This year we anticipate the ordination of Glenn Baaten to the sacred priesthood of the Catholic Church - our first ordinand from our parish! We look forward to many more, especially as we are asked to pray for vocations. Glenn was a former Anglican priest and will be sent to our Ordinariate community of St. Augustine's in Carlsbad to relieve Fr. George Ortiz-Guzman who will serve as a hospital chaplain in San Diego.It would be much more correct to say that Glenn was a former Presbyterian pastor. As we'll see, he appears to have been an Anglican priest for less than a year, and it doesn't appear that he had actual parish responsibilities during this time.
Born in London, Ontario, Canada, [he] spent most of his growing up years in southern California.Glenn came to his Christian faith in Jr. High school during the "Jesus Movement" which swept the country in the early '70's.After having moved around the denominational landscape a whole bunch, he felt led by the Spirit, along with his wife Cathy, to call the Presbyterian church home. . . . .Glenn has served as pastor of the First Presbyterian Church of Harrison [Ohio] beginning August 1, 1998.Howeveer, by 2011, he had left Ohio for Southern California, where the Spirit apparently led him to the ACNA parish St James Newport Beach. He was ordained an Anglican priest at that parish on January 30, 2013. What appears to be an entry in a St James Newport Beach newsletter quoted in the Zoominfo link above says,
The ACNA has been a Godsend to the Baatens! Glenn was first accepted as an ordinand at St. James' and subsequently was ordained as a deacon this last January [apparently 2012], along with Deacon Pete Forbes. Glenn and Cathy are excited about partnering together, along with Pete and Julie, with the formation of our new Anglican mission in Irvine.You can find a youtube video taken during this very brief Anglican interlude of then-Deacon Baaten (on pennywhistle) and Rev. Pete Forbes (on guitar) at the St. James Anglican international fellowship dinner for the persecuted church, May 6, 2012. But his talents on the pennywhistle notwithstanding, the "new Anglican mission in Irvine" seems not to have worked out. In early May 2013, the ACNA parish St James Newport Beach was ordered to return the property to The Episcopal Church, and as a practical matter, Baaten's Anglican priesthood seems to have lasted about three months.
At some point in 2013 or 2014, he began attending the Bl John's Ordinariate group, at the time in Fullerton. By July 2014, Mr Baaten had presumably gone through the formality of resigning his briefly-held ACNA orders and had been received into the Catholic Church, as he is recorded as taking part as subdeacon in a mass celebrated by Msgr Steenson.
It appears that Mr Baaten spent most of his life either as an evangelical (part of the "Jesus Movement") or, more seriously, as a Presbyterian. There are major differences between Presbyterians and Anglicans, including the number of sacraments (Presbyterians recognize only two), the content of the liturgy (Presbyterians have no BCP), the status and definition of saints, and the use of wine in the Eucharist. There are, of course, far more differences between Presbyterian and Catholic belief.
Mr Baaten's eligibility to become a member of an Ordinariate parish at all is based on the technicality that he was in the ACNA for a brief period. Even the US Ordinariate site says, "[T]he Ordinariate was formed in response to repeated and persistent inquiries from Anglican groups who were seeking to become Catholic, and is intended for those coming from an Anglican tradition."
The speed with which these changes have taken place is also, from the perspective of my own experience, somewhat troubling. As a child, I went to church, was confirmed, and had my first grape-juice "communion" in Presbyterian parishes. It then took me a lifetime to fall away from the Church, toy with Zen Buddhism, return to the Church as an Episcopalian, move from low church to high, and eventually become Catholic. None of those stages was quick or easy. I've got to question what sort of discernment is taking place here, either in California or Houston -- if I had anything to do with vocations, I'd want to know if this fast-tracking into the Catholic priesthood was anything other than moving around the denominational landscape a whole bunch, since it is certainly at least that.
But I don't get the feeling that Houston asks these questions. As a true crime buff, I'm suspicious of whirlwind courtships, since there's almost always a hidden agenda involved. With Andy Bartus in the picture, that goes double. That he would feel the need to weasel-word Mr Baaten's background as a "former Anglican priest" only adds to the impression that things are being hidden here.
In addition, at least as of 2013, another former Anglican priest, Bill Ledbetter, with a far more credible track record in Episcopal parish work, had been expecting to be ordained into the Ordinariate himself. Since he lives in Southern California, he would presumably have been available to take over the Carlsbad group as well. Instead, Mr Baaten is apparently being fast-tracked into that job. I've tried to get in touch with Bill to see if he can provide any update or clarification, but so far, he hasn't replied to my e-mail. As of 2013, though, Bill had been relying on Andy to look after his advancement with the Houston in-group.
This isn't the first puzzling ordination (or ordination-to-be) in recent days. Fr Vaughan Treco was ordained earlier this month in order to become pastor of the St Louis Park, MN Ordinariate group. Fr Treco had never been any kind of Anglican clergyman or indeed, layman. He was ordained in the Charismatic Episcopal Church, which despite its name is not an offshoot of The Episcopal Church or any other Anglican denomination. In fact, former CEC clergy are specifically excluded for ordination as Catholics under the Pastoral Provision.
