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	Archbishop Threatens to Withhold Sacraments By Tim Townsend Post-Dispatch [St. Louis MO] January 5, 2005 St. Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has threatened to withhold the sacraments of the Roman Catholic church, including Communion, from board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Parish in a dispute over control of the church. "I warn you that your refusal to comply with the legitimate directives of the Holy See and me, your Archbishop, carries with it, the punishment of 'interdict or other just penalties,'" wrote Burke in a letter to the board members. The archbishop set a date of Feb. 4 for the board to comply with his directives. Monsignor Thomas J. Green, professor of canon law at Catholic University, described interdict as a "mini excommunication." Burke was installed as St. Louis' Catholic leader almost exactly a year ago, and his warning to the St. Stanislaus board is the latest in a series of moves that have earned him a controversial reputation as an uncompromising leader and strong individualist. "Each bishop runs his own shop, and some things happen in some dioceses that would never happen in others," said Thomas G. Plante, a professor of religion and psychology at Santa Clara University in California. "Rank and file Catholics tend to think of the bishops marching in lock step, but that's not true. What happens in St. Louis can be radically different from what happens in San Francisco or Los Angeles based on who's in charge." Charles M. Wilson, executive director of the St. Joseph Foundation, a legal support group for Catholics, said in 20 years of cases, he had seen the penalty of interdict issued less than a dozen times. "It is not commonplace," he said. He added that because most interdicts are handled quietly, "it is impossible to know how many happen" each year. "It might be rare," said Jamie Allman, an archdiocesan spokesman, "but it's even rarer for a board of directors to hijack a Catholic church." Burke's letter was sent just days before St. Stanislaus parishioners are due to vote on whether to accept the archbishop's latest proposal to hand control of the parish back to the archdiocese. "Why wouldn't he send a letter out days before they're going to vote on the parish," said Allman. "The board needs to know that by their actions, they're imperiling the future of their church . . . the archbishop has promised them more than any other Catholic church in the archdiocese currently has." In his letter, Burke said that "the outcome of that vote will have no bearing on the future of the Parish" because, he maintained, the board has written the question in such a way that parishioners will not be voting on what is truly at stake. The penalty of interdict would be issued by Burke, not by the Vatican, but its effect for the board members would be in place throughout the Catholic world, not just in the archdiocese of St. Louis. If Burke issues the penalty, the board members would be given an opportunity to respond during what would amount to an appeal. It would also be lifted if any of those penalized were to repent. "I consider it a badge of honor," said board member Robert Zabielski. "I'm sticking up for what is right. Pedophiles in this church are transferred from diocese to diocese while good, faithful people are excommunicated." Zabielski said he was not surprised to receive the letter. "It was only a matter of time before something like this came," he said. Roger Krasnicki, a St. Stanislaus spokesman, called Burke's warning "a heinous act." "Archbishop Burke has gone far beyond his authority," he said, "and he has abused his authority in executing an order like this." Burke was on retreat and unavailable for comment, but Allman said the archbishop was doing his job. "These are not threats, they're realities - not born out of the archbishop's imagination, but out of the canon law books in Rome," said Allman. "He'd face problems from the Vatican himself if he didn't do this." In the letter, Burke wrote that he was issuing the warning to the six board members -Zabielski , John Baras, William Bialczak, Edward Florek, Stanley Novak and Joseph Rudawski- "because your lack of compliance constitutes a grave act of disobedience, leading parishioners into disobedience to the Holy See and to the Archbishop and, thus, publicly manifesting lack of unity with the Church." "We don't understand," said Allman, "why the board of directors thinks it's so surprising that the Roman Catholic Church would ask a Roman Catholic church to be a Roman Catholic church."
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