Fr Wolfe was one of my least-favorite figures in the OCSP. I contacted him in his capacity as Director of Child and Youth Protection, wanting to bring to his attention that wine was regularly served after Sunday morning mass at the Newman group. I saw this myself when I visited the group at its Placentia location in late 2011. The group at the time met for fellowship after evensong in a children's classroom at the Blessed Sacrament parish. Even then I thought it was incongruous to see bottles of wine on a table amid the children-size furniture and crayon drawings on the wall.
Following repeated reports that wine was regularly served in an after-mass "coffee hour" environment where toddlers and children are present, I thought Fr Wolfe should at least investigate the potential problem. Initially, I thought he showed appropriate interest. However, apparently after consultations with Fr Hough III, he revised his opinion and essentially demanded the confirmation of three male eyewitnesses.
My regular correspondent provided this summary of his very brief career in the OCSP:
On his ordination to the priesthood In January 2015 Fr Wolfe was named as the Chancellor of the OCSP. Then in June 2015 he became Director of Child and Youth Protection, with a glowing write-up of his qualifications for this job appearing in the Ordinariate Observer. This is the issue in which Fr Benedict Soule's (illicit) appointment as Judicial Vicar was announced and he was described as consulting with Margaret Chalmers, the "first Chancellor," with no suggestion that there had been a second.Although he did not have pastoral responsibilities in the OCSP and began his work as Director of Child and Youth Protection in June 2015, the OCSP was one of only two dioceses and four eparchies that did not participate in the USCCB's 2015 audit of compliance with the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People.You discussed this on your blog on May 20 this year. Now Fr Wolfe has retired from his new position after fourteen months. During this time embarrassing misinformation about the Ordinariate's non-compliance with the implementation of the Charter for the Protection of Children and Young People appeared in a USCCB audit.
Did Fr Wolfe fumble the ball? Was his term of office unexpectedly brief? The official announcement of his retirement was complimentary, however, unlike the cursory statements about the retirements of Msgr Gipson amd Fr Hough III. He was apparently a seminary classmate of Fr Liias, who is retiring next month. Fr Liias was ordained in TEC in 1974, I believe.
The USCCB is happy to report that the OCSP will participate in the 2016 audit. Fr Wolfe, meanwhile, has retired.
UPDATE: The USCCB issued a correction to the 2015 audit report, saying "the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter was mistakenly named as an eparchy and as non-compliant." However, the OCSP after the designation of Bp Lopes is a diocese. The question of what the audit report said about the bodies that did not participate, though, is less clear. The report as linked said "due to a lack of information, [the bodies] cannot be found compliant or noncompliant by the auditors", not that the OCSP was noncompliant. In corporatespeak, though, it's still a black eye, and I'm not sure if the correction changes anything. (I'm told the OCSP complained about the report.)
Since Fr Wolfe was only appointed Director of Child and Youth Protection in June 2015, when the audit was almost over, it's hard to say what he might have done to change things -- it's possible he was quickly named to the position to avoid repercussions once the issue arose. And he had apparently been superseded as Chancellor by then, so they had to give him something.
Bottom line: he's retired, and the USCCB is happy. Not necessarily connected.
