You have posted Msgr. Kurzaj homily on your weblog. All biases in this case aside, that is one of the worst sermons that I have heard in my life! I have been subject to many so-called sermons/homiles from Catholic priests, but this one sets a new, subterranean bar. Polish men are know for being stalwart, if not inspired. . . . Posting such a dreadful speech only harms your rhetorical cause for the archbishop’s hegemony over Our Lady of the Atonement, as far as I am concerned. You have just got to do better than this.My reaction was different, which may indicate the changes in my attitudes since I became Catholic. Nearly seven decades of life experience have brought me around to a natural-law view that character stems from developing habits of virtue. I would not have endorsed this view as a student. Since becoming Catholic, reflecting on the dumb things I did as a student, I've come around to the Thomistic notion that sin dulls the intellect.
A good homily, I've come to think, is one that exhorts the listeners to develop habits of virtue, to pray, and to continue with the sacraments. A football coach may have certain, sometimes similar, objectives in addressing his team. Neither necessarily needs to send the audience into swoons of appreciation. They just have to get the job done. I appreciate homilies that get the job done.
(The closest thing I've heard to homilies from the OCSP is those delivered by Fr Bartus at St Mary of the Angels. Fr Bartus typically read homilies written by someone else, which did the job -- if only of preparing without involving unnecessary work. Is this a research technique he picked up in college?)
I don't know what discussions Msgr Kurzaj may have had with the archbishop when he was reassigned to OLA. His homily seemed to focus on pride and humility. This was probably a reflection of the job he somehow felt he needed to do. I can't disagree if that was his perception; at a distance, I suspect something like that is involved, at least among some parishioners.
An issue that strikes me from the e-mails I've had from those with closer experience of the parish is the popularity of the Latin mass and the rigor (including Latin) of the school. These are features of mainstream Catholicism, not Anglo-Catholicism. In fact, Msgr Steenson was radically lukewarm toward Latin masses, to the extent of dissociating the OCSP from such practices. Schools in the OCSP? Mostly just vague future proposals.
A knowledgeable visitor has suggested that the actual membership who qualified as former Anglicans in the large Texas Anglican Use parishes prior to the OCSP was consistently only in the high 40 percentiles. I have a hard time seeing exactly what OLA as a parish expects to gain from joining the OCSP, except to get an OCSP pastor as Fr Phillips's successor, who unavoidably will be less friendly to Latin and will have less experience with a rigorous school. Not to mention the prime candidate who cribs his homilies.
But this is above the parish's paygrade and beyond my competence as a distant observer. No lay observers know all the facts. It will be resolved where it should be resolved.
