The saga of St. Stanislaus continues. Archbishop Burke warned that though those who attended Christmas mass at the church would not be excommunicated, they would be guilty of mortal sin. The response? Over 2000 of the faithful from the entire area showed up to provide support for the embattled Priest and parish board.
The next day, during the more intimate Christmas Day service that the priest, Rev. Marek Bozek said this was not his first difficulty with the church. While he was a seminary student in Poland, he was accused of being a ‘promiscuous homosexual’:
Bozek told his new parishioners the story of his struggle five years ago at a seminary in Poland with an accusation made against him – “a witch hunt” he called it. “Some people accused me of being a promiscuous homosexual,” he said. He told the rector of the seminary to provide proof, and said the rector couldn’t, but persisted in the accusations.
Bozek said he went to his Warmia Archbishop Edmund Michal Piszcz, and told him to call off the rector. He threatened to sue the archdiocese. “They have no proof,” he told Piszcz. Bozek said Piszcz agreed. Nevertheless the priest left the seminary and Poland, landing in Springfield, Mo.
When asked if he is a homosexual:
“When people ask me that, I just say, I am a celibate and chaste priest, so it doesn’t matter,” Bozek said.
In one church in a small parish in a northwest suburb of St. Louis, the Catholic church and it’s moves to return to a more primitive and repressive time, are being challenged. I’m not Catholic, or Polish, but it makes me proud to be in St. Louis.