St. Stanislaus Flys A Giant American Flag
Here’s a photo of an American flag suspended from the rigs of two fire trucks in front of St. Stanislaus Kostka Roman Catholic Church in St. Louis Saturday night. It’s not often that you see an American flag used in that manner and it made me wonder why.
After all, Christmas eve is a joyful but solemn time for Christians, celebrating the humble birth of Jesus. It’s not exactly the Fourth of July. But as it turns out, the huge American flag (looks like a 30′ x 60′) was more a symbol of defiance than anything else.
You see, the church’s newly installed Priest. the Rev. Marek Bozek and the church’s six-member board were all ex-communicated by Archbishop Raymond Burke who also warned parishioners to stay away because it would be a mortal sin to attend Mass given by Bozek. But Burke’s rash actions and his warning had the opposite effect. Just days before Christmas Eve, local papers were predicted that a crowd of a hundred might show for the service. Instead, 1500 people showed up, some coming from as far away as Washington, D.C. and Oregon.
Why the inflated interest? Rev. Bozek was not excommunicated for anything the average person would consider deserving of such severe punishment. On the contrary, he simply wanted the congregation of St. Stanislaus to have the Priest they had been without for almost a year-and-a-half. So he took it upon himself, against the wishes of his superiors, to fill that role.
St. Stanislaus is an old church, dating back to the 19th century when an agreement was reached to allow the board control of the property and finances. Archbishop Burke, in an effort to regain control of the money, removed St. Stanislaus’ Priests a year-and-a-half ago, but people continued to show up, eventually convincing Bozek to be their Priest.
So now the symbolism of the giant American flag becomes clear. The congregation of St. Stanislaus considers the ex-communication to be an attack on their religious liberties. Many in the congregation are asking the question that’s sure to be asked if this gets to the national level: Why has a Priest been ex-communicated for serving as he was called to do when so many other Priests have committed hideous crimes such as pedophilia and have remained in the church?
At a time when the Catholic Church has had to weather so much bad press, it seems foolish to be looking for more.