I simply don't know where to start. The first question I have is that this project is intended to portray the great sufferings (Trevino's words) of Father Christopher Phillips of San Antonio, TX, Father Andrew Bartus of Orange County, CA, and Father Lee Kenyon of Calgary, AB, Canada. Fr Phillips is an Anglican Use priest, whose bishop is Archbishop of San Antonio Gustavo Garcia-Siller. As an Anglican Use priest, though, he should at least have a courtesy dotted line to Bishop Kevin Vann, the Ecclesiastical Delegate for the Pastoral Provision. Frs Bartus and Kenyon are both priests of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter, whose bishop will be Steven Lopes once he is consecrated in February of next year. However, since Fr Bartus operates in Bp Vann's territory, there should at least be a courtesy right of approval to Bp Vann.
At least in the past, involvement by the Catholic Church in a Hollywood project (which is what this is, however amateurish and inchoate it seems) would involve detailed approval of the script. At least in Mr Murphy's announcement, there is no indication or implication that this has taken place. Naturally, we assume that the priests involved do this with good intentions, and Mr Trevino, despite his extreme youth, probably is starting out with good intentions as well. However, it's possible for this thing to become a botched job rather quickly. Mr Trevino and the priests are all naive to the ways of Hollywood, the priests are not professional entertainers, and all sorts of things can happen despite the best of intentions.
Are any of the bishops involved even aware of this project? In the real world, no employee of a corporation speaks as an employee to the media without the approval of the corporate public relations department. To violate this standard policy is one of the few things that will get you escorted out the door the day the company finds out about it. Have the priests involved received the permission of the bishops to appear on behalf of their dioceses?
Next, I'm told that the Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter is in the middle of a fundraising effort, both to finance the consecration ceremony for Bp Lopes and to initiate a capital campaign. But here's Mr Murphy endorsing a rather more frivolous fundraising effort (which isn't even non-profit, as far as I can see, though no doubt it won't make any money) -- is he even aware of the other efforts by the OCSP? Might he also provide a clickthrough to those, or perhaps just mention them?
But finally, here's where I question Mr Murphy's judgment even more seriously. I've seen similar crowdfunding efforts to this one by Mr Trevino, and what I find troubling is how the efforts I've seen resemble a scam called affinity fraud. According to the US Securities and Exchange Commission,
Affinity fraud refers to investment scams that prey upon members of identifiable groups, such as religious or ethnic communities, the elderly, or professional groups. The fraudsters who promote affinity scams frequently are - or pretend to be - members of the group. They often enlist respected community or religious leaders from within the group to spread the word about the scheme by convincing those people that a fraudulent investment is legitimate and worthwhile. Many times, those leaders become unwitting victims of the fraudster's ruse.The SEC's further advice:
Check out everything - no matter how trustworthy the person seems who brings the investment opportunity to your attention. Never make an investment based solely on the recommendation of a member of an organization or religious or ethnic group to which you belong. Investigate the investment thoroughly and check the truth of every statement you are told about the investment. Be aware that the person telling you about the investment may have been fooled into believing that the investment is legitimate when it is not.The people who want to raise what strike me as comically low amounts to try to fund their first-time documentary projects may not be scammers, at least deliberate ones. However, whatever its intentions, it's hard for me to imagine money invested in a project like Mr Trevino's being well spent, and I have a serious problem with Mr Trevino's fundraising strategy here, which is to enlist community leaders like Mr Murphy to endorse his rather half-baked project idea and facilitate (via clickthrough no less) his fundraising effort.
Mr Murphy, I would urge you to contact the bishops involved here and assure your visitors that they have approved this project and publish their approval. If they haven't, I believe the only responsible course is to publicly withdraw your support and endorsement.
I suspect, though. that the bishops may wish to have a chat with the priests.
