On the other hand, the Australian Ordinariate has a mere eleven congregations, all worshipping in diocesan churches. When the priest in Sydney, Australia's largest city, died in February 2015 it took over two years to replace him. There are currently 14 clergy. The current Ordinary is 77 [years old]. I suppose the moment of decision will come when he retires, but at the moment the OOLSC is being allowed to limp along. I have of course noticed the gradual withering away of its publications: "Australia Wide," and the Ordinary's "Musings." It will be interesting to see how many turn out for the fifth anniversary celebrations later this month. I cannot imagine that membership is more than a few hundred. The OCSP looks comparatively good.But my correspondent also reports that Philip Mayer, whose attempt to start up an Ordinariate group in the Tampa Bay area was torpedoed, now describes himself on Facebook as a Pastoral Provision candidate of the Diocese of St Petersburg. This suggests that the previously mooted effort to relocate him and find some way to link him with a new gathered OCSP group would not be productive.
This has prompted me to do more thinking about why Anglicanorum coetibus is not bearing fruit. I have several preliminary points:
- Anglicans are Protestants. Let's keep in mind that I was told in TEC confirmation class, which I'm sure is typical, that Anglicanism was an ideal compromise, a via media, between the extremes of Catholicism and more radical Protestantism. This implies that there's something extreme about Catholicism, e.g., the authority of the Pope, the teachings on marriage and the family, the status of Mary in the Church, celibate clergy, Latin, the requirement for Confession, on and on. A few months of Evangelium aren't gong to change this for laity. A few webinars, or some seminary make-up courses, are certainly not going to change this for clergy.
- The example of parishes for European ethnic groups in the past, Poles, Lithuanians, Italians, Germans, and so forth, aren't apt, because these groups were already Catholic and were preserving Catholic traditions in which they'd been raised. Episcopalians are long-assimilated members of mainstream Protestant culture.
- The idea of a Catholic prelature that caters to Anglicans as a separate group minimizes the advantage to new Catholics of getting to know more fully formed Catholics from other traditions. In our area, there are many Filipino Catholics who have a great deal to say about being Catholic. Polish Catholics, here and in Poland, have been playing a greater role in forming a cultural consensus in opposition to Marxist secular tendencies. I think it's significant that the pro-Phillips faction at OLA was particularly unhappy to have been assigned a Polish administrator. But it's better for new Catholics to go outside a cultural non-Catholic uniformity.
