The OLA Controversy Reaches Virtue Online

My regular correspondent pointed me to this lengthy piece by the pseudonymous Mary Ann Mueller at Virtue Online. I think it's even-handed regarding the facts, one of her best, and a departure from the usual VOL knee-jerk anti-Catholic stance. Here are some central points:

Our Lady of the Atonement, as a Pastoral Provision parish with a strong interest in going in to the Ordinariate, is under the auspices of the Congregation of Doctrine and the Faith (CDF) in Rome. The CDF is a curial office. Not much can happen with a Pastoral Provision or an Ordinariate parish without the CDF's approval. Ultimately, the CDF will have to rule on Archbishop García-Siller's actions, since Our Lady of the Atonement is under papal authority and both sides, including priest and Archbishop, will have to abide by the ruling -- whatever it is.

The Ordinariate's Bishop Lopes was the personal aide to William Cardinal Levada then Prefect for the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith when Anglicanorum Coetibus was first released calling for the creation of "personal ordinariates" to satisfy the needs of Anglicans seeking unity with the See of Peter while keeping their Anglican accent. Cardinal Levada's successor is Gerhard Cardinal Müller and, as a former CDF staff member, Bishop Lopes has Cardinal Müller's ear and it is known that the Congregation of the Doctrine of the Faith is involved in the developing problem at Our Lady of the Atonement.

It sounds as though she's gotten good input from Houston, or someone close to Houston, here. Also,

When Fr. Phillips was ordained by Archbishop Flores on Aug. 15, 1983, he promised obedience to Archbishop Flores and to all of his successors. Archbishop García-Siller is a successor, so Fr. Phillips is in humble obedience to him and, as such, he is in now incommunicado while he goes into prayer and reflection as requested by his Archbishop.

Nothing can be better for this case than to get the facts out. Frankly, as a few others have observed in other forums, we don't know all the facts now, and for that matter, Fr Phillips made his case in 2012 while leaving several pertinent facts out of the record. I suspect something like that is the case in 2017, so I am waiting to see what else develops.

Meanwhile, the tone of comments on Fr Hunwicke's and other sites, quite a bit of it reflecting anti-Mexican or anti-Latino bias, is disgraceful. VOL is a shining exception. It continues to be a disgrace in my eyes that Msgr Newton has not ordered Fr Hunwicke to delete his own clearly anti-Latino rant on his site.

All the more reason I'm happy I never had the opportunity to join an ordinariate.