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  Burke to Penalize St. Stan Board Members

By Tim Townsend
Post-Dispatch [St. Louis MO]
February 8, 2005

St Louis Archbishop Raymond Burke has decided to issue the church penalty of interdict against the six board members of St. Stanislaus Kostka church, according to a spokesman. The penalty means Roman Catholic sacraments would be withheld from those who are covered by the interdict order.

Burke has not said when the interdicts will go out,said Jamie Allman. In a one-sentence news release issued this morning, the archdiocese said Burke’s “ extraordinary patience in dealing with the Board of St. Stanislaus Kostka has officially evaporated.”

In a letter to the board’s lawyer, Bernard C. Huger, an attorney for the archdiocese, rejected the most recent proposal by the board saying it “does not meet the criteria of acceptability under Canon law and the rules, regulations and requirements (of) the Archdiocese and for these reasons is not

acceptable to the Archbishop.”

Earlier, Monsignor Thomas J. Green, professor of canon law at Catholic University, had described interdict as a "mini excommunication."

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.

At issue is control of the 125-year-old church and its estimated $9 million in holdings. Burke has said he wants the parish structure to conform with church law. To conform, the parish would have to agree

to be governed by the archdiocese. Critics and opponents have said Burke wants control of St.

Stanislaus' assets and property. Parishioners want to remain Roman Catholic.

The parish is self-governed, based on a model that parish leaders say was brought to American by European immigrants in the 19th century. A lay board manages the assets of the parish.

Allman said Burke would begin drafting his decision on the interdict. Burke insisted was not meant to be punitive, but a means to promote a change of heart. St. Stanislaus' board "will know when the

interdict is imposed when they receive it in the mail," Allman said.

 
 

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