The Missed Opportunity -- IV

On Tuesday I pointed out that in the Ordinariate's own estimation, it has an evangelical mission. But as far as I can see, it's doing very little to carry it out -- it's built a chancery for its one paid employee to handle administrative tasks (minimal as those may be), and it's hard to see what else it's done.

But if Msgr Steenson were ever to take up his evangelical mission, what would he do? Whom would he address? What would he say? I think back to my days teaching rhetoric. The audience he should be spending time with is twofold, at least for a start: those actively seeking out the Ordinariate, which we've discussed, and those who might potentially be persuaded with a little work.

We would also define the second group a little more closely: those already in communities who may choose to come over in a group. That's the point of Anglicanorum coetibus. Of groups, these almost certainly won't be Episcopalians, since TEC will fight to keep parishes and property. Might conceivably happen, or a breakaway group from a TEC parish might want to come in, but still a longshot. Not a good place to spend time and effort right now.

So we're left with "continuing" parishes that might look favorably on the Ordinariate, but didn't come over in the first wave in 2012. What might Msgr Steenson say to them? Well, I think this would be an Aristotelian argument from circumstance, which "argues that what is to be done must be determined by the urgent and clear reality of the situation."

If I were Steenson, I would implicitly address parishes of the ACA, still the largest "continuing" denomination. I would politely suggest that the ACA is, or very soon will be, in crisis due to the consistent poor judgment of its leadership. (How to express this would have to be carefully considered, but there's the circumstance everyone has to address.) Individual parishes and clergy will have to make decisions on where they will go.

Here are the advantages the Ordinariate has to offer:

• Everyone is rightly concerned about a safe environment for worship.
• The Catholic Church has had to take the lead in recognizing problems and setting up policies to resolve them.
• "Continuers" need to be concerned that so many priests and bishops have not been to seminary, have left other denominations under a shadow, and have not had background checks.
• The process of entering the Ordinariate will assure groups that their priests are fully qualified and their backgrounds have been fully checked.
• The Catholic Church takes canon law seriously. It does not tolerate flagrant abuse of the sort that has led to problems in the ACA.
• The Ordinariate is a strong and reputable body.
• Clergy and parishes in the process of discerning what their next steps will be should seriously consider the Ordinariate among their options.
• Here's how. My people will get right on it and get back to you immediately.

If he's worried about poaching parishes, that's ridiculous. The ACA hasn't been especially scrupulous in the St Mary of the Angels situation. And the whole point of Anglicanorum coetibus is about poaching parishes, isn't it?

Naturally, the Ordinariate should also be preaching without words by setting an example of a thriving, growing, reponsive body that isn't corrupt, that makes itself available, easy to find, and easy to deal with, having procedures and policies that are public and consistently followed. So far, of course, this isn't what we're seeing. Steenson, frankly, needs to kick some butts before he could make this appeal credibly.

But Steenson and his people need to be be working to set up the conditions to credibly put this sort of address to the "continuers" into fora like Virtue Online.