St. Stanislaus Kostka Church (St. Louis, Missouri)

St. Stanislaus Kostka Church is an independent Catholic church located in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. Formerly a parish belonging to the Catholic Church, it was established in 1880 to serve the Polish community in the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The parish is maintained and managed by its parishioners as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation. The church building itself has been called one of the best examples of the opulent Polish Cathedral style of architecture west of the Mississippi River. The church is notable for a highly publicized dispute between the church's lay board of directors and the Archdiocese of St. Louis. The Archdiocese and the board had been involved in a protracted dispute regarding control of the parish and its assets dating to the early 20th century, which came to a head in 2004, when the board feared that the Archdiocese (then under the leadership of Raymond Leo Burke) would attempt to close and sell the parish. The legal dispute culminated in a 2013 agreement whereby St. Stanislaus Kostka Church became an independent church unaffiliated with the Archdiocese and the Catholic Church at large.

Church data from Wikidata (CC0). Summary from Wikipedia (CC BY-SA).