Fr Glenn Calls In From Silverado, CA

I was in my car listening to the excellent Patrick Madrid morning talk show on Immaculate Heart Radio, and a bit to my surprise, a priest calling himself Fr Glenn called in from Silverado, CA. (You can hear the call starting at about 7:00 here.) The subject Mr Madrid brought up was the forthcoming synod on married priests (he's less than lukewarm, as am I), and it took me a little while to realize who this was calling in: the OCSP's own new Fr Glenn Baaten, former Presbyterian, very briefly Anglican, tending to a group of 20 or so in Carlsbad, CA with a day job as facilities director at the Santiago Retreat Center, a trailer park and campsite.

I start out a little puzzled that Fr Baaten made this call at all, as I don't know where it fits in the OCSP's policy on contacting the media. Certainly in the real world, if I call in to (say) Rush Limbaugh and identify myself as "John from Los Angeles" and don't indicate who my employer is or that I'm speaking on his behalf, I'm fine, unless some colleague hears it, tells everyone in the office I'm in favor of some Republican, and screws me that way. But it's not a policy violation. On the other hand, if I call in and say I'm John, I'm security manager for Sasquatch Bank, and I'm in favor of some Republican, I'm out the door. In fact, I'm pretty much out the door if I say I'm John, I'm security manager, and I think butterflies are pretty. It's simply not done to contact media and identify yourself as an employee without the approval of public affairs.

I knew a guy whose judgment was so poor that, when he got assigned to a new project, he was so proud of himself that he called the local ABC outlet to announce the new project they had going. ABC called public affairs. Bang. Out the door the same day. So I just don't know if Houston was on board with Fr Glenn's call. If it was, I assume Mr Murphy would have a link (although I'm not sure how he got the piece that's up there now on Bl John's and Bartus's new plans). If I were Houston, I'd be up at night worrying about this stuff, especially in Southern Cal. And not just calls to Patrick Madrid.

I would say, though, that there wasn't much point to Fr Glenn's call. What problem was he trying to solve? Mr Madrid asked for comments on whether the duties of a Catholic priest might be much more demanding than those of a Protestant, and thus much less compatible with family responsibilities. Fr Glenn, a Catholic priest for all of two months, serving a group of 20 and running a trailer park, kids out of the house, has pretty much nothing to say on the subject.

Mostly it seems like he wanted to talk about himself, and I think Mr Madrid wound up politely getting him off the line.