I've been following your blog for some time, and was struck by the fact the St. Mary's group that wants to join the Ordinariate has been meeting in an apartment for 3 years. How come they appear to be waiting for the outcome of their court case to decide to enter the Ordinariate/become Catholic? 3 years seems an awfully long time to deny oneself the Eucharist/being in communion with the successor of St. Peter if one wants to convert to Catholicism. Why not just become an Ordinariate group and rent space in a classroom somewhere in the area?For a while, I thought this was a viable option, but as I understand it, there are legal and practical obstacles, as well as what I believe is resistance in Houston to the idea.
Legally, the vestry must remain in existence in order to continue the legal case. If the parish were simply to become an Ordinariate group, it would cease to have a vestry. According to the parish bylaws, which constitute the legal document that gives the "Rector, Wardens, and Vestry" their corporate existence, the vestry and voting members of the parish must be Anglican. Should the parish ever enter the Ordinariate, which I think is less and less likely, the bylaws would need to be revised to reflect the change in property ownership and denominational affiliation of the parish.
The members of the vestry have a fiduciary responsibility to keep the parish in existence in its current legal form in order to pursue the case. The property is worth millions of dollars, and they have a moral and fiduciary responsibility not to walk away from it. I think they are making considerable personal sacrifice to do this. Other members of the parish and friends are supporting them, as well as maintaining fellowship and friendship. But the legal issue will probably remain for some time.
I've put the question to a former Anglican member of the parish clergy, who has since become Catholic and as far as I'm aware still intends to become an Ordinariate priest (but is apparently waiting indefinitely for a green light), why the Ordinariate does not recognize some type of group-in-formation that could, in fact, meet in some way at a diocesan facility. The direct answer I got was that any Ordinariate activities in California would be under the supervision of Andy Bartus, and Bartus does not envision such a thing ever happening in the case of St Mary of the Angels. Nothing new, Cardinals Manning and Mahony said the same thing, and I have more respect for the Cardinals.
The bottom line appears to be that some combination of inertia within the Ordinariate, visible in many other areas besides St Mary's, and internal politics appears to prevent any official recognition of a St Mary's group. That would also need to happen but is unlikely. I would have to say that this issue is as powerful as the legal issue as well, and it would be up to Houston to clarify the situation, which so far it has not done.
There's a third question, and that's whether the optimism of 2011-2012 concerning the erection of the US-Canadian Ordinariate has been borne out by events. It seems to me that the outcome of Anglicanorum coetibus has been a disappointment by just about any standard. There are six or eight successful parishes, which were in existence and successful under other jurisdictions before the US-Canadian Ordinariate was erected. The others among three dozen or so total are struggling.
One of my serious concerns is that all their minimal resources appear to be going into vestments, incense, and music, basically, to satisfy small, inward-directed cliques. Since they aren't in dioceses, they're exempt from diocesan appeals, which means they don't do much to make the world a better place, except to feed a sense of exclusivity among the members. I can't recommend that anyone be part of such a thing, and I'm not sure if many in the current St Mary's group, whom my wife and I love and respect, would wish to do so.
I believe they will prayerfully and maturely reflect on the courses open to them, but I very much doubt they will eventually go into the Ordinariate, if the Ordinariate in fact survives any significant length of time.
