St Stanislaus Parishioners Vote on Future

The parishioners of St. Stanislaus Kostka are voting for their history and their future, for their great-grandparents and their children.

They will mark a ballot asking the question that has haunted them for the last 18 months: "Should we turn over all property, funds and parish control to the Archdiocese of St. Louis?"

Parish leaders said they expected between 275 to 325 out of about 500 registered church members to vote. A small but vocal contingent of Polish Catholics who have been worshipping at St. John's said last week that they had collected at least 140 names on a petition supporting Burke that they would present during the voting.

The final bylaw of the parish's original 1891 articles of association states that no "amendments (shall) be made at any time which shall in anywise be in conflict with any law of the state of Missouri, or with any rule, regulation or requirement of the said Diocese of St. Louis in force at the time of such proposed change." The parish articles of agreement also require that the church remain Roman Catholic. It is on these two points that the archdiocese may sue should parishioners decide to continue ignoring Burke's wishes.

The bylaw changes at the heart of the conflict occurred in 2001 and 2004.

Source.