Fr Phillips was 67 when OLA entered the OCSP. A youngster by Ordinariate standards. Yet he was immediately demoted to “Pastor Emeritus” and replaced with someone who, I am sure, had no thought of relocating from 1600 miles away until approached by his superiors. This was of course presented as a Good News story by the OCSP and its flacks but even at the time there was dismay expressed by Phillips loyalists who saw the appointment for what it was—a disciplinary action.The bottom line, it seems to me, is that there's no there there in Anglicanorum coetibus. The draw for the Anglicans is pretty much some combination of liturgy and Anglophile mummery, dressing up as Lady Chatterley and her gamekeeper for the parish picnic.So why is Fr Phillips the poster boy for the AC Society Conference? He was, of course, a major force in the run up to the erection of the North American Ordinariate—-communicating regularly with Christian Campbell and hosting the Becoming One get-together in San Antonio . Many hoped and expected he would be the first Ordinary. Presumably he did too —-he chose to repost this fawning follow-up article by “Mary Ann Mueller”
But when the OCSP was established he stunned the blogosphere by announcing that OLA would not be joining. This deprived the Ordinariate of financial resources and apparently of experienced leadership, although in retrospect maybe this part was not such a bad thing. But it made for an awkward start. And as you point out, despite his role, now formalised, as a mentor to some aspiring OCSP clergy his recipe for growing a group of 18 adults and children into a large thriving parish with a church and a school has not been reproducible.
He clearly remains a source of division at OLA. Someone suddenly decided that the conversation about him on the Anglican Ordinariate Forum did not showcase the Ordinariate at its best. So why give him centre stage at a conference supposedly celebrating AC? Won’t it just draw attention to the fact that “Ut unum sint” remains as elusive an aspiration in this tiny corner of the Church as it does in the larger Christian world?
But this isn't the Catholic Church my wife and I discovered, for instance, when the ordinariate plans crashed and burned in Hollywood. A number of influential parishioners at St Mary of the Angels wound up becoming Catholic via RCIA, and all seem quite clearly better off becoming Catholic via established channels.
We're participating in a full range of activities at real parishes, learning about things like the Doctors of the Church, and finding perspectives on the Faith from many different cultural backgrounds. It seems like all the ordinariates have to offer is self-congratulation that the Catholic Church is finally becoming more Anglican. And of course, Fr Phillips.
Somehow Bp Lopes thinks this is adequate.
