Monday, September 19, 2016

More Context

My regular correspondent has added some context to the question of OCSP groups that lose their priests:
Fr Reid left Ottawa to return to Victoria, BC and take over the Fellowship of BlJHN there, as the Ottawa parish had two other clergy, and Fr Reid is originally from Victoria. Fr Ortiz-Guzman was able to hold off his retirement until a replacement at St Augustine, Carlsbad was found in now-Fr Baaten. Fr Catania will be taking over from Fr Scheiblhofer at St Barnabas, Omaha, while assisting at a diocesan parish.

Fr Venuti has had to give up the leadership of St Gregory, Mobile for health reasons, but a diocesan priest offers mass for them once or twice a month (conflicting info depending on where you look).

On the other hand, I would add St Gilbert, Boerne to your list of groups which have folded owing to the departure of their priest. Fr Cannaday, the original leader, has now fully retired and his replacement, Fr Wagner, has taken over a diocesan parish in another community. The group was supposed to relocate to the latter's vicinity but I find no evidence that this has happened.

I think this suggests that Houston can sometimes scramble when replacements are available, but it still looks like more often than not, if a priest is unable to continue, the group will fold. The best bet is to have an available celibate who can easily relocate, but not enough of these are in the pipeline to meet likely contingencies.