The Papal States? Give me a break. I am reminded of a First Things article I once read which referred to "the unjustly-maligned Spanish Inquisition." Sounds like a punch line. I think that Fr Treco was preaching something not unrelated to Marshall's thesis, and I can see why Bp Lopes would want to nip this in the bud, and put the onus on Treco to demonstrate that he was not wandering into the suburbs of sedevacantism. The last thing Bp Lopes wants, from a career perspective and I hope from a personal one, is for the Ordinariate to become, or even be perceived as, a bolt hole for radical traditionalists.Another visitor remarks, regarding Bp Lopes,I note that, along with the greatly reduced output of the AC blog, Mr Schaetzel's "Catholic in the Ozarks" blog is now available only to "subscribers" and the Anglican Ordinariates Informal Conversation Forum on FB is a closed group. I think that evangelism is giving way to the secret handshake.
Thinking about your comment about what other bishops say about Bishop Lopes, the casino slot machine game Jackpot/Super Jackpot Party comes to mind. In case you are not familiar with the game, you spin the reels to get matching symbols to go to the bonus round where you get to pick random prizes until/unless you pick the Party Pooper which ends the bonus. My guess is that the Ordinary/Bishop position of the North American Ordinariate was bit like being offered the bonus round of priestly jobs and then picking the pooper right off the bat. Maybe the other Bishops wag their tongues and heads but maybe they are just grateful they did not have to try to avoid the pooper. Maybe that is why they have become so gun-shy when it comes to embracing Ordinariate activities in their dioceses. Nobody wants to pick the pooper.One reason I started this blog was the massive disconnect I saw between the potential of a Catholic prelature for Anglican converts and the disappointing reality. A tradition that came from Dryden, Newman, Chesterton, Knox, Waugh, and Butler is carried forward by Marshall, Gyapong, Schaetzel, and Coulombe. Serious men like Fr Longenecker just get on with the work.
