Over 1000 Throw RCBishop's Hatred Back in His Face Xmas Eve!

This Archbishop's "church" is the same one persecuting gay priests, the poor people of this congregation, denying communion and other sacs to gays and lesbians, and supporting the GWB fight to axe womens' rights, all while doing NOTHING to stop its priests from sodomizing children.

HUNDREDS ATTEND 'ILLICIT' MASS IN MO.
Associated Press, December 25, 2005
ST. LOUIS (AP) -- At least 1,500 people attended Christmas Eve Mass presided by an excommunicated Roman Catholic priest, despite warnings from the archbishop that participating would be a mortal sin. The Rev. Marek Bozek left his previous parish without his bishop's permission and was hired by St. Stanislaus Kostka Church earlier this month. As a result, Bozek and the six-member lay board were excommunicated last week by Archbishop Raymond Burke for committing an act of schism.

Burke said it would be a mortal sin for anyone to participate in a Mass celebrated by a priest who was excommunicated -- the Catholic Church's most severe penalty. Burke, who couldn't stop the Mass, said it would be ''valid'' but ''illicit.'' Despite the warning, Catholics and non-Catholics from as far as Oregon and Washington, D.C., filled the church. An overflow crowd viewed the Mass by closed circuit TV in an adjoining parish center.

''I'm not worried about mortal sin,'' said worshipper Matt Morrison, 50. ''I'll take a stand for what I believe is right.'' When Bozek entered from the rear of the church, the congregation rose and greeted him with thunderous applause. ''It was magic,'' said JoAnne La Sala of St. Louis, a self-described lapsed Catholic. ''You could feel the spirit of the people.''

The penalty was the latest wrinkle in a long dispute over control of the parish's $9.5 million in assets. The parish property and finances have been managed by a lay board of directors for more than a century. Burke has sought to make the parish conform to the same legal structure as other parishes in the diocese. As a result, he removed both the parish's priests in 2004.

Bozek, a Pole who arrived in the U.S. five years ago, said he agonized about leaving his previous parish but wanted to help a church that had been deprived of the sacraments for 17 months. ''I will give them the sacrament of reconciliation, the Eucharist. I will visit the sick and bury the dead,'' he said. ''I will laugh with those who are laughing and cry with those who are crying.'' Some argue that St. Stanislaus' more than century-old governing structure holds the same authority as church law and the bishop lacked merit for imposing excommunication, he said.
Save St. Stanislaus Kostka Church: http://www.saveststans.org

Fascinating incident -- looks like a revolt against Rome. Here's hoping the fire spreads.

Boomer (ex-Catholic)

Seeing as there is a dispute over the parish's assets...could it be that the bishop needs the money for court costs or something like that? I'm glad to see that people are following their hearts and not cowering before the words of someone with a title.

"The penalty was the latest wrinkle in a long dispute over control of the parish's $9.5 million in assets."

this one is all about $$$. Who wants to bet the archdiocese would still be interested in this church if they did NOT have $9.5 million in assets?

My mother is a member of one of the largest Catholic parishes in this area. Their weekly donations have fallen more than 50% in the last 5 years.

St. Louis has a lot of Catholics. If they are experiencing what my mom's parish is going thru, then they very well could be losing money.

True dat -- Catholics are getting disillusioned w/BeneDICK's hard line and JP2's hard lines before him. Could be why RCC is feeling a money pinch.

If they were THAT bad off, there's the PIETA they could sell, the PALACE BeneDICK lives in w/its Sistine Chapel, all the Giotto's, the Tintorelli's, the Pope's gold stores, the slum bldgs in Chicago where the Diocese there is the biggest slumlord of that town. Holdings across the world. And the billions in donations coming in each week to their coffers. The RCC is NOT hurting for money. Period.

And to think that our Savior had NOTHING but a wooden cup as His chalice. These bozos are supposed to be IMITATING Christ. They better imitate the money changers of Jesus' temple. As a Church, they seem as corrupt as our very own GWB criminals.

I used to teach in Catholic schools - for peanuts. My hubby, who is not Catholic, suggested that the church sell a painting or two and give ALL their teachers a big fat raise.

is more interested in acts of schism than acts of jism, just like the rest of the Church hierarchy.

Sorry. Couldn't resist the comparison. :blush:

and go over the Archbishops head.

the authority of the Archbishop... but it'd be interesting to see what happened.

Honestly, it all seems to be going that way. And if Rome insists on taking the hard line, they're going to find themselves falling apart, literally, with individual congregations like St.Stan's, doing their own mini-Reformation.

The message for the Church (universal) is clear: Change, or die.

We have to stand up to the bullies. If we bloody there nose once they'll back down. Thanks for the link.

Over a thousand (church holds 450 max) stood up to the RC Bully Church on Xmas Eve Mass, the birth of the TRUE King above King George, Prince Pope BeneDICK, all the other rats in this world.

I'm sure God blessed all of us who were there.