Basement Groups

We've already looked at the Pasadena group-in-formation that meets in a dreary basement chapel. My regular correspondent has sent me views of two others. Here's St Anselm Greenville, SC

Here's Our Lady of Walsingham Maple Ridge, BC (my correspondent says it's not nearly this full on a normal Sunday):

Several things strike me. The first is that both venues are nicer than Pasadena, although the reredos and icon in Greenville are offset by the cinder block walls. However, they're both basement chapels. Beyond that, their maximum capacity is in the neighborhood of two dozen, though they apparently don't fill the space most of the time.

Why are these people doing this -- or expressed another way, what problem are these people trying to solve? During 2012, we saw the original Anglicanorum coetibus model of groups being received into the OCSP and the Church. The assumption was that, as new Catholics, they were going to move ahead, locate a permanent venue, grow as parishes, establish good music programs, and so forth. St Albans Rochester, currently down and awaiting a reboot, is an example. By and large, this model hasn't developed as expected, but I wonder if this isn't still what some people in basement groups have in mind if asked what they expect to accomplish.

Once the target market for Anglicanorum coetibus was expanded to include those baptized Catholic but not confirmed, the canonical membership of groups became more ambiguous, and beyond that, it appears that a substantial proportion (though very small in absolute numbers) of fully initiated Catholics also participates in basement groups.

So as far as I can see, people attracted to basement groups-in-formation fall into three categories:

1. The "continuing Anglican" target market of angry Anglicans who want the 1928 BCP and male clergy
2. Catholics not fully initiated who are somehow drawn to a group for other reasons
3. Fully initiated Catholics looking for reverent celebration that they feel they can't find in the diocese.

The problem I see in all these cases is that the record we have over more than five years is that these groups have in fact not grown. My regular correspondent frequently notes that Our Lady of the Atonement had acquired property and begun construction on its church and school within five years of its founding. No OCSP group in formation has accomplished anything like this, and none appears likely to do so.

One peculiar feature of the St John Fisher Orlando group is that it appears to have many Catholics already eligible to receive the sacraments -- my regular correspondent sent me this photo of Bp Lopes celebrating mass there last October:

The photo was sent to resolve the question of what constitutes the altar in that chapel -- apparently it's the window sill -- but it also suggests the OCSP has departed from the 2012 model whereby the groups of Anglicans are received as Catholics in a well-publicized ceremony. Instead, it looks like the St John Fisher group is already Catholic.

But if this is the case, Bp Lopes is doing them (who are his flock) no favors.

• They're celebrating mass in tiny groups, separate from the life of the Church
• They're cutting themselves off from parish activities like Bible study, weekday mass, and adoration
• Such small groups can't realistically support a music program
• Meeting in basement chapels fosters a pusillanimous atmosphere that probably inhibits stewardship
• Since the groups do not have a record of growth, they will never be able to expand their activities.

I've come to recognize that the flip-flop-and-halter-top, Breaking Bread, guitar-and-tambourine OF mass is a stereotype, and a little enterprise and willingness to explore can allow many diocesan Catholics to find reverent and spiritually rewarding celebration without the need to form little groups based largely on wishful thinking.