Saturday, March 14, 2015

A Closer Look At The Ordinariate -- V

We now move to other "groups" in the US (we'll cover our good neighbors to the north tomorrow). Again, "groups" properly means something like "entities recognized by the OCSP and listed on their web site but neither parishes or missions", since we have no other definition available. My correspondent continues,
  • The Anglican Ordinariate Society of the Ozarks is a group gathered by Mr Shane Schaetzel in Springfield, MO. Mr Schaetzel became a Catholic long before Anglicanorum coetibus and has acted as lay reader for a group of former Episcopalians who get together to say BCP Evening Prayer once a month at the Catholic parish where most of them are parishioners. As of October 2014 an OCSP army chaplain has agreed to say an Ordinariate Rite mass for them quarterly. Mr Schaetzel posted that "about two dozen" showed up to the first mass, a larger number than usually attend Evening Prayer, including "several Catholics" by whom I assume he meant Catholics who were not former Episcopalians but were interested in this liturgy. Mr Schaetzel, who is in his forties, was a frequent contributor to the The Anglo-Catholic blog in its heyday and produces a website and a Facebook page for the group which are well-maintained. He has also posts a personal blog on topics of Catholic interest.
  • The Corpus Christi Society of Charleston, SC began with "five families" (another article says 19 people were confirmed with the rector) who entered the Catholic church in 2013 with their former Episcopal rector, who was ordained for the OCSP in June 2013. They have a weekly mass, a singularly uninformative website (out of date) and a Facebook page. Various clues from the latter suggest that attendance is in the low double digits. No events posted since last year,
  • The Fellowship of St Alban, Rochester, NY See this post above.
  • San Agustin, Pinecrest FL may be a mission or a group. The priest, his family, and 21 members of his former Reformed Episcopal Church parish were received into the Catholic Church in 2013. Fr Toledo was ordained about a year ago. The group has its own service at a diocesan church in Pinecrest. There is no Spanish-language Ordinariate Rite so they use the Spanish OF.
  • Our Lady of Good Counsel, Jacksonville, FL. I count about 15 people in the picture of their reception. Their leader was ordained last November and there is a weekly mass, but information is hard to come by as there is no website and the Facebook page is not up to date
  • Our Lady of Mt Carmel, Savannah, GA: The membership of this group is unknown to me. From 2011 they met weekly for Evening Prayer but since the ordination of their leader last November there has been a mass offered once a month in Savannah and once a month in Augusta, GA. Fr Lindsey is now senior parochial vicar at a diocesan parish in Savannah. His ordination was covered in the local press but I can find nothing about the reception of a group. The website is up to date regarding upcoming masses but all the rest of the information goes back to 2011: bulletins, links to now-defunct or irrelevant websites, etc.
  • Society of St Bede the Venerable, Collegeville, MN: A group of five began meeting here in 2010. The core group seems to have been composed of those with some Anglican connection who had already become Catholic, but since then there have been some receptions into the Church via this group, which now seems to be in the low double digits. There is a well-maintained Facebook page and a minimal website. An Ordinariate Rite mass is offered at irregular intervals.
  • St Gregory the Great, Mobile, AL: The leader of this group is now the pastor of a diocesan parish in Mobile. An Ordinariate Rite mass is celebrated there every Sunday. I think there are fewer than a dozen members. There were no reports of a group reception. The priest has had a number of serious health issues for the last few months and a diocesan priest is currently taking the Sunday services. The website shows the current mass time and location but there is no other information available.

As usual, corrections, clarifications, and updates are most welcome.