My regular correspondent is anxious to point out that the finances at St Luke's are unclear, and neither Fr Lewis nor his successor has necessarily had to rely on a supplementary pension. In addition, Holy Nativity Payson is not a full parish, although it owns its property, while St Luke's which is a full parish, does not. It seems to me that this doesn't take away from the fact that all but the very top tier of parishes are struggling -- if the examples of St Luke's and Holy Nativity are iffy, I could substitute St John the Evangelist Bridgeport, where Fr Ousley appears to rely on a TEC pension, or St John the Evangelist Calgary, where Fr Kenyon's presumptive successors are, loosely speaking, consecrated religious and thus subject to lower compensation standards.
Of Fr Ousley, my regular correspondent says, "He was a TEC clergyman for twenty years, from 1979-99. He is 67 now." This means that a reasonable question can be asked, if Fr Ousley can be expected to retire within three years, and he's had to rely on a TEC pension to supplement his stipend as pastor, how can Houston replace him with a younger man who doesn't have supplementary income? Can the St John the Baptist parish expect to grow enough in the next three years to meet that gap?
A bigger question is how any but the very largest OCSP communities can be expected to fare within the next three to five years. Generalissimo Francisco Franco is still dead!
