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

St. Stanislaus Kostka Church
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
St. Louis Landmark
Eastern exterior front of the church in 2020
Location	1413 North 20th Street, St. Louis, Missouri
Coordinates	38°38′32″N 90°12′21″W / 38.64228°N 90.20575°W / 38.64228; -90.20575
Built	1891[1]
Architect	Wessbecher & Hummel
Website	St. Stanislaus Parish
NRHP reference No.	79003635
Added to NRHP	July 10, 1979

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.^[2]

The church building itself is considered to be the best example of the opulent Polish Cathedral style of architecture west of the Mississippi River^{[citation needed]}.

The church is notable for a highly publicized dispute over control of the parish and its assets between the church's lay board of directors and the Archdiocese of St. Louis. In December 2005, Archbishop Raymond Leo Burke declared the parish's board members and its priest, Marek Bozek, excommunicated and announced his intention to disband the parish with the likelihood that the premises would be sold. The parish responded by holding a Midnight Mass on Christmas Eve attended by 1,500 to 2,000 people.^[3] The church and the archdiocese settled their legal dispute in 2013.