ST. LOUIS (MO)
The New York Times
By MALCOLM GAY
Published: March 17, 2012
ST. LOUIS — A decadelong dispute between the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Louis and a local Polish parish has taken a big step forward with a state judge’s ruling that the parish has rightful control of its assets and property.
In a 50-page decision, the judge, Bryan Hettenbach of St. Louis Circuit Court, sided with St. Stanislaus Kostka Church, finding that the archdiocese had no legitimate ownership claim on the parish.
“The archbishop may own the souls of wayward St. Stanislaus parishioners, but the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation owns its own property,” Judge Hettenbach wrote in a decision he delivered last week that sided with the parish on all but two of the case’s 12 questions.
The ruling came after nearly four years of litigation in which the archdiocese sued the St. Stanislaus Parish Corporation for control.
“We got really the best,” said the Rev. Marek Bozek, 37, who took to Facebook and Twitter upon hearing the news. “The archdiocese was asking for a drastic change to the status quo. But we were asking that the status quo be upheld and be made legal for perpetuity. There is not one change in our status quo as a result of the ruling. The change is that it’s been vindicated and validated.”
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