St. Stanislaus Kostka Church is in discussions to join the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, according to a letter by Bishop George Wayne Smith.
Smith sent the letter to the Episcopal Diocese’s clergy last week ”” and posted it online over the weekend ”” informing them that discussions with the former Catholic parish “could lead to the church coming into union with the Diocese, should both parties agree that this is in their best interests and in best service to Christ.”
In February, the Archdiocese of St. Louis dismissed its appeal of a 2012 St. Louis Circuit Court decision handing over control of St. Stanislaus Kostka, at 1413 North 20th Street, to its own lay board, and ending a decade-long legal battle between the church and the archdiocese.
Read it all and follow the link to read the letter from Bishop Smith.
I wonder what the legal implications of the St. Louis Circuit Court decision might be, given that the hierarchical structure of the Roman Catholic Church is not at issue. Does Missouri automatically defer to neutral principles even with explicitly hierarchical churches?
The web sites are interesting. The St. Louis parish was a non-geographical parish for Polish people and a late 19th century Archbishop granted the parish corporation control of its property. They appear to have a relationship with a gay-friendly group of ex-RC clergy whose claim to apostolic succession is not clearly stated on the web site. The PNCC does not endorse same-sex relationships, and my guess is that this church will not join them. The PNCC has full communion with a Norwegian Old Catholic group.
I wish these fellow Christians all blessings.
Whatever.
Congratulations to the Roman Catholic Church. Now if they could just get a large organization of 60’s era nuns to swim the Thames…
The average age of those nuns suggests that they will be crossing another river soon enough. The future doesn’t belong to them.
I notice that one of the comments under the article says that St Stanislaus is not joining TEC diocese but that the latter will provide episcopal oversight. A loose affiliation, then. Incidentally if they did join it would raise the question of the title of the parish as St Stanislaus, patron saint of novices and a Jesuit novice when he died, is not recognised in TEC.
While the English-language version of Wikipedia has no entry on St. Stanislaus’ priest, Marek Bozek, its Polish version does, here:
http://pl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marek_Bożek
Its most relevant passage runs:
“Od 1998 roku by? klerykiem Wy?szego Seminarium Duchownego Metropolii Warmi?skiej Hosianum w Olsztynie. W 2000 roku zosta? pos?dzony o nieobyczajne zachowanie, które sugerowa?o sk?onno?ci homoseksualne. W zwi?zku z zaistnia?? sytuacj? zosta? z olszty?skiego seminarium duchownego usuni?ty.â€
In English:
“From 1998 he was a seminarian at the Warmia Metropolitan Seminary in Olsztyn, the Hosianum. In 2000 he was accused of indecent behavior that suggested homosexuality. In view of the situation he was removed from the Olsztyn seminary.â€