Interesting that all of these outsiders that know Fr. Phillips know of the parish desire to be part of the Ordinariate when it seems it hasn't been openly discussed in the parish since Father withdrew his application years ago. Back then, there was a certain amount of enthusiasm at "Becoming One" with the thousands from the ACA that were anticipated to join, which of course didn't happen.I'm getting more concerned, the more I think about it, that the OLA situation is bringing to the fore "continuing" tendencies that don't seem desirable. So far, for instance, we don't have demands from Catholic parishes for flying bishops who will be more friendly to ad orientem or whatever. But here we have a parish that is roiling over which bishop will supervise its BDW liturgy, nothing else in dispute.
This visitor has two theories on what may be driving the archbishop's apparent concerns:
The [OLA] school is still in the midst of a large building expansion project, which likely has a fair amount of debt remaining that perhaps is guaranteed by the Archdiocese. Since the expansion project began, a Great Hearts Charter School opened in the area which attracted both some faculty (better pay) and students (no tuition) from the School. Within the past couple of years the Rolling Hills Academny couldn't meet payments on their debt and the Archdiocese bailed them out. If the property is to go in to the Ordinariate, I'm not sure what would happen if they can't meet the debt due to another decrease in enrollment.And from the start, I've wondered if something happened to surprise Abp Garcia-Siller, since otherwise he appears to have been friendly to the parish. The visitor suggests this:
As far as vocations go, the most recent one seemed to have spent five years at the Archdiocese's seminary prior to leaving it and taking a job with Atonement, which apparently then qualified him to join the Ordinariate. As far as I can tell, the Archbishop may have been notified of his placement only after the fact which might have been the first hint of Father's new application for the Ordinariate.This is presented here for what it's worth -- but potential loan guarantees and the substantial investment of the archdiocese in educating a new priest, with the expectation that he'd then work for the archdiocese, not Houston -- would be serious issues, and if there were surprises involved, this could be more serious indeed.
I've said from the start that I'm far distant from San Antonio and know little more than what's been made public. But I'm sure we don't know everything here.
