During this time period, my electronic comments were conspicuous in their support of Fr. Kelley and St. Mary’s cause, especially at VirtureOnline. Not only that, but at the last hour, I protested directly to Msgr. Steenson that he at least delay the ordination of young Master Bartus, whose candidacy for the R.C. laying-on-of-hands had been put forward under such a cloud of suspicion. I even told Bartus himself that, “The truth will out,” for which I was upbraided by Steenson himself, after the fact. He would have none of it. When I expressed on the Anglo-Catholic blog —I think it was — my frustration at the lack of responsiveness from the other end, Fr. Hurd picked it up and insisted that I post a retraction. I did so dutifully, confessing that he and Steenson had responded accordingly. But, we still had no answer from the CDF at the Vatican. "The Vatican" is the term used for the official black hole of the Roman Catholic Church, but I digress. Had Hurd or Steenson sat on our application until we went away? I will never know, but I will take to my grave the skepticism that this online verbal activity scotched my mission's and my chances of being admitted to the ordinariate.On one hand, a potential employer, religious or not, has every right to expect a possible hire to be "with the program". On the other hand, those with knowledge of either misconduct or gross incompetence on the part of the potential employer should probably begin to recognize that hiring on would be a bad idea, and it looks like things worked out for the best in this case. God sends us messages in various ways.
The problem for Houston is that I can't avoid thinking there must have been other reasons behind Steenson's sudden and premature retirement. St Mary's and even Our Lady of the Atonement are water under the bridge, after all. But eventually, as it has in the case of Our Lady of the Atonement, this kind of stuff is going to come out. If it's bad, best to work with capable public relations people (i.e., not Sellers) to get this out in the least destructive way. Regarding favored early ordinations from the Steenson clique, one of these has been characterized to me as "not just a time bomb -- an IED!" Bp Lopes is going to have a very delicate job ahead of him, but he is going to have to get on with it, and he's going to have to be as open as he can in making sure that past errors are corrected.
I don't think Houston's problems will be solved, frankly, until St Mary of the Angels is admitted, with Fr Kelley as its priest. But God sends us messages in various ways.
