I was struck by a similarity between the Ordinariate view of Msgr. Newton that, “… We must communicate our message much more widely and with more vigour and enthusiasm.”, and Fr. Phillips’ inability (or unwillingness) to recognize the sizeable cradle Catholic population in his parish (that allowed it to be sustainable and successful) with what is going on in our political arena with Obamacare. Let me describe the Obamacare dilemma and see if it rings a bell…I don't think the CDF ever gave much thought to what was on offer. It's worth pointing out that there are numerous Catholic apologists on blogs and YouTube -- Peter Kreeft, Scott Hahn, Edward Feser, Fr Schmitz, Msgr Pope, Fr Z, Bp Barron, Michael Voris, to name only a few -- who are putting out a Catholic message without embellishment. This message, like the message of Ven Fulton Sheen, which clearly inspires many current apologists, has a universal appeal. It reaches Anglicans just as much as Jehovah's Witnesses, Wiccans, Presbyterians, or vegans.Regardless of the media spin, Obamacare has not ever been very popular with the American people, and not making pro or con arguments about Obamacare there are some things that are verifiably true. To wit, it required many executive, extra-legislative orders and rules to accommodate the shortfalls of the law. . . . [T]he Democratic party kept telling us the problem wasn’t with Obamacare, the problem was that the public did not understand how it was benefiting them. The support for this law was there, they just needed to get their message out to a wider audience. This played out spectacularly in the 2016 presidential election. Even today, there are some Democrats who are still saying the reason they lost the election was because they couldn’t get their message out wide enough in those red states or they should have re-phrased it so that more (simple-minded) people could understand it. Never once did it occur to these very smart people that the masses could see very well what Obamacare was and, what its potential was as well, and they simply rejected it. They wanted another option.
Substitute Pastoral Provision Parishes for Obamacare, the Vatican jumping through hoops and changing the rules (i.e. creating Anglicanorum Coetibus instead) for the executive orders/extra legislative action, clergy and laity for doctors and patients, the dubious ordination processes for the constitutional issues and the Ordinariate cheerleaders for the Democratic party and media supporters of Obamacare. The idea of simply spreading the message to a wider audience or re-phrasing the same message so more can understand it may look good on paper, but in the real world, it seems to be a pretty poor strategy. True some people supported Obamacare because they thought it was the right thing to do or because they thought they were going to get an outsized benefit for what they actually contributed. These people might be likened to some of the cradle Catholics in OLA’s parish, who expected to receive benefits without risking anything of their own. When the chips were down, how many dragged up stake and walked away? The Fr. Phillips/Save The Atonement coalition seem to either not have recognized this or are willfully denying it.
Anywho, we all see how the Obamacare thing is working out… not very pretty. If the analogy holds, can we expect a different result?
The ordinariate message seems to involve some kind of body-English transmitted through some sort of "precious treasures of the Anglican spiritual patrimony". So far, nobody in Houston or Rome seems to be backing off and asking what was successful about Our Lady of the Atonement, vs what has not been successful about the efforts of Fr Phillips's protégés, like Fr Bartus.
Nor is anyone asking why there is no OCSP priest with a credible message on blogs or YouTube. Some people do seem to like Fr Hunwicke, but his fuss and feathers are at best an acquired taste.
