Reactions To Parish Restoration

Here's a puzzle: as far as I'm aware, there has been no reaction anywhere in the blogosphere (other than here) to this week's restoration of the parish to its property. This is a puzzle because the events of 2012 involving the seizure of the parish by the Bush-ACA group were extensively covered by David Virtue, Stephen Smuts, Ms Gyapong, and others. In particular, Virtue and Smuts allowed their comment sections to be freely used by partisans of Bush and the ACA to publish defamatory rants about Fr Kelley and the parish. Correcting the record now is seemingly too controversial.

I've just received an e-mail from David Moyer apparently relaying a message from Virtue that "David Virtue will NOT post anything about St Mary's". Except that he posted extensively about it in 2012 -- but now the effective resolution of the legal issues isn't news. (Oddly, he's been all over the story of St James Newport Beach, CA, in which a liberal TEC parish led by a woman priest is bringing charges of bullying against a liberal TEC bishop. Somehow this fits Virtue's agenda, but the resolution of St Mary's in favor of its legal vestry does not!)

Stephen Smuts (as I've pointed out, he calls himself "Father" but would not be eligible for ordination in any but a "continuing" denomination) had a lengthy hiatus from blogging, resumed in a brief frenzy last fall, then quit again -- but not before he published an announcement from Samuel Prakash, reinforcing his status as the de facto spokesman for the TAC. To date, he has ventured no opinion on the reemergence of Abp Hepworth nor the restoration of St Mary's. Some time ago, he said he'd been "asked" not to publish anything on the ACA, which suggests that Marsh and Gill had premonitions even then that things would head south.

So far, I see no news on the ACA web site or that of the Diocese of the West, which still lists St Mary of the Angels as a parish, with Fred Rivers as rector and Owen Williams as cipher in residence. If anyone sees anything from the ACA, I'll be delighted to learn of it.

The Los Feliz Ledger has posted a story in its online edition. Ms Cohen, the editor, has begun to reflect the community's gradual disaffection with Mrs Bush, who got off the reservation last year by trying to rent the commercial space to an utterly supererogatory liquor store, then closing the community meeting room.

Linda Demmers, head of the Los Feliz Neighborhood Council, one of the groups shut out of the meeting room, sent out the following e-mail:

I am delighted to report to you that this morning, Father Christopher Kelley handed me the key to 1965 Hillhurst Avenue. The internal issues of the church have been resolved and the court’s decision has been rendered.

We can go home.

This has been a long process for the church, for both sides, and I wish them speedy healing so we can get back to the business of serving our community and our better selves.

Below, is an invitation from Father Kelley to attend his first service in St. Mary’s in over three years. All are welcome no matter your beliefs. I hope to see you there to support the parish. If you’ve never been inside the sanctuary, it is a little jewel in our neighborhood.

Further, I invite anyone who is “in the neighborhood” on Sunday afternoon to stop by later in the afternoon. Help pull the weeds, pick the coffee cups out of the bushes, and help restore the church property to its glory. Mark Mauceri and I cleaned up the second floor this afternoon and it is ready for our next meeting. (Let me know if you can come on Sunday or we will reschedule.)

Our future meetings will be back in the second floor community room and our use of that room is protected by a covenant executed at the time of construction of the building.

Join me in welcoming Father Kelley, his lovely wife Mary Alice, and their son Andrew back to the community.

But the overall silence outside the local community is remarkable, and I'll have more to say on this.