It's worth asking what the holdup is here. The decision from last autumn by Judge Linfield remains under appeal, but this has not changed since the rededication was originally scheduled for April. The late lamented Fr Tony was the one who'd originally proposed this rededication, of course, but the Church Universal is not a ministry of men. Why can't the ACA simply carry on? As I said last week, Bishop Marsh, the episcopal visitor, now has two suffragans to help carry his comparatively light load, and given his duty as a bishop, he should be involving himself in the affairs of the parish and diocese, when manifestly he is not.
I can only speculate once again that the conscience of anyone in the ACA who might be involved in the St Mary's situation is troubled, and they don't want to touch it, especially given the unhappy omen of the late vicar general's sudden passing. The bishop and his cronies will tell themselves in the daylight that Tony was in precarious health, but when the sun goes down, they have no such confidence. We are not going to see Bishop Marsh near the West Coast anytime soon, and only the occasional fool like James Barlow will even think of meddling otherwise. When push comes to shove, these men fear the Almighty.
On top of that, the fallout from the St Mary's situation continues to be a black eye for the ACA and the TAC, far more, I think, than they had anticipated. People read this blog. The TAC's de facto press dude, Stephen Smuts, acknowledges this when he characterizes my blog as "one sided vitriolic [sic]". People also read the Freedom for St Mary blog. Random crazies from as far away as the Canadian far north hear of the situation. It couldn't help Fr Tony to have people googling his sorry record as an Episcopal priest. It can't help "Archbishop" Falk to have that little slip in Rhinelander dredged up yet again.
I strongly suspect as well that Mrs Bush is not wearing well with anyone in the hierarchy, and they likely haven't even met some of the angrier cases now running the place. As far as I can tell, Mrs Bush quickly loses patience with whatever feckless stooge the ACA puts in as a curate or supply priest, and one explanation for the calls I've had lately could be that they're going through their rolodex in the next desperate move to provide someone who'll finally make the lady happy.
St Mary's has turned into a tar baby for the ACA. It's a distraction from the need to rebuild the whole Diocese of the West, and one reason they can't hold a synod, as far as I can see, is that the St Mary's case hasn't sat well with the other clergy there. If they can appoint someone like Morello vicar general, whom the rest can't even take seriously, what else can they do?
So, Bishop Marsh, bite the bullet. It might help to find a confessor. But at some point, you're going to have to declare victory and get out.
Step 1 will be to lose Mrs Bush. I assume this has been at the back of everyone's head anyhow. As far as she's concerned, St Mary's is her personal ordinariate, and she's going to stand in the way of any constructive action. Your best bet will be to schedule a gala retirement tribute for her. Heck, if it would help, my wife and I would attend; we'd toast her, we'd applaud, we'd talk about what a wonderful old lady she is. But when, tipsy with champagne, she leaves the dinner, she's out as senior warden.
That's the first step. There are others, but you need to do this one first. Otherwise, you're back to that nagging nightly worry about what happened to Tony.
More tomorrow.
