Archbishop wants St. Stan priest defrocked

Rain · Jan 15, 2008

Excerpt from St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Archbishop wants St. Stan priest defrocked
By Tim Townsend

01/15/2008

. . .

Bozek was one of the clerical celebrants at a ceremony at Central Reform Congregation in the Central West End in November when two women were ordained as priests of an organization called Roman Catholic Womenpriests.

The two women who were ordained received letters from Burke before their ordinations stating that if they went through with the ordination, they would be automatically excommunicated. The Roman Catholic church does not ordain women as priests.

In the letter to Bozek, Burke said the priest must repent, apologize, do public penance and return to his own diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau.

Burke declared Bozek excommunicated in late 2005, after Bozek left his parish in Springfield and agreed to pastor St. Stanislaus. Burke and the Polish-heritage parishioners of St. Stanislaus had been in a legal battle over control of the church for nearly two years when the church's lay board of directors hired Bozek as pastor. Burke had removed St. Stanislaus' two priests 18 months earlier.

The archbishop subsequently declared all six of the church's board members excommunicated, and in January 2006, Burke suppressed the parish itself, meaning St. Stanislaus was stripped of its standing as a Roman Catholic church.

All of the board members have appealed the excommunications to the Vatican, which is still considering their cases. In November Burke told two new board members that they would be declared excommunicated if they joined the church's leadership.

The final decision on a defrocking rests with the Vatican. Many priests request laicization in order to return to civilian life, but few are forced out of the priesthood for anything other than sexual abuse. In the six years since the clergy sexual abuse scandal broke nationwide, the Vatican has returned scores of men to lay status.

About 10 priests in the archdiocese have been laicized for sexual abuse. Bozek would seem to be the first priest involuntarily laicized for something other than sexually abusing children.
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Archbishop wants St. Stan priest defrocked

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