I'm not surprised that there are relatively few gathered groups in the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. It's very difficult to gather such a group without somebody who knows enough people -- perhaps a dozen or so -- who can form a core for such a group and begin to pull in others. A diocesan bishop who supports the ordinariate project can muster the resources to identify and form such a core group, as Archbishop (now Cardinal) Thomas Collins of Toronto did, by pressing his pastors to identify parishioners who have come into the Catholic Church and current inquirers from the Anglican tradition, and it's unfortunate that relatively few diocesan bishops have taken this initiative. Unfortunately, few of the rest of us have the resources to do that because prospective members tend to be scattered across many parishes, and thus unknown to one another -- something that a diocesan bishop is in a unique position to instigate.My visitor certainly implies that this depends on the bishop. But we see that the Bishops of Orange and San Diego are both supportive of Ordinariate groups, since both attended Fr Baaten's recent ordination with Bp Lopes. Yet neither the Irvine nor the Oceanside group appears to be distinguishing itself. For individuals seeking out a BDW liturgy to contact a bishop would under any circumstances be an infrequent event, it seems to me, and even the bishop might need to go to the OCSP web site to find a possible referral.
But as my naive co-worker used to ask in meetings, what problem are we trying to solve? Let's look at the elephant in the room as far as increasing numbers of mainstream Catholics are beginning to see it: global elites are promoting a materialistic "scientism", more recently augmented by an alliance with Mohammedanism (Ven Fulton Sheen called it "Mahometanism", which I like even better and will probably use from now on). The secular Kulturkampf is now increasingly enforced by violent religious attacks against Jews and Christians, which the elites minimize and disavow while nevertheless blithely setting up the conditions for continued attacks.
What does it accomplish for a bishop now and then to refer a few people interested in a clumsy made-up liturgy to a few other like-minded people? The groups we see are not just struggling, they're clergy-centered and inward-focused. The "granny flat for the Anglicans", which it seems to me is what the Ordinariates in truth are at this point, strikes me as an adventitious development that is draining resources from what it seems to me is the real struggle. Bishops must be strengthened and encouraged, not distracted.
I wonder what other use could be made of Bp Lopes's talents and energy.
