I Can't Link To What Ain't There!

I just got an e-mail from my regular correspondent with the title "Publicity". I figured it was going to link to a belated piece in the Register or some other major Catholic organ covering the first mass and confirmations at Holy Martyrs Murrieta, though I had briefly (and maybe conveniently) forgotten that Bp Lopes wasn't there. But the e-mail said only

Four men being ordained to the priesthood at OLW, Houston today. I find it hard to fathom why this is not being publicised in any way, unless we count the local parish bulletin.

This takes me back to when I used to work for a living, and there'd be coffee-break gripe sessions on the latest that Mahogany Row was or wasn't doing. The odd thing is that, in retrospect, the subjects involved were often on point, and when the gripes became focused, they tended to be followed, independently but fairly soon, by ominous stories in the Wall Street Journal talking about impending things like indictments, hostile takeovers, layoffs, or whatever.

Not long ago, I posted on the story that should have been released about Bp Lopes's visit to the first official mass at Holy Martyrs. Now my regular correspondent is wondering why four ordinations aren't being publicized. In the spirit of coffee-hour gripes with the usual low-level management types who actually had to get things done, I've got to think there are two explanations:

1. Mahogany Row is full of incompetents, and there's no reason why these optimistic deveopments aren't being publicized
2. There's actually a reason why potentially good news is being suppressed.

Neither, of course, is good for the organization. Early in Msgr Steenson's tenure, ordinations were publicized with some frequency, although they were often in diocesan organs, because the applicable diocesan bishop was doing them. Now that Bp Lopes is able to do his own ordinations, that possibility is gone, while under explanation 1, nobody who works for him now is able to write a press release.

Under explanation 2, there may be an emerging concern among bishops that the OCSP is potentially a separate and competing overlapping jurisdiction. Bp Lopes may be concerned that publicity over ordinations or new communities could be irritating to bishops who have this view.

At this stage, I would say that either is a credible explanation, or there might be another that I haven't thought of. But based on life experience, I would say that speculation over what ought to happen but hasn't is not a good omen for what might come up sooner rather than later.