The big step is that it defines "Parish", "Quasi-parish/Mission", and "Community in Formation". Up to now, this and other issues had been vaguely referred to in informal discussions with Houston as "policy", but "policy" had varied according to convenience and was basically just oral history. Now everyone will have a clear set of guidelines on what constitutes a real parish and what a group or mission needs to do to become one.
Maybe. There seems to be general agreement, for instance, that St Thomas More Scranton is a full parish. But the financial criteria for a full parish are simply "Debt: Manageable Assets: Sufficient Location: Secured (ownership or long-term agreement)". The only information we have on St Thomas More is that its financial condition has been misrepresented, by its pastor's admission, and it is in fact not meeting debt payments and even missing payroll. What move is Houston making to investigate and correct this situation?
The guidelines also point out that "Ordinariate missions and parishes are required to have functioning pastoral and finance councils." Again, whether St Thomas More has a functioning finance council is an open question. Do favored clergy get exemptions from these guidelines? If so, this simply suggests that the OCSP is corrupt.
It does appear that Houston sees a continuing problem in another area.
We recall that while the Apostolic Constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus, provides for the preservation of the Anglican liturgical and spiritual patrimony in the Catholic Church, it is rather more cautious about Anglican ecclesial models in the hierarchical constitution of the Church.and
Rejecting prior forms of institutionalized animus and embracing Catholic communion is an ongoing mark of spiritual and community health and vitality.It appears that Bp Lopes wants to avoid having the OCSP become a clone of a "continuing Anglican" denomination. One means of controlling this, of course, would be to contain the continuing tendency of OCSP priests to self-promotion.
However, while this one set of written policies is a desirable step, their consistent enforcement must follow. But beyond that, only about half of OCSP priests are connected with groups, missions, or parishes. How a candidate qualifies for ordination in the OCSP is still a matter reserved to informal oral history, and what responsibilities priests like Fr Jon Chalmers have in relation to Houston is a mystery. The few dozen or so free-floating OCSP priests strike me, frankly, as an opportunity for catastrophe down the road -- as is the apparently unresolved financial issue at St Thomas More.
So the new guidelines are a step, but only a first step. To me, they're more important mostly as a reminder of how much is yet undone.
