STM is not a full parish of the OCSP; i.e,. it has fewer than 30 families/100 individual parishioners. Pictures showing the congregation ate very hard to find---it is one of the groups that prefers to concentrate on the sanctuary party---but there was a picture on Facebook showing the crowd on hand for Bp Lopes's visit, and it was modest, perhaps 40 people. The core membership of STM is three generations of a very musical family, together with some former fellow-choristers; hence the emphasis on music in their five-year plan. After their "conversion", many years before Anglicanorum coetibus, they sang in the choir at another church run by the Oratorians, so the new congregation is poaching from the old.This goes to a concern I've had ever since 2012, that the implementation of OCSP is often driven by individual agendas, a little like the condo members who push for the whole residents' association to buy gym equipment that only a few members will actually use. In one of the most important North American cities, apparently a single family wants fewer than 100 people to fund a parish music program from which they will principally benefit. How many other Catholic parishes within easy driving distance in Toronto have a perfectly good music program?
Contrast this with the stained glass at our diocesan parish -- each window has several memorials to the families that donated it. This isn't a one-family show.
Regarding Pasadena, my regular correspondent reports,
The Pasadena group, judging from Facebook, is a group of perhaps 15+ meeting in a small basement chapel. The new keyboard has just been dedicated. Prepare to be conspicuous if you drop in.A couple of photos were forwarded from the Facebook page. I'm told these were from one of the first masses in March of this year.
What is the appeal here? If I'm on something like a hunting trip and need to fulfill my mass obligation, sure, I might attend something like this in remotest Podunk. But this is the Los Angeles area, specifically Pasadena. Latin masses are available nearby for those inclined, and there are thriving parishes with extensive programs, certainly including professional music, easily to be found. We're looking at a tiny group for whom something is missing that they're trying to find in this forlorn basement.
And from what I understand, many are cradle Catholics. What on earth are they looking for here that they can't find ten minutes away?
