St. Stanislaus Kostka Polish Roman Catholic Parish
1413 N. Twentieth Street
St. Louis. Missouri 63106

News Release:  8 February 2005

For Information Contact:
Roger Krasnicki           314-849-4041             

Directors Reject Interdict

Archbishop Raymond L. Burke has rejected the reasonable and generous offers of St. Stanislaus Kostka
 Parish and has instead chosen to impose the contemptible penalty of Interdict against the Board of
Directors of the Parish Corporation.  Archbishop Burke does this not over an issue of faith, but rather over
his demand for money and property.  The Directors, unanimously and with clear consciences, refuse to
recognize any validity to such an immoral, unjust and inequitable sanction.

Archbishop Burke's harsh act exceeds the ecclesiastical penalties imposed by him against the
many accused and convicted priest pedophiles who violated the laws of God and man, and instead hid and
denied those crimes helping bring the American Catholic Church to the brink of financial and moral ruin.

The actions of Archbishop Burke, who has steadfastly refused to meet with those he punishes, exceed all
bounds of reason and clearly indicate the priority that he places on his own desires over that of the
common good of the flock he has been appointed to shepherd.  It is about raw power and greed, and not
about the teachings of Jesus Christ. 

While the Archdiocese will no doubt attempt to continue to disparage the Directors and Parishioners
of St. Stanislaus as disobedient and rebellious against his decrees and his selective interpretation
and use of Church law, it is in fact Archbishop Burke who repudiates his vows to serve the people, in
favor of satisfying his own demands for power.

We did not abandon our faith.  Archbishop Burke abandoned St. Stanislaus.  The Archbishop abandoned
St. Stanislaus by removing the priests from the faithful and forbidding the Sacraments at St. Stanislaus.
 The Archbishop continues to refuse to even meet with the Board that he now tries to condemn.
Instead of talking and being questioned by the people, he hires a highly paid PR spokesman to spin his
demands to the press. 

Instead of treating what is sacred as sacred, Archbishop Burke uses the Sacraments as a bargaining
chip.  He refuses the Sacraments he holds in one hand unless the Directors accede to his demands to put
St. Stanislaus' money and property in Archbishop Burke's other hand. 

In the 1800s, Archbishop Kenrick set up St. Stanislaus as a separate corporation.  In the many decades
when St. Stanislaus was in financial peril, the Archdiocese would not assist ---- no loans were ever given.
 St. Stanislaus had to stand on its own.  It did so only through  sacrifice, hard work and Faith.  Now that
the Parish has assets he wants, Archbishop Burke decrees that sacrifice, hard work and Faith by
generations of faithful was and is against his interpretation of Church law.  St. Stanislaus' parishioners do not 
believe that they are offending God by faithfully operating the church as it has been operated over the last centuries.

Abp. Burke leaves the Directors, in accord with the will of the Parishioners, to take whatever actions are
necessary to provide for their own spiritual well being. 

The Board of Directors, while always open to discuss the reinstatement of St. Stanislaus Directors and the
Parish into the Archdiocese, will not accept the Archbishop's demands to extort property and
autonomous control from the Parish in exchange for the Sacraments of our Holy Catholic Church.


Roger C. Krasnicki
Spokesman for the St. Stanislaus Board of Directors