I Can't Link To What Ain't There!

I just got an e-mail from my regular correspondent with the title "Publicity". I figured it was going to link to a belated piece in the Register or some other major Catholic organ covering the first mass and confirmations at Holy Martyrs Murrieta, though I had briefly (and maybe conveniently) forgotten that Bp Lopes wasn't there. But the e-mail said only

Four men being ordained to the priesthood at OLW, Houston today. I find it hard to fathom why this is not being publicised in any way, unless we count the local parish bulletin.

This takes me back to when I used to work for a living, and there'd be coffee-break gripe sessions on the latest that Mahogany Row was or wasn't doing. The odd thing is that, in retrospect, the subjects involved were often on point, and when the gripes became focused, they tended to be followed, independently but fairly soon, by ominous stories in the Wall Street Journal talking about impending things like indictments, hostile takeovers, layoffs, or whatever.

Not long ago, I posted on the story that should have been released about Bp Lopes's visit to the first official mass at Holy Martyrs. Now my regular correspondent is wondering why four ordinations aren't being publicized. In the spirit of coffee-hour gripes with the usual low-level management types who actually had to get things done, I've got to think there are two explanations:

1. Mahogany Row is full of incompetents, and there's no reason why these optimistic deveopments aren't being publicized
2. There's actually a reason why potentially good news is being suppressed.

Neither, of course, is good for the organization. Early in Msgr Steenson's tenure, ordinations were publicized with some frequency, although they were often in diocesan organs, because the applicable diocesan bishop was doing them. Now that Bp Lopes is able to do his own ordinations, that possibility is gone, while under explanation 1, nobody who works for him now is able to write a press release.

Under explanation 2, there may be an emerging concern among bishops that the OCSP is potentially a separate and competing overlapping jurisdiction. Bp Lopes may be concerned that publicity over ordinations or new communities could be irritating to bishops who have this view.

At this stage, I would say that either is a credible explanation, or there might be another that I haven't thought of. But based on life experience, I would say that speculation over what ought to happen but hasn't is not a good omen for what might come up sooner rather than later.

More From Guelzo On Anglo-Catholicism

I ran across another trenchant passage in For the Union of Evangelical Christendom, his history of the Reformed Episcopal Church:

The Reformed Episcopalians, like other Anglo-American evangelicals, sought to bend the weapons of reason to their own defense; Anglo-Catholicism sought to escape secularism by eluding, rather than affirming, the trammels of reason. As it turned out, neither in the long run could successfully fend away the shrinking walls of the house occupied by religion in the Victorian world. One telltale but subtle measure of the real intellectual distance between both parties occurs in the peculiar vocabulary of English and American Anglo-Catholicism. Like so many other nineteenth-century imperlialisms, Anglo-Catholicism invented a new language, full of arcana to Protestant ears, larded with "the Blessed Sacrament", "Father" as a term of clerical address, sanctuary lamps, ciboriums, crucifers, and so forth. The aggressive and provocative implications of Anglo-Catholic language are usually treated simply as one more instance of their urge to break lances with Protestant culture, and as such they leave little doubt about Anglo-Catholicism's inherent imperialism. What is more likely to be missed is how this clutter of terminology actually functioned as a short-circuit around rationality. The thicket of Anglo-Catholic religious language is, after all, strangely matched to the dearth of serious Anglo-Catholic religious speculation -- unless, of course, Anglo-Catholic language is recognized for what it was, an active and conscious repudiation of the theological rationalism so beloved of the Evangelicals, in favor of a dialect based on religious sentiment. (p 270)

I'm told that Prof Guelzo has been, at least off and on, a Reformed Episcopalian himself with definite Evangelical bias, and I attribute this at least in part to the view he takes here that Evangelicals are rationalist, which I simply don't see. On the other hand, in 30 years as an Episcopalian, I never heard anyone, clergy or lay, recommend that I read Aquinas, or for that matter (other than conventional references to the Confessions) Augustine. Certainly the appeal of Anglo-Catholicism in the 21st century is largely an emotional one, closely linked to prosperous upscale urban communities.

What Guelzo doesn't mention is that Catholic apologetics have been the most rationalist of any; I would cite only Ven Fulton Sheen, Patrick Madrid, and Bp Barron as recent examples. I would also say that Catholic priests strike me as remarkably matter-of-fact in talking of the sacraments -- the "precious Body and Blood" are generally not mentioned, but Protestant practices like feeding leftover consecrated bread to the birds are disparaged as just being kinda dumb.

And -- well -- every time I visit Fr Hunwicke's blog, I seem to hear faint strains of "Rule Britannia".

Latin Mass Again

A visitor writes:

I don’t understand the connection between the groups you blog about (Anglican/Catholic hybrid) and those who believe Vatican II liturgical changes were a mistake. I see the political advantage: two groups, each wanting to worship in their own way. However, if you gave truth serum to someone from the Latin mass group, they would tell you that the new mass isn’t “really” a mass, that the only way to raise their children Catholic is to take them to Latin masses, and their pipe dream is to revoke Vatican II, liturgically at least, and make the Tridentine mass universal. And what is the Anglican tradition but an early version of the Vatican II changes? The Tridentine mass was created to be a bulwark against Protestantism. So I don’t really “get” why these groups are forming even tentative alliances.

The other contrast between these two groups regards the priests. The priests who want to celebrate Latin mass in each diocese are firmly embedded in the diocese hierarchy and their sole obedience is to their own Bishop. And these priests are very careful, no matter what the laity think, to speak respectfully of Pope Francis, and they only celebrate the Latin mass at the directive of their Bishop. It does seem a huge mistake to ever make the chain of command for Anglican groups separate, rather than folding them into existing dioceses.

I came across your blog because a Latin mass Facebook page posted the Church Militant link about those nuns in Texas. And recently I came across a post in a private Latin mass FB group where someone from the Anglican camp was putting out feelers (see screenshots). She did not get any takers but it seemed odd that she thought she might.

In 2012, Msgr Steenson, the first OCSP ordinary 2012-15, issued a pastoral letter clarifying Rome's position on how the Tridentine mass relates to Anglicanorum coetibus. Intrestingly, it no longer appears on the OCSP website, but I was able to find the applicable part of its text here:

We have therefore asked that the congregations of the Ordinariate follow this direction. Some of our clergy want to learn also how to celebrate according to the Extraordinary Form of the Roman Rite. They are certainly encouraged to do so, under the provisions of Summorum Pontificum and under the supervision of the local bishop, to assist in those stable communities that use the Extraordinary Form. But as the Extrordinary Form is not integral to the Anglican patrimony, it is not properly used in our communities. The Ordinariate will remain focused on bringing Christians in the Anglican tradition into full communion with the Catholic Church. We also are pleased that the Church has provided for the continuing use of the Extraordinary Form, particularly as a pastoral response to traditional Catholics, and regard all of this as a well-ordered symphony of praise to the Blessed Trinity.

I think the visitor raises a valid point. Bp Lopes has at least leaned in the direction that the "Anglican patrimony" consists almost entirely of the 17th-century BCP liturgy, although it's worth noting that its own survival is due to accident -- an attempt to revise it in the 19th and early 20th centuries stalled for lack of consensus. And it's definitely worth noting that Episcopalian and Church of England interior furnishings, as well as Catholic-style vestments, are a 19th-century innovation. Altars, reredoses, candles, crucifixes, albs, surplices, cottas, copes, chasubles, incense, servers, and the like date only from the 1840s and later. Church of England and Episcopal interiors prior to then looked much more like modern Baptist interiors, with priests normally wearing just black cassocks and sometimes academic gowns while preaching.

Clearly what we've been observing here is that enthusiasts of the "Anglican patrimony" share perhaps more with sola sciptura types than they do with truly devout Catholics -- they show the same willingness to freelance what the Anglican patrimony consists of as scriptural fundamentalists do in interpreting the Word. To the extent that traddie enthusiasm for the Latin mass and the "Anglican patrimony" are affectations and inauthentic, the two groups certainly share a lot.

But the visitor is also correct in seeing the two groups as more or less separatist, and especially with the Anglicans, at risk for trying to set themselves up as a separate and overlapping jurisdiction, since they have their own bishop. I would say the centrifugal tendency is there in both groups, but the visitor does see that the Latin mass is done entirely in the context of the diocese.

This was also the case with the Anglican Use Pastoral Provision, and the largest OCSP parishes came from diocesan jurisdictions under that provision. Even then, though, the relationship of Our Lady of the Atonement with its archdiocese was not smooth.

Something's Missing

It took some concentrated web sleuthing by two people over several days last week to figure out what the whole story was with Holy Martyrs Murrieta. But it brings me back to the same question I had at the start: this was the official first mass at a new facility, a first for the OCSP. Bp Lopes shoiuld have been there, especially since there were confirmations -- first confirmations for the new group at the new facility.

Not only was Bp Lopes not there, there was no serious publicity -- a couple of random posts on two Facebook groups. No explanation of why this was significant. Here's what we should have seen, someplace in the Catholic press:

• News of Bp Lopes's visit to open the new facility at the Pentecost mass
• Photos of Bp Lopes in procession, however unfinished or temporary the arrangements -- makes it more significant to the story
• Photos of Bp Lopes confirming the confirmands -- essential
• Photos of the crowd
• Quotes from Bp Lopes on why this is a joyful occasion, which in theory it must certainly be
• Quotes from Mr Truax II on his journey from TEC to Catholicism and his hopes to share the Anglican patrimony in the Temecula Valley
• Another iteration of the purpose of the OCSP
• Quotes from other new OCSP members
• Quotes from Fr Bartus on his wishes for the new enterprise.

And so forth. This is something any journeyman PR writer could come up with. In fact, Houston has previously engaged Mr Jesserer Smith of the Register for exactly this sort of thing. Why this wasn't done is a puzzle. I can think of two possible explanations.

The first is simple incompetence. Nobody in Houston has the basic good sense to do this, and Houston lacks the resources routinely available to territorial dioceses. I can't completely rule this out.

The second is that Bp Lopes may feel he needs to keep a low profile. Publicizing the start of the Holy Martyrs group, including calling attention to Mr Truax II's role (assuming Mr Truax is OK with this), could have offended Bp Barnes and quite possibly others in the USCCB. Bp Lopes's physical presence in Barnes's diocese, and calling attention to it in the Catholic press, could also have been impolitic.

This suggests to me that, irrespective of whether the CDF can shove some things down diocesan bishops' throats, not all are comfortable with the whole idea of a separate, overlapping, and competing jurisdiction, especially with half-baked communities calling themselves "Catholic churches" in their territories. I can't disagree.

I notice from the Holy Martyrs website that Theology on Tap is coming to the Temecula Valley! Nothing like a mug of draft beer to go with your catechism, huh? Can beer breakfasts and whiskey-and-cigar barbecues be far behind? Er, how many of these things does Fr Bartus have on his weekly schedule?

Know what? I'm gonna ask our pastor why we can't have beer with our Bible study!

Here's The Rub

A May 1 report in the Inland Catholic Byte goes into detail on the April 5 joint letter from Bps Barnes and Lopes on the Murrieta OCSP "mission".

Holy Martyrs of England and Wales Catholic Mission has established a presence in Temecula Valley and will begin holding Mass in a Murrieta gymnasium on Pentecost Sunday, May 20. This faith community was formed by several families in the Temecula Valley that had been traveling to Irvine to attend Mass at Blessed John Henry Newman Parish.

That parish community falls under the jurisdiction of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a non-territorial diocese that allows communities of former Anglicans in the United States and Canada to enter into full communion with the Catholic Church. It is under the episcopal leadership of Bishop Steven Lopes. . . .

Efforts by Holy Martyrs of England and Wales to market itself in the local communities initially created some confusion among some Catholic parishioners and priests. . . .

Bishop Lopes and Father Andrew Bartus, pastor of the new community, met with Bishop Barnes and priests and parish leadership from the Hemet Vicariate of the Diocese on Jan. 29. It was an occasion to learn more about the plans of the Ordinariate and more clearly define jurisdictional relationships.

I suspect "some confusion among some Catholic parishioners and priests" is a nice way of putting things. The impression I have is that most bishops don't seem to mind too much if a dozen or two ex-Anglicans get together for a 1 PM mass in a basement chapel. On the other hand, if a potential major donor like Mr Truax starts to put big money into a new parish facility not under the bishop's jurisdiction, that's a horse of a different color.

Let's note the outline of circumstances as we see it in the report, which echoes the bishops' April 5 letter, vs what we're coming to learn:

• The report mentions "several families in the Temecula Valley that had been traveling to Irvine" as the reason for the startup.
• However, it seems increasingly likely that Bernie Truax II is funding an effort to remodel a facility that must be 10,000 square feet and is meant to attract hundreds.
• The report is calling the Holy Martyrs project a "mission". However, a visitor notes

  The Codex Juris Canonici (Code of Canon Law) defines only “parishes” (Canon 515) and “quasi-parishes” (Canon 516), although Canon 516 also allows the bishop to provide for the pastoral care of communities that cannot be erected as the latter in another way (for example, by appointment of a chaplain per Canon 564). Although not formally recognized in the Codex Juris Canonici, the term “mission” is commonly used in the Catholic Church for a segment of a parish that worships in another location, often where there’s intent to split the parish when the segment becomes self-sustaining.

  Nor, as we've noted, is the term "mission" used as one of the formal categories in the OCSP's Guide to Parish Development.
• There can be little question that the Holy Martyrs facility is many times the size, and has attracted many times the financial support, of the BJHN chapel. However, BJHN is not a "parish" that would normally be "split", and at this point it is probably less self-sustaining than Holy Martyrs, though the Holy Martyrs future is uncertain.
• This has almost certainly been well known to Bp Barnes for many months; the actual scale of the project appears to have been outlined in the fall 2017 information meeting in the Truax Building.
• It seems to me that this would raise legitimate concerns for Bp Barnes and others in his diocese as to whether the expressed intentions of Mr Truax, Bp Lopes, and Fr Bartus are completely sincere,

On the other hand, the source I linked yesterday gives a size comparison for the actual growth occurring in the Diocese of San Bernardino:

The growth of the Catholic church is evident in the region. In April, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta parish moved from its decade-long home in a French Valley Moose Lodge to its $6.5 million sanctuary a short distance away.

That church dedication, which was led by Barnes, attracted an overflow crowd of more than 1,500 worshippers and onlookers.

On one hand, Holy Martyrs Murrieta is just a pinprick, and one suspects that Mr Truax's potenbtial donations to the diocese would not be of much overall consequence, considering a real new parish in this case gets a multimillion-dollar permanent facility.

On the other hand, especially if Mr Truax has had a history of being an irritant, the possibility of competing and overlapping jurisdictions in the Church here may not be completely remote, and especially since a bishop's job is to be worrying as well as cheerleading, this matter should have Bp Barnes's attention -- and I would guess that his colleagues in the USCCB are paying attention as well.

Yet More On Holy Martyrs Murrieta

Different research directions between my regular correspondent and me seem to have converged, so that the puzzle is beginning to become clearer. The first major find was the probable angel who is financing the project, Bernie Truax II. I had earlier speculated that the angel could have been Timothy Busch, although the project seemed to be somewhat outside his area and possibly too small for him. Mr Truax, who has been a major figure in real estate and construction in Riverside County, as well as a philanthropic figure, is clearly a much better fit.

My regular correspondent ran across the name in looking at the prospectus for a St Francis College Prep High School. Truax's thumbnail as a member of the school's board of directors listed him as a Past Senior Warden, St. Margaret’s Episcopal Church and Chairman of Board of Directors, St. Margaret’s Episcopal School. So there's clearly an Anglican connection, and it would explain a philanthropic motive in the Holy Martyrs project.

However, I discovered separately that the St Francis High School project ran afoul of Bp Barnes in 2016. At the time, there were two competing plans for a Catholic high school in the Temecula-Murrieta area, and the other one, St Jeanne de Lestonnac school, which was already a K-8 institution run by the Order of the Company of Mary, Our Lady, gained Barnes's support.

The St Francis plan seems to have been independent of the Church, sponsored by "groups of local parents", although the history on the web site suggests it couldn't quite get its act together, at least until Mr Truax, presumably a convert to Catholicism, got involved. But in 2016, Bp Barnes threw his considerable weight behind the St Jeanne proposal.

St. Francis Preparatory High School had named key members of its administration and governing board, and it vowed to open in temporary buildings in the fall.

Planning for St. Francis had been under way for more than a year before its backers persuaded developer A.G. Kading to repurpose a project of his that is ready to leap off the drawing board.

Kading’s 13-acre site west of Interstate 15 in Murrieta had been planned as a $50 million mixed-use college project. But Kading has agreed to instead make the complex the home of St. Francis if that plan takes shape.

St. Francis supporters welcomed newspaper interviews and invited a reporter to a Nov. 19 event aimed at spotlighting their plan and introducing their key players. St Francis supporters, who include some prominent Catholics and community leaders, have continued to press forward as they contemplate offering classes this fall in temporary buildings.

Although the St Francis web site still exists, the FAQ page says, in response to the question "When will St. Francis College Prep begin classes?"

St. Francis College Preparatory High School is currently researching Community Support and demand to determine the most feasible date and location for the start of classroom operations. Information will be shared as soon as it becomes available! Please visit our Homepage and fill out the “Contact Us” page to join our mailing list and be included on future communications regarding St. Francis College Prep.

I would think that from Bp Barnes's perspective, the St Francis project would not have seemed stable, while the sisters could build on existing programs and experience, so this could have been an easy call for him. Interestingly, late 2016 marks the time of the initial discussions leading to the startup of the Holy Martyrs Murrieta project.

One suspects that there may be some distance and mutual mistrust between Bp Barnes and Mr Truax, and that the Holy Martyrs Murrieta project would not be under Barnes's jurisdiction could well have been a point in its favor for Mr Truax. An Ordinariate information night was held at the Truax Building in Temecula, a major asset of the Truax firm, on September 20, 2017. My regular correspondent noted that pictures of the meeting posted later seemed to feature easels with floorplans.

Since the Truax firm specializes in construction and project management, I would assume that the renovations to the former gym are being done as an in-kind donation. I also wonder if the building itself is owned by Truax, or if the ownership is in some way connected with Truax interests, so that the considerable rent for such a facility could also be underwritten.

Truax, influential as he may be in the Temecula-Murrieta area, is not a player on the same scale as Timothy Busch. In addition, he's been associated with one iffy project, the St Francis High School. And if his curent support of Holy Martyrs Murrieta is intended in any way as a thumb in Bp Barnes's eye, this doesn't bode well for its ultimate success.

More Information On Holy Martyrs Murrieta Trickles In

My regular correspondent reported,

Glowing Facebook review (presumably on the closed group) from a satisfied Holy Martyrs attendee: "Best church I've ever been to in this area" says someone who, as a Grand Knight of the KofC, has presumably been to a number. A shout out to someone else involved in getting HM started, who pops up giving a five star review to a Catholic school in Murrieta four years ago. So if Bp Barnes was concerned that this would involve poaching local parishioners I think his fears were well-founded.

Recently someone complained on the FB page that after seeing FB pix of the renovations he had googled to find out more but all he could find was a brief article about the takeover of the former gym which mentioned "Catholic" but said nothing about the Ordinariate. Presumably this is the article referred to. There is a link to the parish website in it, but that website differs little from the BJHN site.

The link is to an article in the on-line Temecula Valley Development newsletter, which is dated April 5, almost not coincidentally the same date as the letter from Bps Barnes and Lopes. It quotes an "official on site" -- presumably speaking for the contractor -- saying that the church will be adding a restroom and redoing the interior.

This says that a good deal of money was being spent, and work had begun, some time prior to the April 5 letter. Even so, publicity so far, nearly two months after the article, has been minimal. I think it's safe to say there's a lot we don't know, and we might speculate that we don't know it for a reason. I betcha Bp Barnes knows a lot of it, though.