The Missed Opportunity -- V

By now, I assume that someone from Houston, unable to restrain himself further, will burst out, "All right, Mr Bruce, you may have scored a point or two with your silly rant, and we'll take what you say under advisement. But you've clearly got a bee in your bonnet over something here. You're unhappy about the St Mary of the Angels situation, that's clear enough. But surely you understand that we can take no action until all the lawsuits are resolved. And maybe we didn't handle everything right in 2012, but we were all new to this then, and what's done is done. Anyway, every one of us has a full time job elsewhere in the Church. We aren't paid a penny for what we do in the Ordinariate. So what do you expect us to do now? Quit complaining and move on with your own Lenten observance."

My reaction to that hypothetical observation is twofold, pastoral responsibility and whether the Ordinariate can keep its word. It will take more than one post to address everything. Also, I'm not speaking for the parish, the elected vestry, or Fr Kelley, but only as an informed observer and a Catholic friend.

But let's start with basic pastoral responsibility, and this applies to every parishioner of the Ordinariate, current or potential, not just St Mary of the Angels. I wasn't aware that Msgr Steenson, Fr Hough, or anyone else from (figuratively) Houston had taken on the Ordinariate as a hobby. If they have, there's been a major misunderstanding, and I'll continue with the prayers and sacraments with real pastors at my local parish, wish the Houston guys luck with their hobby, and say good-bye. But if that's the case, Msgr Steenson may also wish to consider retirement if he's unable to exercise his responsibilities as current and potential members may expect him to.

The position -- which I've heard as recently as the day before yesterday -- that the Ordinariate can't do anything more until all the lawsuits are resolved strikes me, first, as a belated excuse for a situation that was badly bungled from the start. St Mary of the Angels was told in December 2011 that it would be received into the Ordinariate on the first Sunday in January 2012. The first lawsuit wasn't filed until mid-May 2012. The Ordinariate had over four months to resolve the situation -- the most generous explanation for how it used that time was to procrastinate and dither.

But it's starting to look like the lawsuits may actually be resolved in the foreseeable future. I can understand (partly) that the Ordinary was not designated until January 2012 (although it was known, probably by 2005, who he would be), so little planning could take place then. But there's no excuse for not planning now, and I'm not seeing it. One of my problems is that as I look to the rest of the Ordinariate, I'm not getting the impression that anything's changed since 2012.

The parish was told in December 2011 that it would enter the Ordinariate very early in 2012. The explanation was that a Catholic chaplain would serve as pastor until the parish's Anglican clergy could be ordained as Catholic priests. The ACA, by its own statement, had cut the parish loose as of January 1, 2012. Neither the Ordinariate nor the ACA kept its word, and here's the next issue. First the Ordinariate asked for a third (!) vote to enter. Done, it got the vote. But then it simply stopped answering the phone, figuratively speaking. The chaplain, presumably to be Msgr William Stetson, just never showed up to receive us or offer the sacraments.

In fact, the last responsible oversight the parish had was from David Moyer, who in mid-January was still keeping the wolf from the fold by shooing Stephen Strawn away from a meeting with the Bush group. The Ordinariate never stepped in to provide the equivalent protection the parish badly needed, and by April 2012, the ACA had gotten the message: the Ordinariate wasn't going to guard the flock that had been assured it had a shepherd. The wolf moved right in. That still makes me very anxious for my friends' safety.

So there's my first, very basic issue: does anyone from Houston understand what a pastor is? For now, you can replay the same excuses offered above. I'll have more to say tomorrow.