Are There Any Adults In The Room?

Out of a certain level of frustration, I joined the discussion over at Ordinariate News regarding the merger of the Philadelphia groups and the potential move to a new building. All we know, of course, is what Fr Ousley mentions in two monthly newsletters, but the take among the comments at Ordinariate News is simply not encouraging.

First, it seems as though Fr Ousley has things backward -- he's taking his groups house hunting, as far as I can tell without initially figuring out what they can afford. In the July newsletter, he raises the possibility of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Bridgeport, PA. He says, by the by,

The property has three buildings (church, school, rectory) and parking.

How on earth is a group of 56 people going to maintain church, school, and rectory buildings, occupied or not (not to mention periodically resurfacing the parking lot)? What are they going to do with the school? For that matter, what are they going to do with the rectory? What planet are these people from?

Someone finally pointed out in the comments at Ordinariate News

In the July newsletter Fr Ousley says that a discussion of the financial issues with the relevant parish committees will precede any decision about taking over either of these churches. He alludes to the experience of parishioners at St James and Good Shepherd, and how a church building for the combined groups would require a similar commitment, without the benefit of an endowment.

But if I go shopping for a car and stop by the Rolls-Royce dealer, aren't I wasting everyone's time if I haven't already realized that the insurance payment alone will be more than my paycheck? I'm not sure how worthwhile it might be for Fr Ousley even to get with various parishioners if none has had concrete experience with pledges, budgeting, or the realities of building maintenance. After all, the groups he's got are small breakaways from established and well-funded Episcopal parishes, and those parishes presumably kept their existing vestries as well as, most likely, the junior wardens and treasurers who knew how things really ran.

And Fr Ousley implies they're all in the brave new world of operating without an endowment. I get the impression he should have been talking seriously with grownups, whether in his groups or not, before he even raised the possibility of taking over a building.

None of this gives me a good feeling -- and the fact that nobody at Ordinariate News seems overbothered is troubling as well.