After now-Fr Philip Mayer’s efforts were shut down, after once-Transitional, now apparently Permanent Deacon David Hodil got the boot from the local seminary, the Tampa (Bay) pre-Ordinariate Group is having another kick at the can with a monthly DW mass offered at the local TLM parish, Epiphany of Our Lord, by Fr Edwin Palka, who is offering an extra Sunday mass to accommodate overflow crowds while social distancing is being maintained. A somewhat offbeat place, apparently.The first observation to make is that over the eight-year period since 2012, "gathered" groups exist pretty much for the sole purpose of ordaining some guy who's already established a record of failure, either as a Protestant or as a Catholic wannabe. These groups reliably haven't been able to grow into parishes. They succeed only in what they're actually intended to do, provide an excuse to ordain some mediocrity favored in Houston, who then goes on to shepherd other borderline efforts that never seem to go anywhere.A love-hate relationship between the TLM crowd, generally, and the Ordinariate, some seeing the other as a rival for the same potential attendees, others finding a common anti-OF bond. Ut unum sint? Hardly. I wouldn't let a potential convert go near either group, if they were looking for a place of refuge from denominational in-fighting and name-calling.
How many of these products of that system even go on to work in diocesan parishes? Bishops won't touch most of them.
The justification for doing this over and over is apparently the Phillips model, whereby the brave Episcopalian strikes out to start a parish on his own that quickly grows, supports a school, and creates a scandal with abuse of boys. (Sorry, didn't mean that last thing.) The problem again is that there have been no new Fr Phillipses and no new Our Lady of the Atonements, for which some folks are happy, in fact.
But this brings me to the odd question of what the appeal might be for the small fringe groups that keep forming around the ordinariate project. I don't want to lump the ordinariate in with the Latin mass movement, but there are probably elements that appeal to some members of both.
I've been interested in fairly recent psychological research on the "dark triad" of personality types, narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy. As a true crime fan, I'm naturally drawn to this, but these personality types exist on a continuum, and even from a non-criminal perspective, we're talking about specific manifestations of sin. Narcissism in particular could probably also be approached as a particularly habitual and malignant form of pride.
And since I'm only an English major who is not a mental health professional, I want to make it clear that I'm not diagnosing anyone, particularly not at a distance. But let's look at two characteristics of narcissistic personality disorder:
It takes more than two symptoms to make a diagnosis in any case, but this is a theme I keep seeing in posts at the Anglicanorum Coetibus Society blog, on Facebook fora, and in angry e-mails from occasional visitors here. The overall theme seems to be that for these folks, it's not enough just to be Catholic, they need a "special" liturgy, and their demands must be met.
- Believes that he or she is “special” and unique and can only be understood by, or should associate with, other special or high-status people (or institutions)
- Has a very strong sense of entitlement, e.g., unreasonable expectations of especially favorable treatment or automatic compliance with his or her expectations
What's interesting is how un-special so many of their clergy, and so may of their mutual efforts to set up their little exclusive parish groups,, seem to be. Wouldn't you expect such exceptional people to produce exceptional results? Instead, even Fr Phillips's lifetime project turns out to be something of a con.
Which is what study of the "dark triad" might actually lead you to believe.
