It's All About the Money
by
Thomas A. Droleskey
One of the many sad consequences of Original Sin is that human beings are prone to give bad example to others. Fallen human nature inclines each of us to say and do things that we would never say and do if we reflected even for a second about the horror of sin and strove to love God with all of our hearts as He has revealed Himself solely through the Catholic Church. Alas, our fallen nature is such that it takes a conscious and sometimes heroic effort to cooperate with the graces won for us on Calvary by the shedding of every single drop of Our Lord's Most Precious Blood on the wood of the Holy Cross to choose not to surrender to the false allures and passions of the moment.
The devil not only tempts us to commit sins so as to estrange us from God and to lead us into Hell with him for all eternity. He tempts us to commit sins and to cause scandal so as to cause our fellow Catholics to become bitter and angry with us to such an extent that they will quit the practice of the Faith, thus committing spiritual suicide. The devil furthermore desires to use the scandals caused by our sins to dissuade non-Catholics from converting to the true Church in order to keep them for himself by preventing them from having belief in and access to the life-giving font of sanctifying grace. Even a momentary "slip of the lip" or an emotional outburst might be enough to keep a soul out of the Church forever.
What is true of us all is amplified in the case of bishops and priests. The devil does indeed prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls, hoping that those who are weak of Faith--or those who are ill-informed about their Faith--will indeed succumb to the temptation to use the bad examples of others, including bishops and priests, to discourage them from attempting to save their souls through the true Church and/or reaffirm them in a previously-made decision to live a life of spiritual sloth. Believe me, I know this all too well. Many were the pitched battles I fought with my late mother, who was never properly catechized in the itinerant youth she spent as the adopted daughter of a vaudevillian performer who claimed to be a Sioux Indian chieftain, in the 1970s to try to convince her that the bad example given by bishops and priests spoke only of their own weakness and of of any fault with the Catholic Faith. Having invested too much of herself over the years in her decision, made as a very young woman, not to practice the Faith, my mother remained steadfast in her ignorance, justifying herself over and over again by saying, "Money will get you anything you want in the Church."
In a way, you see, my mother was right. Money and power will get one almost anything he wants from bishops and their chancery factotums. Kings and princes and other potentates bought bishops and priests throughout the era of Christendom and thereafter, something I alluded to in A Martyr for the Church's Liberties on December 29, 2005. King Henry VIII knew how to use his own influence, bolstered by the promise of lands and money, to bribe the English bishops into accepting the declaration that he was the supreme head of the "church" in England. Knowing that the Catholic Church was in a weakened position, humanly speaking, as a result of the Protestant Revolt, King Louis XIV managed to have his way with the hierarchy, even to the point of resisting then Sister Margaret Mary Alacoque's plea that the entirety of France be consecrated to the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus at the specific request of Our Lord Himself. Emperor Joseph II of Austria, much in the manner of Emperor Henry IV some 700 years before, protected an "archbishop" of Milan elected by the people and not appointed by the pope, beholding the prelate to the emperor and not to the church. Closer to our own time has been the scandals of American politicians receiving the favor of bishops and priests even though they support one objective evil after another as a "civil right" that must be protected under cover of law and institutionalized in every aspect of our culture.
However, what my late mother, like so many other ill-informed Catholics, failed to recognize was God has raised up in every age holy men and women to make reparation for the scandalous behavior of bishops and priests. The scandals caused by the tendency of bishops and priests to do the bidding of the rich and powerful were met in every age by the prayers, penances, and sacrifices of holy priests and monks and nuns and lay people. Clerical corruption at the end of the First Millennium and the beginning of the Second Millennium prompted the formation of the Monastery of Cluny in the year 910 A.D. Saint Peter Damian, aided by Pope Leo IX, attacked with diligence and manliness the problem of perversity in the priesthood a century later. Saint Francis of Assisi's austere life of prayer, penance and poverty, which spanned the last quarter of the Twelfth and the first quarter of the Thirteenth Centuries, helped to effect a profound reform responsible in large measure for the glory of the High Middle Ages. The Church is divinely founded and maintained. She will last until the end of time. The jaws of Hell will never prevail against her. We can never let the bad examples of anyone deter us from the practice of the Faith. We must commit ourselves to our own spiritual reform on a daily basis and do what we can as the consecrated slaves of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart to be of service in the restoration of the Church's authentic patrimony, that of Tradition.
As Mrs. Randy Engel noted in a two-part series in Catholic Family News June and July of 2002, another effort along the lines of that started by Saint Peter Damian is necessary today to rid the Church of what has become an institutionalized ethos here in the United States of American and elsewhere that is not only tolerant but supportive of perversity as normal and natural behavior. Indeed, vast sums of money are spent each year by one diocese after another to send diocesan employees to the annual national meeting of the National Association of Catholic Diocesan Lesbian and Gay Ministries. The 2005 meeting was held in San Jose, California, and had its attendees greeted by the Bishop of San Jose, the Most Reverend Patrick McGrath, who had distinguished himself in early-2004 for writing that the Gospels did not contain historically accurate records of Our Lord's Passion, prompting Father Daniel Cooper of the Society of Saint Pius X to publicly accuse Bishop McGrath of heresy.
Other vast sums of money are spent to send diocesan employees to attend the annual national meetings of the Federation of Diocesan Liturgical Commissions, which has in the past featured panels on such traditionally "Catholic" subjects as Feng Shui and has hosted such speakers as the Episcopalian "priest" Eric Law, who has spoken before pervert-friendly conferences such as "Witness Our Welcome." Law was also featured at a National Association of Catholic Family Life Ministries conference hosted by the Bishop of the Diocese of Galveston-Houston, the Most Reverend Joseph Fiorenza, in September of 2003. And this is to say nothing of the vast sums of money spent by dioceses to host "religious education" conferences featuring all manner of heterodox speakers, the most notorious example being the annual soiree hosted by the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at the Anaheim Convention Center (which is in the Diocese of Orange, by the way) each February.
Putting aside, at least for the moment, the over $1 billion that archdioceses and dioceses have paid out in recent years to victims of perverted priests and of their diocesan protectors, the bureaucracy of the official apparatus of the Catholic Church in this country is rife with bloat and waste, aping the bloat and waste of the bureaucracy at all levels of government in this nation, which has expanded greatly since the days of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's "New Deal" seventy-three years ago. Countless millions upon millions of dollars are wasted in the headquarters of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) in Washington, D.C., on positions and materiel that are totally irrelevant, if not actually harmful, to the good of souls. Indeed, the USCCB headquarters that houses the production of some of the most egregious assaults on the sensus fidei imaginable cost over $4 million to build in the late-1990s. There have been well-documented cases of USCCB and diocesan employees paid by the monies donated by Catholics across the nation who support pro-abortion candidates for public office and who write favorable reviews of motion pictures promoting perversity in the name of "love." A woman named Patricia Hayes, who was appointed to serve on the USCCB's National Review Board in 2004, was most open in her support for abortion, prompting American Life League President Mrs. Judie Brown to petition the bishops to cancel her appointment. Such is the bankruptcy of the American bishops, however, that individuals who support moral evils with pride and arrogance are not in the least considered to be disqualified from applying for positions, no less actually being granted those positions.
The waste of the money donated by Catholics extends to one chancery office after another. The profligacy is such that the average parishioner has absolutely no idea how much money is wasted on offices and programs that help to undermine the Faith. The expansive bureaucracy acts as a multi-headed hydra, breathing fire in the direction of anyone who dares to challenge its autonomy, including a diocesan bishop if he has an inclination now and then to assert the authority given him in his Apostolic Mandate to actually govern his diocese. For the most part, however, diocesan bishops are all too willing to comply with the administrative and policy decisions made by their apparatchiks, eager to find more and more sources of money to squander on things that are deleterious to the good of souls. This quest for money, coupled with a hatred for the Church's actual Tradition, has been such that a campaign to close parishes and to sell church buildings in the name of "consolidation" and "pastoral reorganization" began in the immediate aftermath of the Second Vatican Council.
As I have noted in several commentaries in the past two years, the desire to sell off Catholic church buildings to the highest bidder is unprecedented in Church history. Yes, church buildings have been destroyed by fires, floods, earthquakes, and wars. True enough. Never before has it been the case that a self-made disaster, that is, the emptying of our pews as a result of the Novus Ordo Missae and the bewilderment caused by the Second Vatican Council, has resulted in the liquidation of church buildings, expedited in recent years by the monies paid out to the victims of perverted bishops and priests, enabled for decades in some instances, by other bishops and priests to continue preying on the weak and unsuspecting. The current spate of the closing of parishes and the sale of church buildings is indeed the direct result of the all-too-preventable scandals that arose into public view within the past twenty years precisely because of an active and intense sympathy for perversity amongst many in the hierarchy in this country and around the world, including in the Roman Curia itself.
Thus, we are witnessing at present the incredible spectacle of one American diocese, Spokane, Washington, and one American archdiocese, Portland, Oregon (which was once the see of one William Levada, soon to be elevated it is said, to the College of Cardinals), filing for bankruptcy, joining the Diocese of Saint George in Newfoundland, Canada, in such proceedings. The Diocese of Saint George has been ordered to sell off all of its assets, including its church building, which the diocese hopes that at least some parishioners will help to buy back. Ah, but who is going to own those church buildings if they are bought back by parishioners? The parishioners, incorporating themselves under civil law? Or the Diocese of Saint George? There would be a special irony if the Diocese of Saint George let its parishioners buy and then continue to own the church buildings it has been ordered to sell in order to pay off the debt incurred by scandals, largely associated with one priest, that have occurred there.
For, you see, the Archbishop of Saint Louis, Missouri, the Most Reverend Raymond Leo Burke, has asserted that a contract signed between parishioners of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church in Saint Louis and Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick on May 8, 1891, conceding control to a lay board of directors under civil law "forever" (see the transcript of the deed appended below), must be changed to give the Archdiocese of Saint Louis ownership of its property and assets. Archbishop Burke is continuing a campaign to take ownership of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church that was begun in 2003 by his predecessor, the now Archbishop of Philadelphia, Justin Cardinal Rigali (who was ordained for the Archdiocese of Los Angeles in 1961, one year before, you got it, a priest named Father Roger Mahony was ordained for the Diocese of Fresno after he had graduated from Saint John's Seminary in Camarillo, California). Archbishop Burke contended that the situation at Saint Stanislaus Kostka, whose property and assets are listed by its lay board of directors of being around $9.5 million, had to be brought into conformity with the 1983 Code of Canon Law.
The Archdiocese of Saint Louis had promised to abide by the contract of 1891 forever. Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick was knowingly making an exception to the rules concerning parish and diocesan property that had been laid down by the First Plenary Council of Baltimore, which he attended and was presided over by his own brother, Archbishop Francis Patrick Kenrick, in 1852. The contract entered into by Archbishop Peter Richard Kenrick in 1891 provided, without complaint or incident, priests to serve the people of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church. The priests retained full control of the spiritual direction of the parish and had the ability to decide how to use discretionary funds for the running of the parish. The lay board of director's website includes the following additional information:
St. Stanislaus is completely self-sustaining. The parish operates without the financial support of the Archdiocese and has done so for its entire existence. The parishioners pay for and are responsible for the upkeep, development, restoration and improvement of the church and the church grounds. The pastor is appointed by the Archdiocese and is responsible for the religious affairs of the parish. The parish has always been in good standing with the Archdiocese of St. Louis.
In July 2003 Archbishop Rigali notified the Board of Directors that the Archdiocese wanted to take control of the financial assets and property of St. Stanislaus. As a result of Archbishop Rigali, and now Archbishop Burke's actions of trying to gain control of all the assets, the Board of Directors and Parishioners are in a struggle to preserve not only St. Stanislaus, but also our Polish Heritage. Until the priest was taken away on August 4, 2004 he maintained complete spiritual control over the parish and parish operating funds. However, the Board of Directors oversees financial stability of the parish, and became alarmed after Fr. Bene spent thousands of dollars in his short time at the parish and depleted for the first time in parish history the funds he was responsible for administering. It is very difficult for the parishioners to understand the current attempts by Archbishop Burke since for over 100 years the Archdiocese never offered financial assistance, even during the difficult periods and the priest maintained complete spiritual control. Knowing the financial difficulties of the Archdiocese and the timing of the attempted takeover, clearly leads to the only explanation possible, this is all about Archbishop Burke trying to gain control of St. Stanislaus's assets.
Any reasonable person would have to conclude that the attempt on the part of the Archdiocese of Saint Louis to break the 1891 contract, which is forever binding in civil law, is all about the money. It does appear that our contemporary ecclesiastical officials do have problems with word like "in perpetuity" (see Quo Primum) and "forever" (see Deed of 1891, above). Coming at a time when archdioceses and dioceses are seeking to close parishes that could have been kept open if bishops and priests knocked on doors and sought to convert the non-Catholics now living within the boundaries of those parishes, the battle over Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church has needlessly engendered more bitter feelings and caused those weak in the Faith to lose heart and to judge the Church by the actions of its hierarchy, not love her unconditionally on the basis of her Divine foundation and maintenance.
Mind you, Archbishop Raymond Burke is not an committed enemy of the Catholic Faith. He has taken some very strong and commendable stands against pro-abortion Catholic politicians and against the Diocese of La Crosse's participation in an event that was sponsored by an organization that promoted contraception. He has also been more generous than any other bishop in the United States of America in the provision of what is the absolute right of all Catholics, the Traditional Latin Mass, both in La Crosse and now in Saint Louis. These things have earned him the scorn of many dissenting Catholics all across the nation and cannot be dismissed as unimportant.
As is the case, sadly, in this era of conciliarism, it is sometimes the case that bishops who defend the truth on some occasions can do mystifying things on others. Even bishops who are on the right side of things now and again suffer from the Diabolical Disorientation that is the curse of the Modernist revolution against the Church's authentic Tradition.
To wit, Archbishop Burke tried to permit a man, who had undergone unspeakable surgery, to found a women's religious community, certainly troubling and disturbing. Furthermore the priest now serving Saint Stanislaus Kostka says he had sought permission from both his own bishop, the Most Reverend John Joseph Leiebrecht of the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, and Archbishop Burke, without ever hearing back from them, it should be noted, to serve the people at Saint Stanislaus before choosing do so without episcopal permission. Archbishop Burke denies this, prompting one to scratch his head to ascertain the truth of the matter.
That having been noted, though, Archbishop Burke, who excommunicated the members of the parish's board of directors shortly after the Holy See affirmed his canonical rights to demand the property and assets of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church, is certainly acting in an ill-advised manner in his continued efforts to break the contract that had been entered into by way of an exception to even the existing rules at that time by Archbishop Kenrick in 1891. The concern about the "status" of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church is undermined a great deal by the fact that the Shrine of Saint Joseph, which is located blocks away from Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church, is leased by the Archdiocese of Saint Louis to a lay board, which has the responsibility of paying the bills for the church, used largely for weddings and for Masses on Sundays. The Archdiocese of Saint Louis owns the Shrine of Saint Joseph and provides a priest to offer Mass there on the weekends. In effect, though, the Shrine of Saint Joseph is run by lay people, who helped to rescue a national Catholic treasure at a time when its future was in jeopardy under the episcopate of the late Archbishop John May in 1979. Who is trying kid whom about what is going on, therefore, at Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church? It does indeed appear to be all about the money.
Archbishop Burke's position is further undermined by the fact that bishops do make exceptions to the Canon Law provision that church buildings must be owned by an archdiocese or diocese.
The death in 2004 of Father Paul Wickens, the founder of Saint Anthony of Padua Chapel in West Orange, New Jersey, prompted an epic battle for control of the church building that his parishioners funded after he had been suspended unjustly by Archbishop Peter Leo Gerety in the early 1980s for opposing classroom instruction in matters pertaining to the Sixth and Ninth Commandments. Making a long and ugly story as short as possible, Father Wickens was indecisive about the future of his chapel upon his death, saying at times that he did and did not want the Society of Saint Pius X to take control of it. After the lay board of directors decided, amid strenuous and heartfelt objections from many of Father Wickens' longtime parishioners, to reject the Society's offer to provide Mass at Saint Anthony of Padua Chapel, a deal was cut with Archbishop John J. Myers to let a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, Father John Perricone, offer Mass at the chapel, which would remain in the ownership of the lay board. Interestingly, Saint Anthony of Padua Chapel is not listed as a "parish" on the website of the Archdiocese of Newark. (Those of Father Wickens' former parishioners who refuse submit to the unjust and illicit conditions for the offering of the Traditional Latin Mass attend Mass offered by Father Greig Gonzales of the Society of Saint Pius X at the Veterans of Foreign Wars Hall, 45 Plymouth Road, Fairfield, New Jersey, 10:00 a.m. on Sundays; Mass is offered on First Friday at the Sparta Fire Department, Sparta, New Jersey, 11:30 a.m.)
This is much the situation about fourteen miles to the north of West Orange, in Pequannock, New Jersey, where Our Lady of Fatima Chapel, which has seen its own epic and embittered battles over the years since it was founded in 1975 as an independent chapel for the offering of the Mass of the ages, is administered, both spiritually and financially, by three priests of the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter while formal ownership belongs to a lay board. That lay board will remain dormant, having no control at all over the operations and finances of the chapel, until a situation arises where the parishioners would be forced to endure either the 1965 Ordo Missae or the 1969 Novus Ordo Missae, at which point actual control would revert to the lay board.
Thus, for Archbishop Burke of Saint Louis to contend that the breaking of the 1891 contract signed by the late Americanist Archbishop Kenrick is a matter of absolute importance to maintain the integrity of Canon Law is disingenuous. Picking a needless battle over this issue only fuels the stereotype that poorly catechized Catholics have of the Church has concerned more about money than about the salvation of souls. Already it is the case that scores of dissident Catholics from around the nation are flocking to Saint Stanislaus Church to advance their own agendas contrary to faith and morals. All of this could have been avoided by leaving a situation that had worked well for over a century exactly as it had been without any disturbance at all. Alas, if there was not such a money crunch caused by the confluence of the emptying of our pews as a result of the novelties engendered by ecumenism and by the self-made crisis of protecting and promoting perverts in the priesthood then it is probably the case that Cardinal Rigali would never have started and Archbishop Burke would never have continued the needless assault upon the Catholics of Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Mind you, I am not advocating that a single soul assist at Mass offered at Saint Stanislaus Kostka Church, where the Novus Ordo Missae is offered. I am only pointing out that the ethos of conciliarism and the infection of perversity into the highest ranks of the hierarchy itself has produced a situation where money-sniffing hounds have to hunt down every source of money imaginable while diocesan funds are spent to promote educational and pastoral programs antipathetic to the Faith and thus to the good of souls.
Moreover, it should be noted that it is rarely the case that the zeal exhibited in forcing a parish to turn over assets which had been guaranteed to its own control forever a century before is exhibited in the defense of the Faith. I will let Father Lawrence C. Smith explain the matter:
It is curious, no, that the hierarchy is so emphatic to assert its just rights when money is involved, but less than forceful when the just rights of Catholics for access to the truth is on the line. How often does one hear of an ordinary removing the designation of "Catholic" from a hospital trafficking in abortions or from a Newman Center promoting sexual perversity or from a social organization engaging in intercommunion? Covens, I mean, convents of sisters persist in spreading heresy in schools -- when they still bother to teach -- without so much as a peep from the bishops. Politicians run roughshod over the moral teachings of the Church in legislation and the bishops remain dogs incapable of barking. Priests preach hostility to the Faith from the pulpit on Sunday -- and on Tuesday are elevated to the episcopate.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great elaborated in his The Pastoral Guide on the necessity of bishops defending the Faith, not of trying to pick battles with theretofore faithful Catholics that are in no way related to the salvation of souls:
A spiritual guide should be silent when discretion requires and speak when words are of service. Otherwise he may say what he should not or be silent when he should speak. Indiscreet speech may lead men into error and an imprudent silence may leave in error those who could have been taught. Pastors who lack foresight hesitate to say openly what is right because they fear losing the favor of men. As the voice of truth tells us, such leaders are not zealous pastors who protect their flocks, rather they are like mercenaries who flee by taking refuge in silence when the wolf appears.
The Lord reproaches them through the prophet: They are dumb dogs that cannot bark. On another occasion he complains: You did not advance against the foe or set up a wall in front of the house of Israel, so that you might stand fast in battle on the day of the Lord. To advance against the foe involves a bold resistance to the powers of this world in defense of the flock. To stand fast in battle on the day of the Lord means to oppose the wicked enemy out of love for what is right.
When a pastor has been afraid to assert what is right, has he not turned his back and fled by remaining silent? Whereas if he intervenes on behalf of the flock, he sets up a wall against the enemy in front of the house of Israel. Therefore, the Lord again says to his unfaithful people: Your prophets saw false and foolish visions and did not point out your wickedness, that you might repent of your sins. The name of the prophet is sometimes given in the sacred writings to teachers who both declare the present to be fleeting and reveal what is to come. The word of God accuses them of seeing false visions because they are afraid to reproach men for their faults and thereby lull the evildoer with an empty promise of safety. Because they fear reproach, they keep silent and fail to point out the sinner’s wrongdoing.
The word of reproach is a key that unlocks a door, because reproach reveals a fault of which the evildoer is himself often unaware. That is why Paul says of the bishop: He must be able to encourage men in sound doctrine and refute those who oppose it. For the same reason God tells us through Malachi: The lips of the priest are to preserve knowledge, and men shall look to him for the law, for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts. Finally, that is also the reason why the Lord warns us through Isaiah: Cry out and be not still; raise your voice in a trumpet call.
Anyone ordained a priest undertakes the task of preaching, so that with a loud cry he may go on ahead of the terrible judge who follows. If, then, a priest does not know how to preach, what kind of cry can such a dumb herald utter? It was to bring this home that the Holy Spirit descended in the form of tongues on the first pastors, for he causes those whom he has filled, to speak out spontaneously.
We need our bishops to defend the fullness of the Faith, starting with offering the Immemorial Mass of Tradition without any unjust and illicit conditions, and to discipline anyone in their employ who puts even one article of the Deposit of Faith into question.
Although the vagaries of fallen human nature will always afflict the Church in her human elements, we must continue to pray and fast and sacrifice as the slaves of Our Lady's Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart for the day when a genuine restoration of the sort started in Cluny and started anew in the day of Saint Francis of Assisi will flower one again in the means of our salvation, Holy Mother Church. With continued prayers to Our Lady that Pope Benedict XVI will consecrate Russia to her Sorrowful and Immaculate Heart with all of the world's bishops, we hope for the day when all will look at the true Church and see her bishops and priests acting solely in the interests of souls and not at all in the interests of money.
For the desire of money is the root of all evils; which some coveting have erred from the faith, and have entangled themselves in many sorrows. (1 Tim 6: 10)
Our Lady, Help of Christians, pray for us.
Saints Joseph, pray for us.
Saints Peter and Paul, pray for us.
Pope Saint Gregory the Great, pray for us.
Saint Peter Damian, pray for us.
Saint Francis of Assisi, pray for us.
Saint Catherine of Siena, pray for us.
Saint Robert Bellarmine, pray for us.
Saint Charles Borromeo, pray for us.
Saint John Neumann, pray for us.
Saint Raymond Pennafort, pray for us.
Saint Stanislaus Kostka, pray for us.
Saint Philomena, pray for us.
Blessed Francisco, pray for us.
Blessed Jacinta, pray for us.
Sister Lucia, pray for us.
The 1891 Deed
This deed made and entered into this 8th day of May 1891 and between Arch Bishop Trustee for the Congregation St. Stanislaus of the City of St. Louis, State of Missouri party of the first part the Polish Roman Catholic St. Stanislaus Parish a corporation organized under the laws of the State of Missouri of the same place party of the second part. Witnesseth that whereas by deed the 29th day of February 1888 and recorded in book 860, page 217 in the Recorder’s office of the City of St. Louis there was conveyed to said party of the first part in trust for the Congregation of St. Stanislaus the property hereinafter described and whereas the party hereto of the second part as incorporated is the same party to the rights the cestui que trust the congregation of St. Stanislaus. Now Therefore, in consideration of the promises and in further consideration of the sum of Five dollars being paid by the said party of second part the receipt whereof is acknowledged be the party of the first part does by these presents Grant, Sell, Convey and Confirm unto the said party of the second part the following described Real Estate situated in the City of St. Louis, State of Missouri, to wit: lot in block eighteen hundred and thirty five of the City of St. Louis beginning in the East line of 21st st. (formerly 24th st.) where the same is intersected by the South line of U.S. survey 3003 thence North along said East line of 21st st. two hundred ninety eight feet (298) seven and one third inches (71/3) more or less to the South line of lot now owned by John Schimmelpfinnig thence East along said South line of said lot one hundred twenty seven (127) feet six (6) inches more or less to an alley fifteen (15) feet wide thence South along the West line of said alley two (2) feet and seven eighths (7/8) inches thence Southwest along said alley forty five (45) feet four and seven eighths (4 7/8) inches thence South along the West line of said alley as dedicated on February 17th 1891 two hundred and fifty seven (257) feet nine and five sixths (9 5/6) inches thence South east along the West line of said alley to the South line of U.S. survey 3003 thence West one hundred (100) feet more or less to the point of beginning, also lot in same block K above beginning in the West line of 20th street at the intersection with the South line of U. S. survey 3003 thence North along said West line of 20th street two hundred and eighty three (283) feet four (4) inches more or less to the South line of lot now or formerly of John Schimmelpfinnig thence West along the South line of said lot one hundred and twenty seven (127) feet six (6) inches to the East line of an alley fifteen (15) feet wide thence Southwest along the East line of said alley as dedicated on February 17th, 1891 forty five feet (45) four and seven eighths (4 7/8) inches thence South along the East line of said alley as now opened two hundred and thirty one (231) feet two and three quarters (2 ¾) inches thence Southeast along the East line of said alley to the South line of U. S. survey 3003 thence East along the South line of said survey 3003 to the place of beginning. To Have and to Hold the same with all the rights privileges and appurtenances thereto belonging or in anywise appertaining unto the said party of the second part its successors and assigns forever. In Witness Whereof the party of the first part has hereunto set his hand and seal on the day and year first above written.
Peter Richard Kenrick (seal)
Trustee for the Congregation of St. Stanislaus
