I remain baffled at the lack of publicity surrounding ordinations in the OCSP. I was aware of the August 22 date only from following up the story about Jonathan Mitchican in the SJB, Bridgeport newsletter a while back (he was received there). There is more recent information about his ordination here. But the news that there will be two men ordained to the diaconate on the same date came as a surprise; Mr Meyer's picture of the printed invitation on his FaceBook page was the first time I had even heard of Justin Fletcher. The ordination has not yet been mentioned in the OLW, Houston Sunday bulletin. I suppose there will be the usual one line announcement on the OCSP website directing us to the FB video, a few days after the event. So odd.Certainly at our parish, upcoming ordinations, not just of parish seminarians but all others in the archdiocese, are proudly announced. And they take pace in the cathedral downtown, not in our parish church! It's hard to avoid thinking this is something about which the OCSP is not as proud. Which brings me to the question of Philip Mayer.
Prior to June 12 last year, Philip Mayer was a lay person leading a small gathered group headed for the OCSP in the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Mr Mayer lives in Lutz, FL, which is a Tampa suburb. As of June 12, Bp Parkes of the Diocese of St Petersburg requested that the group be shut down, which was briefly noted here.
Mr Mayer had announced the shutdown on the group's then-website, but the tone was apparently not to Bp Parkes's full satisfaction, and Mr Mayer contacted me to request that I delete my reference to it. He cited possible further career opportunities in the Church as a reason not to irritate the bishop, and I complied.
It was then announced that Mr Mayer was pursuing ordination in the Diocese of St Petersburg under the Pastoral Provision. However, my regular correspondent found Mr Mayer's Facebook page, on which my correspondent did not need to "friend" him to read extensive personal information. This included
that he terminated his association with the Diocese of St Petersburg a year ago; they employed him at the chancery there and had him doing work at local parishes. He describes this as a "period of discernment"---perhaps Bp Parkes discerned that he was not right for his diocese."A year ago" would be roughly August 2017 -- so if he was an OCSP candidate as of June in that year, he actually seems not to have spent much time pursuing ordination under the Pastoral Provision. Frankly, these are dates and circumstances that would have HR professionals screening secular candidates out without much further deliberation; this looks like a pretty consistent record of not working out after short times in jobs.
My correspondent has learned that Mayer's priestly ordination is scheduled for January, 2019. Apparently he will be assigned to St James, St Augustine, FL. This meets at St Benedict the Moor Catholic Church in St Augustine. It has a minimal website. Of interest are minutes from a desultory February 2018 meeting called to develop a "strategic plan", with pertinent remarks such as
Fr Nick, the current priest, is Fr Nicholas Marziani, who my correspondent notes "is now 67, previously held a number of jobs in addition to administering St James, so I assume it has not become self-sufficient." Lutz, FL is 169.1 miles from St Augustine, 3 hours 5 minutes on I-75. It is not known if Mr Mayer will be relocating with his family. Given his record, I frankly wouldn't be planning a move.
- Change the Mass time to noon; most of the current members did not think this would work for them.
- Midweek prayer and study time, maybe 5-6 PM. Cinthia, Don, and Fr. Nick thought this would be a good place to start. (not on Wed.)
I would also note again that, given the minutes of the strategic planning meeting for the parish, the observation that the accomplished and talented lay staff and vestry that are present in TEC parishes never moved to the OCSP holds true in this case as well.
