month, parishioners at St. Stanislaus were notified they were no longer part of the Roman Catholic Church since they continue to operate independently as a civil corporation. In December, the church's board of directors and priest were excommunicated by the Archbishop. McKenzie said, "People were calling radio talk shows, calling him Hitler, on-line forums with the newspaper, people calling him idiot, jerk, anti-Christ."

Mckenzie said he is not affiliated with either St. Stanislaus or the Archdiocese. He just wants to help mend the broken fence. Mckenzie said, "We have nothing against the people at St. Stanislaus. We think they are doing the wrong thing but we just want them to come back to the church."

Meanwhile at St. Stanislaus, parishioners said the hate-calling didn't come from their church. Parishioner Bernice Krauze said, "We don't have anything against him, he's still head of our church as far as we're concerned and we pray for him every week in our petitions for prayers."

In fact, Father Mark Bozek agreed with some of what the new group stands for. Father Bozek said, "I could actually become a member of this group because I want to defend his honor. I will defend the honor of every person of you and anybody who listens to us because we all are human beings and we all have our dignity and values as Christians and humans so none of us deserved to offended in any way."

Former members of St. Stanislaus who agree with the Archbishop have moved to St. Agatha. On Sunday, Father Czeslaw Litak, a native of Poland, was installed as their new pastor.

To contact "Defenders of Archbishop Burke:" DEFENDABPBURKE@SBCGLOBAL.NET.