After reading today's post, I come away with the understanding that there are too many priests in the Ordinariate, or, at least more than are required for the number of parishioners. At Atonement, there are two priests, and the Parochial Vicar, Fr. Moore, has never had much of a role. This was mostly due to Fr. Phillips's inability to share. But there are nearby parishes that are larger, and only have one priest. It would seem that a solution could be to foster strong ties with the Archdioceses that the Ordinariate parishes reside. There could be a sharing of priest and a give and take that would benefit all. This of course would be 180 degrees change from the attitude against the Archdiocese that was fostered by Atonement leadership. But, already, the severing of the Archdiocese ties is having a negative effect on Atonement. I have indicated before, only a very small minority of Atonement is from an Anglican heritage. As such, it seems that perhaps it is time to consider "Archdiocesan" Patrimony.It's hard to avoid thinking that there will be continued exchange of priests incardinated via the OCSP and the Pastoral Provision. I suppose that OCSP priests, even if on loan to a diocese, would be subject to recall and thus less likely to be permanently diverted to diocesan tasks, but so far, this is just a theoretical point. The fact is that since Bp Lopes's arrival, diocesan PP priests have been assigned to OCSP parishes (and a plum one at that), while OCSP priests have gone the other way.
Another issue could simply be the sensitivity of the married priest issue. Certainly there are bishops who don't like the idea, and I've heard of diocesan parishes that have objected strongly to being assigned a married priest. At least until the married OCSP priests are eventually replaced by celibate seminarians, this will continue to be a potentially divisive problem.
