St. Louis, Mo: Will St. Stanislaus Join the Episcopal Church?

By Chris Regnier
Virtue Online
September 4, 2013

http://www.virtueonline.org/portal/modules/news/article.php?storyid=17991#.Uitk78a-2Sp

A north St. Louis church that was in a bitter legal fight for years with the St. Louis Archdiocese may be changing its denomination entirely.

St. Stanislaus Church could become part of the Episcopal church. The possible switch to the Episcopal church is laid out in a letter from Bishop Geroge Wayne Smith who leads the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri.

Bishop Smith's letter to the clergy and church members say Episcopal Diocese of Missouri and St. Stanislaus Kostka are in discussions that could lead to the church "coming into union" with the Episcopal church.

Smith calls the news "exciting." The letter says that St. Stanislaus could retain its Cherished Polish identity along with its practices and rites, or it could choose any or all of the liturgies in the Episcopal church.

St. Stan's fight with the Archdiocese ended earlier this year when the Archidocese ended its appeal of a court decision which gave St. Stan's control of its own church and assets. As part of that court battle, St. Stanislaus agreed not to represent itself as affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church.

St. Stanislaus' leader, father Marek Bozek, has talked about the need for his church to have a bishop and Bishop Smith visited St. Stan's last month. A timetable for when any official switchover might take place is still unclear.

VOL FOOTNOTE:St. Stanislaus Kostka Church is an independent church located in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. It was established as a Catholic parish in 1880 to serve the Polish community in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. It is considered to be the best example of the opulent Polish Cathedral style of architecture west of the Mississippi River. The church is notable for a highly publicized dispute over control of the parish and its assets between the church's lay board of directors and the Archdiocese of St. Louis.

In December 2005, the Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke declared the parish's board members and its priest, Marek Bozek, excommunicated and announced his intention to suppress the parish, that is, disband it, with the likelihood that the premises would be sold. The church responded by holding a Christmas Eve Mass attended by 1,500-2,000 people. The church and the Archdiocese settled their legal dispute in 2013.

One orthodox Anglican observer asked; "What about the Dennis Canon? How's the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri going to handle that? Doesn't TEC know about the precedent St. Stan's set in Missouri re. ecclesiastical property law? Will they use one standard on property ownership for revisionist parishes and another for orthodox ones?". Stay tuned.