A large population of Polish parishoners in the St. Louis Archdiocese continue to support Archbishop Burke and the Catholic Church's teachings regarding parish administration, but the mainstream media and board members of St. Louis' former Polish parish, St. Stanislaus, would have you believe otherwise. Through deliberate misinformation, the board members and the media are trying to deliver a one-two punch to the Catholic Church in St. Louis, and especially to Archbishop Burke.
I give my full support to the Archbishop, the Catholic Church and these faithful Polish parishoners, and will pray that this situation is resolved quickly and effectively.
The parishoners have written a letter entitled "An Appeal that Will Never Make the News from a Group of St. Stanislaus Parishoners" - sadly, I think the title is 100% accurate. But the press hasn't seemed to always represent the Church and its supporters very well in the past--why should it start now? I have included some of the text from the letter:
Many Catholics in the St. Louis Archdiocese have initially expressed support for the board of directors of the civil corporation of St. Stanislaus Parish. This was a result of an intensive media campaign conducted by the board of directors and their supporters. The main objective of the board seems to be to discredit Archbishop Burke, damage his reputation, and portray the parish community as a victim of his demands. Secular media not only disregarded the existence of parishioners supporting Archbishop Burke, but also distorted the truth about the background of the conflict. One such distortion relates to the fact that St. Stanislaus Kostka parishioners supporting Archbishop Burke refused to participate in January 9 th voting which was orchestrated as another publicity exploit by the board of directors and its media advisers. Although the board and their spokesmen loudly attempt to portray themselves as representatives of St. Stanislaus parish community, in reality they represent only a group of supporters who choose to affirm them. This critical distinction was never made by the media.Support for the “Save St. Stan’s” campaign mounted by the board of directors is provided from many sources interested in destroying the unity of the Roman Catholic Church. The campaign slogan became even a City of St. Louis mayoral race issue, when one of the candidates publicly expressed support for the board of directors, while acknowledging no affiliation with the Catholic Church. The public scandal caused by the board, which has been instrumental in swaying the opinions of many of its supporters, and of the general public, has created much pain in the Archdiocese of St. Louis and in the community at large.
You may read the full letter (as well as many other documents related to this whole St. Stanislaus ordeal on the St. Louis Archdiocesan Website.
Read earlier thoughts of mine on this issue.