"Clare," said the treasurer, "you are to make absolutely sure that she is never alone with Fr Kelley." The vestry does not trust Ms Cohen, and Prudence is a cardinal virtue. As it happened, we all trooped up to the parish courtyard and eventually introduced ourselves. Those of us with Fr Kelley decided we would all make absolutely sure she was never alone with him, and we jointly announced we would all be in the meeting.
It wasn't as bad as we expected. Early in the meeting, she simply asked, "Where did I go wrong?" Not much later, she said, "Mrs Bush has completely destroyed her reputation in this community. Her reputation had been outstanding. That's what's happened. Why would she do something like that?"
We all contributed views on some of the questions she asked. I weighed in on some of the financial issues. She was actually quick on the uptake. At one point, she said, "Hold on here. How much money are we talking about?" I told her the parish had an annual income from all sources before the troubles of about $330,000. Mrs Bush estimated to Ms Cohen in a prior interview that the legal costs on her side alone were $2 million, something Ms Cohen ran in her paper.
"Where did all this money go? Where did it come from?" were her questions. Those have been my questions, too, along with how the parish might get some of it back. Clearly Ms Cohen has stopped relying on Mrs Bush's version of events, at least not exclusively. At minimum, she's begun to reflect the profound disaffection of other community leaders.
I left the meeting after about 90 minutes; it seemed to be continuing enthusiastically at that time. I'm told that Fr Kelley characterized her experience as having "her mind blown".
Eventually, other people are going to have to learn the true story. If the parish is to succeed, this will have to happen in Houston, and for that to take place, I would guess that heads besides Steenson's will eventually have to roll.
Ms Cohen has said that the restoration of St Mary's will be the lead story in next month's issue. We'll have to see how it eventually turns out. I'll be posting a link to it here.
In the meantime, please continue to pray for the parish, its vestry, and Fr Kelley.
