Let me start out by saying everything here may turn out to be completely canonical, up-and-up, legal, and ethical, and Fr Waun may be doing great works for God's Kingdom. Nevertheless, some aspects of this group simply set off alarm bells, if for no other reason than to make me wonder how much actual supervision this and other groups have received under the former Houston regime. Appearances matter. And as my correspondent puts it, "when 'Local Catholic priest/church' makes the 6 o'clock news people don't inquire into his/its incardination."
The parish itself has a web site that seems conventional enough if you're just looking for a Catholic church, although its characterization as "New Contemporary Mass, Roman Catholic" suggests it might be more friendly to the flip-flop and halter-top crowd. However, another web site connected with Fr Waun, the Foster Enterprise Foundation, gives a different picture.
In fact, you have to drill down into the Pastoral Counseling and Psychotherapy page to discover that the same Fr Waun who celebrates a contemporary Catholic mass and hears confessions on Sundays is also equipped to "help guide you through any deep wounds that life may have inflicted", though as far as I can tell, not necessarily in the context of the prayers and sacraments.
The connection between Our Lady of Good Counsel and the Foster Enterprise Foundation is simply not clear. For instance, who owns the building on Lejeune Bl, Jacksonville? Is it the Ordinariate via the parish? Then presumably any business conducted out of the building would need the approval of the Ordinary, as far as I can see. Is the building owned by the Foster Enterprise Foundation, with the parish paying rent to Fr Waun? This raises other concerns over self-dealing.
The appearance that Fr Waun can serve as both a confessor and a therapist raises a great deal of concern. He approvingly quotes a Dr Pamela Cooper-White, who says
. . . Pastoral Psychotherapy is a “particular and distinct healing intervention” defined as “a mode of healing intervention (therapy) that is specifically grounded both in psychoanalytic theory and methods (psycho-) – that is, with a primary focus on unconscious mental and emotional processes – and held in a constructive, creation-affirming theology (pastoral).”While I'm not a psychologist, I would say that psychoanalytic theory is based on what Tom Wolfe has called the "steam boiler" model of the psyche: urges and compulsions build up which, if not released, will cause an explosion; while the psychology behind the Catechism seems to me based on Tom Wolfe's "electrical circuit" model: habitual pathways develop with use. Avoid the near occasions of sin, or as Mel Brooks's psychiatrist put it in High Anxiety, "Don't do that!"
Which type of counseling does Fr Waun do? But isn't there a conflict of interest here, no matter which? As my correspondent puts it, "I can imagine a priest, concerned by something very serious in the confessional, urging a penitent to seek professional help, but the idea that he would push his card across the ledge and say 'Call my office,' seems to me a grave conflict of interest."
For that matter, the Foster Enterprise Foundation offers many other paths to salvation: you can retire in 5 to 10 years (e-mail Kevin. Who's Kevin?) You can enroll in the School of Rock, which identifies itself as an organ of both the Foster Enterprise Foundation and the Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church. (Really, is the idea of getting marginal youth interested in rock 'n roll careers such a good idea?)
It seems to me that both Bp Lopes and Fr Perkins have a great deal on their plates. However, someone needs to take a closer look at what's happening in Jacksonville, NC.
