Hi John,Whoa! More information than I needed to hear! A new curate as well? But let's stay with Canon Rivers for the time being. There's a bio for Rivers on the Church of the Epiphany site that raises the first important point: "The Ven. Canon Frederick W. Rivers was born September 27, 1938 in Phoenix, Arizona." This would make him 74 years old as I write. The mandatory retirement age in The Episcopal Church is 72. The mandatory retirement age for real Catholic priests is 70; for bishops 75. So on the basis of age alone, Rivers would not be an active priest in either real denomination.I am rector of both Epiphany and St. Mary of the Angels parishes and will continue to live in Phoenix for the time being. We will bring in a curate for St. Mary's when Fr. Taylor's term expires. I will see you on February 3 when I will be at Mass and chair the annual meeting.
blessings,
Canon Rivers
His priestly formation as well appears to have been willy-nilly; between stints as a "territory manager for Capital [sic] Records" and "promotion manager for a number of independent record labels", he "visited two Episcopal seminaries, one in Massachusetts and the other in California." At various times, priests gave him reading lists, and eventually he was ordained in one of the predecessors to the ACA, almost immediately becoming Rector of The Church of the Epiphany, which he has been since 1984. Based on this formation, he also would not be a priest in any real denomination.
He also follows the pattern the ACA has set for St Mary's: an absentee "priest in charge" with a "curate" on site. This is reminiscent of the old-country practice of absentee priests collecting the benefices of multiple parishes (and thereby enriching themselves), appointing curates or vicars at modest pay to perform the actual duties of a priest in each parish. Even from medieval times this was seen as corrupt, as I believe it is here. I don't know what the financial arrangements are regarding Rivers's status as "priest in charge" or the remuneration of any current or future curate at St Mary's.
However, several things seem logical: first, Rivers, simply due to his age, is no threat to Marsh or any potential prelate in the ACA or the Diocese of the West. There is no way he can establish a track record in continuing to "stabilize" St Mary's that would put him in the running for any higher position. At that, he's probably similar to Morello, who I'm pretty sure Marsh recognized as having a brief shelf life himself due to his unhealthy appearance.
Second, what of poor Nicholas Taylor, brought in as a factotum to say masses a few times a week in December 2012, with his exit already in the works by January 2013? What can this say about the potential longevity of any poor schlub sent to serve in that position? I can't avoid the feeling that the hard core of angry dissidents now entrenched in the parish began to plot against Taylor almost immediately, and they're already in the process of ejecting him. Heck, if on the off chance the ACA were able to put St Paul the Apostle in that place as a curate, the hard core would be on his case just as fast.
Third, even allowing for the small size of the ACA, which by number of parishes and number of communicants is in its entirety smaller than a single diocese in any real denomination, Brian Marsh as "presiding bishop" seems to be consolidating all power and authority in his own hands. The Diocese of the West has been disorganized and leaderless for years; it had no succession plan and no credible candidates to assume leadership with the death of Anthony Morello, who was himself conveniently in poor health. Canon Rivers, due to his age, can't be regarded as any but a short-term solution to the St Mary of the Angels problem, and any leadership he provides will be from the next state over in any case. Any on-site curate will clearly be in a tenuous position from the start. This also makes highly questionable Marsh's assertion that St Mary of the Angels has been "stabilized".
In a corporate environment, this would be a recipe for disaster and a sign of insecurity and incompetence at the top. I can't see that it will be any different for the ACA or St Mary of the Angels.
