Vaughn Treco has informed his GoFundMe supporters that he and his wife are attending a new Catholic parish where "a few people know our names." He was one of the people, or should I say the men, who had his foot washed---and kissed---on Thursday night. "For those familiar with the old ways, the significance of this act should be apparent." Presumably he is a priest forever after the order of Melchizidek in the eyes of his new pastor, not to mention a Catholic in good standing. I have a feeling that Treco will not be going gentle into that good night. An ongoing source of potential embarrassment for the OCSP. Whatever Msgr Steenson's limitations, he was probably prescient in wishing to avoid having the Ordinariate identified with "Traditionalists."I wasn't able to come up with a direct reference on a web search, but I believe I've seen a discussion to the effect that a laicized priest, besides being unable to wear clericals, call himself "Father', or celebrate the sacraments, is under some obligation to leave his former community altogether in order to prevent confusion among the faithful. Treco, although his duties as a priest were apparently always quite low-level, had a bigger social media presence, which is apparently what got him into trouble when errors in a posted homily were noted outside his community.
Beyond that, I've seen references to Treco being excommunicated, although I don't think there are direct public sources for this. I simply don't know what someone does to lift this type of excommunication, nor whether it's been done in the context of his new parish. If someone can clarify this, I'll appreciate it!
I would think it would be better all around, for the sake of Treco's spiritual outcome as well as for the sake of those whom he may have misled as a priest, for him to renounce any social media presence and maintain a low profile going forward. It appears this may be too much to ask.
I agree with my correspondent that this could be an "ongoing source of potential embarrassment" for Houston, though certainly not the only one. Treco became Catholic well before Anglicanorum coetibus, and it seems to me that he has something in common with the cradle and longer-term Catholics who are finding in the OCSP not a route into the Church for Anglicans, but a route out of their dioceses, or indeed out of the Church, for Catholics who should know better.
