St. Stanislaus Kosta Church in St. Louis, Missouri
When Newchurch Archbishop Burke Tried in 2004 to Steal It to Pay off for His Sex Crimes
The Congregation and Its Courageous Pastor Said a Resounding "No!"
New archbishop Carlson Is Now Trying to Get the Congregation to Sell out to Him
But Their Trust in Newchurch and Its Leadership Has Now Been Broken

Readers of these Commentaries will remember well the case of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church in St. Louis, Missouri. It was once a traditional Catholic church that served primarily Polish immigrants. It had been given a perpetual charter in 1891 by the first Archbishop of St. Louis to operate independently of the archdiocese. It kept up its end of the covenant. It took not one red cent from the archdiocese, even during the Great Depressions of the late 19th century and the 1930s.

That was St. Stanislaus' problem: it was too successful. So well did the church manage its affairs that over its century of stewardship, its value appreciated to over 11,000,000 U.S. dollars. When the Newarchdiocese was forced by the courts to pay damages to the children who had been raped by its presbyters, the Newchurch archbishop decided to steal its money. This New archbishop was the infamous Raymond Burke, who, when New bishop of La Crosse, Wisconsin, consecrated as a Newchurch "nun" a surgically-altered male. Moreover, he ran one of the country's most successful cover-ups of child rapes by Newchurch clergy.

When Burke in 2004 attempted to steal St. Stanislaus and pillage it for its money, an unexpected thing happened: the church said a resounding "No!" to Burke. It said that its property was independent of his predations because of the perpetual charter that it had from the first Archbishop of St. Louis. Burke, who was desperate to get the money to pay for his sex crimes, huffed and puffed and eventually Novus Ordo "excommunicated" the church's board and courageous pastor. It was of no avail. They said that they were independent of Burke's Novus Ordo and went about their business. Their attendance tripled.

Burke's failure to intimidate the church resounded so badly in Newrome that Benedict-Ratzinger fired him as archbishop and moved him to Newrome where he could be carefully watched. He was also given a sinecure as chief justice of Newvatican's supreme court, the Apostolic Signatura, which rubber-stamps Benedict-Ratzinger's decisions, as it did recently in upholding the unjust closings of several Boston, Massachusetts, churches that were financially solvent.

St. Stanislaus remains an embarrassment to the Newchurch archdiocese, so the new Newchurch archbishop, Robert Carlson, is trying to effect one of those infamous Novus Ordo "compromises," which lures its victims into giving away their rights by offering them crumbs for recognition by the Newchurch of the New Order. On July 25, 2010, the St. Stanislaus congregation heard the terms of a possible "settlement" with the archdiocese. To gain Novus Ordo recognition, it would have to turn its property and assets over to a "parish corporation," organized and staffed by the Newarchdiocese, and Carlson would pick the pastor and approve the board of directors. In other words, St. Stanislaus was being presented with a sellout.

Most of the congregation has stood firm against the Newchurch predations. They suspect that the "deal" is simply a ploy for Carlson to get control of the church -- and close it. Certainly he would get rid of its courageous pastor, Marek Bozek, considered a hero by most of the congregation, under whose pastorate the church's attendance has tripled. Said one lifelong congregant: "We were disowned by the Catholic Church, how long ago? And we're doing fine. We don't need them." Their trust of the Newarchdiocese has been broken. [Some information for this Commentary was contributed by the St. Louis, Missouri Post Dispatch.]

Good Catholics, whatever their religious persuasions are now after having been disowned by the Novus Ordo "authorities," the pastor and congregation of St. Stanislaus Kosta, stood firm for their rights. If Catholics around the United States and the world had done the same in the 1960s, before the Novus Ordo apparatus took control, Catholic churches today would be traditional instead of sellouts to the Novus Ordo.