Let's Revisit The Events Of 2011 And 2012 -- III

Between the disappearance of David Moyer in late January 2012 and the filing of the Third Lawsuit on behalf of the ACA on May 24 of that year, we have a puzzling and chaotic period. The most notable feature is that the Ordinariate backed off the assurances from Msgr Stetson that the parish would in fact be received promptly. Apparently Houston began to request revisions to the parish bylaws that Msgr Stetson had earlier told the parish could be deferred, and likewise, it began to request an audit that had not earlier been a precondition.

It appears that Houston added to the confusion by not insisting that contacts go via a single point (i.e, the rector and vestry), and they appear to have relied extensively on back-channel communications with Andy Bartus, who was a member of the Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth clique, while Fr Kelley and David Moyer were not. Houston's version of events appears to be that multiple versions of revised bylaws were submitted, but none was satisfactory. Fr Kelley's version of events is, as far as I can confirm, that he submitted only one set of revisions, and it's not clear whether that version was satisfactory.

The only conclusion I can draw is that too many people were involved in the process, and Houston, as the authority in the matter, managed it poorly. The effect, if not the intent, was to allow unauthorized parties at minimum to delay reception. This was of benefit to the dissident group, and it was of benefit to Andy Bartus, who appears to have wanted Fr Kelley knocked out of the running to be priest of the Ordinariate parish and needed time for matters to resolve themselves.

The matter that parties in the loop knew would resolve itself was the pending seizure of the parish by the IRS for a year's worth of unpaid payroll taxes, scheduled for April 2, 2012. The premature arrival of the notice, which was the only IRS correspondence that apparently hadn't been intercepted by parties in the parish office, prevented the ultimate fruition of this plan, and the parish accountant deflected it. Bartus's relation to the parish ended in the aftermath of this revelation.

Any formal interest in receiving the parish from Houston also appears to have ended at this time. The US-Canadian Ordinariate has told the Los Angles Superior Court that it has no legal interest in the St Mary's parish. My understanding is that Msgr Stetson has maintained contact with the elected vestry throughout the subsequent legal process, but his association is with the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, not the Ordinariate, and eventual intentions by the Archdiocese or the Ordinariate remain unclear.

Their position has been that they can take no action while the legal process works its way through, but neither did they take serious action between January and May of 2012, when they had the opportunity. There is, of course, nothing new in this.