“We’re a Catholic church and we want to remain Catholic,” said Kathy Luedde, one of the church’s six lay directors, who manages the church’s Polish Heritage Center. She said some members “are just afraid if we go in union with the Episcopal Church, we would be labeled as an Episcopal Church.”

She said many parishoners “like being independent because they feel like we’re doing things under the Polish traditions. As long as everything stays the same, I think most of them would be very happy with that.”

Bishop Wayne Smith, bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Missouri, met with St. Stanislaus members earlier this month. He said in an interview Saturday that “our governing documents, the constitution and canons of the Episcopal Church provide the possibility of a parish with a different tradition to keep all their practices but come under the jurisdiction of the bishop ... and diocese of Missouri.”

Luedde said after the meeting with Smith, “I did feel a little better about it” but said that as board members “we have to do what the parishoners want us to do.”

“I did learn a lot from the bishop about the similarities and differences,” she said. “I know they don’t believe in the pope, but I don’t think believing in the pope makes you Catholic or not.”

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