My regular correspondent spent some hours trying to figure out what the bishop meant by just one statement in the interview:
Parish groups continue to enter – we have had 2 since I became bishop – but this is less common.Bp Lopes was named bishop-designate in November 2015. Which two parish groups came in after 2015? My correspondent was puzzled.
Two parishes? Is he counting St George, Republic--renamed this year when Fr Seraiah took over as parochial administrator and they began having weekly masses? A big step, but this has been an Ordinariate Catholic group under lay leadership since 2012 Our Lady and St John, Louisville? Never an Anglican parish: a group gathered by now-Fr Erdman after he left TEC. The four missions would appear to be those in Orlando, Pasadena, Riverside, and Bath, PA.In context, Bp Lopes seemed to be referring to full parishes, not missions or quasi-parishes. I suggested they might be St Barnabas Omaha and OLA, but my correspondent replied that St Barnabas entered in 2013 and was inclined to discount parishes that were already Catholic.
If he is talking about OLA and St Athanasius, Boston he is being quite misleading, since a) they were already Catholic parishes and b) they had no choice in the matter. His previous analysis clearly refers to Anglican parishes. . . . On further reflection I think he may indeed mean the two remaining PP parishes, which is disappointing in its duplicity. The last non-Catholic parish group to enter the OCSP was St Michael and All Angels, Denison TX in August 2015.The problem throughout the interview is what appears to be deliberate vagueness about any specifics. Where does the new estimate of 6,000 "members" come from? What groups are leaving, in addition to those coming in? St John Fisher, Arlington, VA; St Edmund, Kitchener; and St Gilbert, Boerne have all been closed; there may be others. Later, reviewing the parish finder on the OCSP site, my correspondent reported,
I note that St Gilbert, Boerne has finally been removed from the OCSP website's Parish Directory, so the the count remains 42 despite the addition of Our Lady and St John, Louisville. Our Lady of Grace, Pasadena is not there, although two other parish "points"---St Bede, Halifax and St John Fisher, Orlando---swell the list. Two locations---St Bede, Halifax and Our Lady of Mt Carmel---have only a monthly mass. I am interested to know if Fr Vidal's replacement at NASCC will continue the 11 am Divine Worship celebration at the Catholic chapel there. No announcements on the St Anselm website, which has no indication of Fr Vidal's departure either, so I assume the website was just abandoned, at least temporarily. Our old favourite, OLGC, Jacksonville is also effectively off-line. Since the announcement of the appointment of Fr Kennedy as Parochial Administrator pro tem of St Timothy, Ft Worth in June (while remaining a Parochial Vicar at SMV, Arlington) the announcements have ceased to be posted on the website, so that does not suggest any injection of fresh energy in a group that has been leaderless since July 2016. Three other groups are led by diocesan clergy.But regarding OLGC Jacksonville, NC, I heard this from Fr Waun on June 23 of this year:
Currently, we meet for Mass at 1:00 p.m. on Sunday's. We average about 15 in attendance (sometimes more, depending on the Sunday). During the summer, we stand down from Bible study. We generally have a fellowship following Mass on the first Sunday of the month. Let me know if you have any further questions.It seems to me that a professional press operation would have worked to make Bp Lopes's remarks in his interview much clearer. After all, the interview was conducted via e-mail, and Bp Lopes had every opportunity to polish his replies, or more importantly, to work with someone else to do it. As it stands, the interview and the parish finder together are a mess.
On the other hand, I think Bp Lopes may be under pressure to justify the continued existence of the OCSP and with it, his position. In that case, at least in the short term, he may feel that clarity is not a good policy.
