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July 25, 2005
Still Poles Apart
Polish bishop's visit to St. Louis fails to heal rift
A visit from the leader of the world's Catholic Poles appears to have done
little to patch the rift between two Polish parishes or end a deadlock between
the St. Louis Archdiocese and St. Stanislaus Kostka Church.
On Sunday, Bishop Ryszard Karpinski of Lublin, Poland, dedicated St. Agatha
parish as the new official Catholic Polish church in the St. Louis Archdiocese.
Karpinski is the leader of Polish Catholics outside Poland. St. Louis
Archbishop Raymond Burke and breakaway members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church
loyal to Burke had invited Karpinski to inaugurate St. Agatha's as the new
Polish apostolate during a Sunday Mass at the church.
I'd like to know more about the "leader of Polish Catholics outside Poland" part. Anyone?
Posted by Amy Welborn | Permalink
Comments
According to the St. Louis Archdiocesan newspaper (http://www.stlouisreview.com/article.php?id=8825), Bishop Karpinski is the Delegate of the Polish Bishops' Conference for the Pastoral Care of Polish Migrants. The Polish Church has always had a strong interest in caring for the spiritual needs of those who emigrated. The Resurrectionist Fathers (who run St. John Cantius parish in Chicago) have as their apostolate, the pastoral care of Poles in the diaspora - they refer to it as "Polonia"
Posted by: Tim Ferguson at Jul 25, 2005 10:57:35 AM
Amy:
I'm not sure, but it may be a reference to his position as "delegate of the Polish Bishops’ Conference for the Pastoral Care of Polish Migrants"
Posted by: ajb at Jul 25, 2005 10:59:16 AM
I wouldn't bet money on this, but I thought the primate of a country also had some sort of pastoral responsiblity for his country's expatriates.
At least, I think I heard something like that once.
Posted by: Der Tommissar at Jul 25, 2005 10:59:29 AM
THis couldn't be from the Polish National Catholic Church, could it?
Posted by: Ed the Roman at Jul 25, 2005 11:00:53 AM
No PNCC here.
I did enjoy the reporter's reference to the "breakaway members of St. Stanislaus Kostka Church loyal to [Archbishop] Burke." So, the faithful are now the ones who are breaking away, while the others who have kept the divide going are...loyal(?) to the faith.
Posted by: Andy K. at Jul 25, 2005 11:08:37 AM
Yeah, the "leader of.. Catholics outside Poland" is your typical secular press inaccuracy. It's just a ref to the "delegate for migrants" post in the Polish Bishops' Conference -- one which carries no jurisdiction over the Polish diaspora.
The P-D did something similar a couple months ago. During the interregnum, Tim Townsend interviewed a Polish bishop named Szczepan Wesoly -- one of the JPII "Polish mafia" -- who claimed to be the spiritual leader of Polonia. He backed the St. Stan's board against Burke and things got a little messy.
Gotta love how easily misunderstood the system is, eh?
Posted by: Rocco Palmo at Jul 25, 2005 11:12:53 AM
Other than the Pope, how can there be a
'leader of the world's Catholic Poles'?
Are American citizens 'Catholic Poles'?
Posted by: CB at Jul 25, 2005 11:13:31 AM
The Resurrectionist Fathers (who run St. John Cantius parish in Chicago)
Resurrectionists run St. Stanislaus Kostka in Chicago, St. Hyacinth Basilica, St. Hedwig, St. Wenceslaus, and St. Stanislaus Bishop and Martyr.
St. John Cantius may technically be under their auspices because the pastor, Frank Phillips, is a CR. But since he founded his own religious congregation (SSJC), it's pretty much been its own thing. Out of the 7 or so priests there, he's the only CR.
Just a clarification...
Posted by: hieronymus at Jul 25, 2005 12:28:02 PM
FYI...
Most of these parishes operate under the Auspices of a Missionaries from Poland so they are under direction of their local Bishop in Poland but operate under the US Diocese they are on as well.
Holy Trinity in Chicago is such a parish -100% Polish responsible to Cardinal Glemp on Warsaw. They like any religious order saught permission from the local Cardinal/Bishop to operate within the Archdiocese.
Im not sure if other nationalities operate in such a way here in the united states. But I assure you that this is NOT the "Polish national Catholic Church" they are and always have been 100% purely belonging to Rome.
They just serve the massive Polish Communities in Chicago, St Louis, South Bend, Detroit, Milwaukee, Baltimore and a few now in Florida.
Posted by: Yvonne at Jul 25, 2005 12:44:11 PM
hieronymus,
I believe that, even with the Canons at St. John Cantius, that the parish is still considered part of the apostolate of the Resurrectionists - they still list it on their website (http://www.resurrectionists.com/parishes/list.cfm?state=il) as one of their parishes. If (God forfend) something were to happen to Fr. Phillips, I think the Resurrectionists would still need to propose a pastor to the Archdiocese. Perhaps, though, that link is outdated and the Resurrectionists have withdrawn from the oversight of the parish, with Fr. Phillips operating "on loan."
Posted by: Tim Ferguson at Jul 25, 2005 1:01:00 PM
I'm not sure about the hierarchical technicalities, but there is also a bishop for Hungarian Catholics outside of Hungary. His name is Attila Mikloshazy and he lives in Toronto. I had thought that these bishops deal with the needs of immigrant communities who require priests and a bishop from the old country to serve them in their native language.
Posted by: Frank Sales at Jul 25, 2005 1:55:59 PM
Credit Amy for the pun in the title.
There's an aspect of this not mentioned earlier that there's no bishop or priest for the former parishioners of St. Stanislaus Kostka. There's William Bialczak, chairman of the board, and the property is securely in the hands of the board -- that's about it. If the 300 or so voting members have stopped going to Mass anywhere, it is a terrible consequence of this dispute.
Posted by: Patrick Sweeney at Jul 25, 2005 2:46:18 PM
How many Poles do I need to attend my church per week to have a prelate from outside the country checking on my parish?
I am amazed by the amount of Poles who have been recruited to work in Cherokee hotels and other businesses.
Posted by: Fr. Shawn O'Neal at Jul 25, 2005 5:10:44 PM
Keep an eye on the St. Louis archdiocese. My bet is that the former Father Burke is way over his head. As a young priest he was singled out by Bishop Frecking in LaCrosse, WI for bishop training in large part because he looked like a younger clone of Frecking. Frecking has since died but Burke became bishop of the LaCrosse diocese and made a major mess of things. LaCrosse rejoiced on Burke's move to St. Louis, and then began to pray for the poor souls there that would have to endure Burke as archbishop.
Posted by: anon at Jul 25, 2005 11:13:38 PM
Yeah, right, anon....
As a pure-blood 'Sconie from the LaCrosse diocese I can assure you that you are sorely mistaken in your lumping of all LaCrosse diocese residents together as being anti-Burke. As I have grown up, just about every area matters in the diocese is on the rise -- vocations, parish life, Catholic education, Adoration, mission work, faith formation, promotion of Confession.
Many many more vocations in the seminary now than there were before Burke, and they are stronger candidates for the priesthood too.
Some mess.
Posted by: +veritas+ at Jul 26, 2005 12:37:06 AM
One of my great uncles (deceased) was superior general of the CRs. He was known as a strict disciplinarian so perhaps if he were still alive, he would support Burke. I don't!
Burke is an ass. He's managed to disperse part of his flock and, from what I've heard from contacts in St. Louis, he's alienated a lot of Catholics there. Re: pastoral skills, he's got all the sensitivity of a bull in a china shop. I'd like to see him yanked out of his current assignment and called back to Rome. A canon lawyer he is; a "shepherd" he's not!!!
Posted by: Joseph at Jul 27, 2005 2:08:47 AM
