Three years ago, Roger Krasnicki begged the Rev. Marek Bozek to make a risky move — to come and lead his parish, St. Stanislaus Kostka, after Archbishop Raymond Burke had removed its priests in a dispute with the parish board over its financial structure.Bozek prayed for months and then decided to leave the Springfield-Cape Girardeau Diocese to become pastor at St. Stanislaus, the Polish-heritage church near downtown.
A month later, the archbishop stripped the parish of its standing as a Roman Catholic Church and ordered Bozek to return to his diocese.
But Bozek stayed, standing up for what he felt was injustice.
Now Krasnicki is leading a fight to get rid of him.
At an emotional church board meeting Sunday attended by about 300 parishioners, Krasnicki argued that Bozek was disregarding church teachings by supporting the ordination of women as priests and offering Communion to divorcees and to practicing homosexuals.
"He has broken promises made to me ... and this entire parish when he told us he had no agenda but to come to St. Stanislaus to serve the Polish people who were without the sacraments," Krasnicki told the crowd, many of whom heckled Krasnicki during his speech.
Bozek, 33, who was born in Poland, said he had been forthright in his vision from the beginning: that the church would not survive as a strictly Polish parish, and that although he would embrace its heritage, he would strive to make it more inclusive.
Since he took over the parish in December 2005, membership has more than doubled at a time when many Americans raised as Catholics are leaving the faith.
The board listened Sunday to more than an hour's worth of comments from parishioners, each limited to one minute, most of them supporting the priest. Many said they were attending Mass once again because of him.
One man who came to St. Stanislaus two years ago after leaving the Catholic Church in the late '70s said, "When I left, I hoped that someday, somewhere, somebody would turn around the church so I could get back in. I think this is the day."
Most of the new parishioners are people whom Bozek calls outcasts. Three lesbian couples and four gay couples attend, as well as divorcees and former members of other religions, he said.
Bozek insists that he is following the Roman Catholic faith but that traditions within the religion can change.
"There are disciplines of the Church I believe need to be changed for the church to be more just and more Christ-like," he said at the meeting.
Some spoke in support of Bozek's open offering of Communion and his attendance in November of an ordination ceremony for two women. They argued that he was not violating Catholic dogma. One young man, who said he was one of the parish's recent Polish immigrants, noted that he had grown up in an era of freedom and agreed with the parish's being more open.
About seven people joined Krasnicki in speaking out against Bozek. They said their pastor was leading them in the wrong direction.
"Build or buy your own church and find your own bishop," one man said. "But please don't disrupt and corrupt this church and its parishioners."
They also accused the board of paying Bozek too much for his car insurance and home. "We old-timers in this parish are the pillars," said a woman who has attended the church for 80 years. "We built it, and you are giving it away."
Board chairman William Bialczak said the board would consider the comments. He estimates that about 100 of the 550 registered parishioners want Bozek removed. If they get a petition with 50 signatures of registered members, the issue will go to a full vote of the parish.
On Wednesday, Bozek is scheduled to meet with Burke. The archbishop is expected to begin the process of laicizing, or defrocking, the priest over the issues of leading the parish in defiance of the archbishop and the priest's role in supporting the women's ordination ceremony.
Bozek said that the process would probably go quickly and that he was already looking for a bishop who would allow him to continue his ministry.
At the end of the board meeting, he told his supporters and his detractors that he would continue working hard for each of them.
"I will be your priest until my dying breath," he said. "This is my promise, and I intend to keep it."
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