San Antonio Puzzle

A visitor points out that, despite Saturday's e-mail from the parish announcing Fr Lewis's appointment as pastor and Fr Phillips's retirement, as well as Sunday's distribution of Bp Lopes's letter announcing the same, there has been no change to the staff page of the OLA website. He notes there has also been no mention of the change on Fr Phillips's blog or Facebook page, which continues daily posts as though nothing had changed.

The parish staff page still lists Fr Phillips's photo at the top as "Rector Emeritus". Fr Perkins's photo is at the bottom as "Interim Administrator". Following normal protocol, one would expect by now -- the announcements last weekend say Fr Lewis's appointment is immediate -- Fr Lewis's photo to be at the top, with Fr Phillips's to move to the bottom. Be interesting to see how long this takes.

I've had a good many messages regarding the transfer of OLA to the OCSP and Abp Garcia-Siller's apparent reluctance to countenance this saying, "It's all about the money." But I keep getting a sense of resistance to the transfer from OLA itself, and disappointment on the part of the OCSP regarding enrollment from former Anglicans. It's not hard to extrapolate that the disappointment could cover financial issues as well -- if there was an expectation that bringing OLA into the OCSP would change the overall picture, this may not wind up being the case.

We'll have to see what develops. Meanwhile, it doesn't seem like Fr Phillips is acting as though there has been any change.

UPDATE: A visitor notes,

As is normal in dioceses, pastoral appointments are announced in the parishes (and often, though not always, posted on the diocesan website) before they take effect. The letter to Our Lady of the Atonement parish states that the appointment is effective July 1 and "With this appointment, the Rev. Christopher Phillips will be retired." Although retired I would suspect that Father Phillips will continue to take the bulk of the liturgies until Father Mark Lewis moves in August. Do not expect a change to the website before then and there is nothing unusual about it.

My regular correspondent suggests,

Everyone, regardless of background:---former Anglican, cradle Catholic, or Other---who was a parishioner of OLA at the time it entered the Ordinariate is eligible to become a member of the OCSP. So I do not believe we know that the apparent foot-dragging about signing up is on the part of any particular group. I would guess it's on the part of lifelong Catholics, or those who became Catholic from some other Protestant background. If they wish in the future to attend a diocesan parish---and should they move away from San Antonio they will have little other choice outside a few locations---they would face some (minor) restrictions as Ordinariate members. But maybe it's just a cross-section of people who like the parish but don't feel any identification with the wider project.

Regarding the parish website, as a constant troller I assure you that an up-to-date one is the exception, not the rule, regardless of jurisdiction. That is why I always try to look at a Sunday bulletin to ascertain who is on the staff or what the mass schedule is.

I'm inclined to see lack of identification with the wider project as a good explanation. Another issue, though, would be how many members the parish actually has. I would not rule out exaggeration in prior estimates.