About a dozen or so active OCSP priests have no Ordinariate assignment. When Fr Sellers was in this situation, as chaplain at St John XXIII school in Katy, TX, he nonetheless continued to work at starting up a new community. I gather from the most recent issue of the Ordinariate Observer that St Margaret's, Katy has an ASA of 24, which is quite respectable by OCSP standards. Granted as school chaplain Fr Sellers was in a position to gather for Sunday worship those who might have seen and appreciated his preaching and liturgy at the school, but he had already begun the process several months before this appointment, when it was reported by the usual sources that he was contacting his former TEC parishioners and others in the Houston area and holding meetings for inquirers at OLW. Why is this not more common?I can think of several explanations. One is that it is unethical for a cleric to "poach" members from a former parish to join his new one, although this did not stand in the way of Fr Bartus, at least (though I'm not sure how many of the people he took from Hollywood stayed over any long term).As far as I know, only St Margaret's, St Thomas More, Toronto; BlJHN, Irvine; St George, Republic; the two groups in MN; and perhaps the elusive St Gilbert's, Ingram are "gathered" groups rather than groups whose founding members previously worshipped together in another denomination. Since, as we have discussed on a number of occasions, the number of congregational groups currently preparing to depart from TEC, the ACC, or "continuing" bodies is probably very small indeed, why is more effort not being made to bring individuals together? It seems odd that this was undertaken in Greater Houston, which is well-served by the Ordinariate cathedral, while communities like Birmingham, AL and NYC have nothing despite the local presence of an OCSP-incardinated priest.
Another is the observation I repeatedly see that Anglicanism is a congregational denomination, and Episcopalians, whatever the actions of the national body, continue to be satisfied with their local parishes. Add to that the fact that a non-trivial number of Episcopalians are former Catholics who left the Church due to differences with its teachings, especially those surrounding marriage and the family. They could well see obstacles in returning if they have remarried, or are satisfied with TEC's positions on same-sex attraction.
A third is that there is absolutely no evangelization taking place in any of the Ordinariates, especially nothing at all comparable to that from Bp Barron, Prof Kreeft, Prof Hahn, and many others. Anyone whom these people reach is going to check out a diocesan parish, if only because the number of Ordinariate parishes, especially those with convenient mass times, is statistically insignificant.
Beyond that, Ordinariates have no intellectual existence. Let's get real about this. The closest any of the Ordinariates have to a spokesman is Fr Hunwicke, and the most polite thing I can say is that he is not G.K.Chesterton. The Ordinariate blogs have disappeared. This is probably in part a result of Jeffrey Steenson's apparent wish to suppress strong figures who might cause him to share the limelight, but I see no visible move by Bp Lopes to redress this problem. (Hint: Fr Kelley taught Christian history at the distinguished Hillsdale College. Bp Lopes, you ought to find a way to make use of him.)
But if Anglicanism brought us John Donne, John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, G.K.Chesterton, Evelyn Waugh, Dorothy Sayers, T.S.Eliot, and C.S.Lewis, (and among them and those like them, notable Catholic converts), there is no evidence that anything like them has come into the Ordinariates. As a former Episcopalian who came into the Church via RCIA, I was immediately attracted by the intellectual rigor of the tradition that stems from Aquinas. You can see it in the programs available on Youtube by Bp Sheen, Fr Ripperger, and many others. Whatever intent of bringing Anglican spirituality into the Church may have lain behind Anglicanorum coetibus, it has, to date, like the barren fig tree borne no fruit. Why cumbereth it the ground?
