More On St Mary's In The 1980s

Dr Chris Curry, a St Mary's parishioner in the early 1980s, sent me a long e-mail with very worthwhile information (he also attended mass at the parish this past September 3 and talked extensively with Fr Kelley and others):

You were trying to recapture some of the news from back in the early 1980's concerning Fr. Jack Barker and St. Mary of the Angels' trek toward Roman Catholicism via the Anglican Use Rite.

Well, perhaps I can help a bit. St. Mary's was undergoing a major Catechism course (from 1982 through 1984) on Sundays in the parish hall after Mass in order to prepare people for the trek. We were covering all of the early ecumenical Church Councils, so people could, hopefully, see the rationale for becoming Roman Catholic.

I taught a few of the classes. My wife, Dr. Jeanne Curry, taught some of the classes. Each class would cover a council and we would have questions and answers afterwards. The other priests who were working with Fr. Barker were Fr. Saintjohn Brown and Fr. McFarrin. Canon Albert DuBois had already passed away in 1980 -- he was highly revered and some even thought of him as a Saint due to his Apostolic zeal in the U.S. trying to make Anglo Catholicism a formidable presence within the Episcopal Church -- and later -- a formidable presence outside of the Episcopal Church.

Well, in July 1984, two of the parishioners -- namely my wife (Dr. Jeanne) and I -- were ready to be confirmed into the Roman Catholic Church via the Anglican Use Rite. We, in fact, were the very first from L.A. to be confirmed -- from St. Mary of the Angels (or St. Mathias). But -- we were not confirmed in Los Angeles. There was a different plan.

After discussing the matter at length with Fr. Barker, it was decided that we, who would be the FIRST, should be confirmed in Las Vegas, Nevada by Fr. Clark Tea, who was the pastor of the AUR church of St. Mary the Virgin's in Las Vegas -- under the permission of the Bishop of Las Vegas, of course. This way we could by-pass any potential problem that might arise from Cardinal Archbishop Timothy Manning in L.A. We carefully orchestrated all of the necessary arrangements.

The Bishop of Las Vegas fully approved. Our official sponsor for Confirmation was Fr. Bill King, a Roman Catholic priest who was the prior of the Claretian Order in Los Angeles. He was an old friend of Jeanne's and mine and he worked with the Anglo Catholic community in Los Angeles, so he was familiar with the situation.

Fr. King even worked with the Anglo Catholics within the Episcopal Church as well -- especially the group of Episcopalians who left St. Mary of the Angels around 1976 and who utilized little Episcopal chapels in L.A., which included, but were not limited to, first - St. Columba's Chapel which was located on the property of the Episcopal Cathedral in downtown L.A. -- both of which were bulldozed by 1981; then the little chapel inside the diocesan office in L.A. under Bishop Rusack and Archdeacon Donald Behm (who was an Anglo Catholic priest), then St. Francis Chapel in Atwater Village.

This group called themselves "St. Mary's in Exile," under Senior Warden Walter Kressel. (We were introduced to Anglo Catholicism through "St. Mary's in Exile," via their ads in the L.A. Times, but once we went to "the real St. Mary's," we never went back.) The "Exile" group was intimately involved in the law suit to get St. Mary's church property back into the hands of the Episcopal Church. They lost the case. Fr. Barker and his legal team prevailed (due to the way that Fr. Dodd, the founding priest, had written the legal papers regarding the property of St. Mary's).

To make a long story short: Our Confirmation took place on July 20, 1984 in Las Vegas as planned. This was the precedent. St. Mary of the Angels now had official members who were confirmed in the Roman Catholic Church via the Anglican Use Rite. It was a "done deal." It was all official. So, July 20, 1984 was a significant milestone for the St. Mary of the Angels in Los Angeles -- and for the Pro-Diocese of St. Augustine of Canterbury.

Fr. Barker and St. Mary of the Angels could now move forward -- but cautiously, because they still had to clear the hurdle of Cardinal Manning. And about a year later, they had to clear an even bigger hurdle -- the new Archbishop, Roger Mahony. My wife and I could be Anglican Use Catholics in L.A., and not be under Manning or Mahoney, since our official diocese and bishop were in Las Vegas. It was like having immunity from prosecution. But there was no church in L.A. where the Anglican Use Rite existed or was permitted.

We wound up moving to Milwaukee where I received my Ph.D. at Marquette, one of the last bastions of Jesuit orthodoxy at the time. Jeanne already had her Ph.D. from Yale in 1976, with the highest honors. Our concern has always been that the Catholic Church should make available the most dignified and theologically accurate Mass possible -- with Latria for the Eucharistic Christ; and that the Church should encourage the greatest possible devotion to Christ the King and to the Immaculate Queen Mary.

We pray and work for these ends.

Some of the story does allude to the divisions in the parish, which is something Cardinal Mahony referred to in his own subsequent letter. It would be interesting to hear more about the factionalism in this period -- it can't be neglected in the context of continuing developments.