The sincere Anglo-Catholics often have obstacles that might prevent them from becoming fully Catholic, or for that matter reasons that would make them not wish to become Catholic. I think of them in the context of the outsiders we keep seeing in the Gospels: the woman at the well, the centurion with the paralyzed servant, the good Samaritan. They do all the extra stuff with the chasubles and the patens out of conscientiousness and, perhaps, a recognition that they're in fact outsiders. I think of the Anglo-Catholics in the racket, within the Church itself and in the "continuing" movement, who are playing the game and making all the right moves, in a different way.
Pope Francis has begun to say things about careerism in the Church, and in the opinion of some observers, this may be connected to his main mission as Pope. Here's an example of what he's said, though not the only one:
The Argentinean pope therefore invited people “to strip [themselves] of [their] many idols and to worship him alone. Idols in which we seek safety and often place our trust in.” “These are idols we often keep well hidden away.” “They could be ambition, careerism, a taste for success, placing ourselves at the centre of things, a tendency to put ourselves above others, the expectation that we are the ones who have exclusive control of our lives, a sin to which we are strongly tied and many others.”The Catholic Church is, I would guess, the largest single human institution, so the Holy Father is likely looking at problems in areas much more consequential than the Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter. But I saw a lot of careerism in both the academic and corporate environments, and once I got to see the workings of the US Ordinariate, even as an outside observer, I began to get the feeling I'd already watched this program.
The ideal corporate middle manager is no threat to his superiors. Beyond that, it helps if he's got an ongoing problem like alcoholism, incompetence, bullying, or sexual harassment, since that means his loyalty to the powers that be is absolute -- they can walk him out the door any time they please on the basis of what they already know is going on, which they tolerate as long as it suits them.
Careerism simply opens the door to such situations: those in power want to perpetuate themselves, so they promote people who'll keep them in power. We've seen something like this in the housecleaning Archbishop Gomez has had to do in Los Angeles following the retirement of Cardinal Mahony: the problems didn't end with his departure. As the proverb says, a fish rots from the head.
Something's seriously wrong here, Msgr Steenson.
