ST. LOUIS (MO)
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
BY TIM TOWNSEND • ttownsend@post-dispatch.com > 314-340-8221 | Posted: Friday, March 16, 2012
In between taking phone calls from reporters Thursday, the Rev. Marek Bozek paged through a huge Bible in the sacristy of St. Stanislaus Kostka Catholic Church, looking for the perfect readings for a Mass of Thanksgiving.
The Mass was to be held later in the evening in response to a sweeping — and shocking, according to church-state scholars — legal victory over the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The ruling, by St. Louis Circuit Judge Bryan Hettenbach, affirmed St. Stanislaus’ ownership of its property and its right to craft bylaws that limit the authority of the Roman Catholic Church over the small Polish congregation.
Because the church’s impromptu Mass would be celebrated by Bozek (whom the Roman Catholic church doesn’t consider a priest) in the sanctuary of St. Stanislaus (which the archdiocese doesn’t consider a Catholic parish), it would not be a Mass, at least as defined by the Catholic Church.
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