Note to semi-literate complainers: I keep information like our parish confidential in large part because Fr ____ has better things to do with his time.
But since that discussion, I haven't been entirely satisfied with those words, since while I meant them as a rhetorical exaggeration, I still didn't feel like I'd been completely fair. Now, not so much. A visitor sent me the May issue of The Epistle, the bulletin of the St Luke's OCSP parish in Washington, DC. We read, in part:
When Matt Whitehead is ordained a Catholic priest on May 31st, it will be the culmination of a moving story: from Baptist to Catholic priest. Whitehead will be ordained by the Most Reverend Steven J. Lopes, bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston, Texas. . . . Matt will be received and ordained at the same time.I'm sorry, this is an instant ordination, without quotes, air or otherwise. That the details are buried in the story, even by a writer probably not well catechized at that, suggests some measure of shame that this has taken place. The details suggest, but aren't completely clear in the story, that now-Fr Whitehead had been in the US Army Chaplain Corps under the sponsorship of the Reformed Episcopal Church, where he had been ordained since about 2009.
According to the article, he attended Dallas Theological Seminary, which says of itself, "every ministry degree program at DTS covers all 66 books of the Bible and devotes an entire semester to studying the Trinity," Quick question, Father -- how many books are in the Bible? Best bet, he'll answer, "Gosh, I know there's a different answer there, but I'm just not sure." Instant ordination.
It gets worse. From what I can determine, a Catholic seminarian who normally sees a vocation as a military chaplain completes the usual program of seminary formation and is ordained in his diocese following the sequence of ordination first as a transitional deacon. After that phase, which is effectively an additional probationary period, he's ordained a priest and then serves three years in diocesan parish work before moving to the Archdiocese for the Military Services, although he remains incardinated in his original diocese or order.
So by ordaining now-Fr Whitehead a priest the same day he's received as a Catholic, Bp Lopes has bypassed:
- The usual informal evaluation of candidates that takes place in parish and diocesan settings for young men discerning vocation
- The usual evaluation of seminarians by professional vocations directors, over a period of years
- The RCIA or other catechetical process that would be expected for laymen before reception
- The normal requirement that OCSP candidates resign their Protestant orders as part of the application process
- The requirement of remedial course work often imposed on other ex-Protestant candidates for the priesthood in the OCSP
- The additional requirement of ordination as a transitional deacon before ordination as a priest
- The normal requirement of three years diocesan parish work after ordination to the priesthood for those wishing to become chaplains.
Now, "experts" will object that of course this must be done -- a military chaplain must be sponsored by his denomination, and if he does stuff that would normally be expected of an OCSP candidate, like resign his REC orders, he'd lose his chaplain's job, and what good would that do? Bp Lopes has absolutely no choice but to receive him, ordain him a deacon, ordain him a priest, and turn him back loose as a Catholic chaplain the same day, so his paycheck isn't interrupted! Look at all the kids he has to feed! Mr Bruce, you're both uninformed and obtuse.
Well, a bishop can ordain a baked potato, and in this case, he pretty much has. But I would turn around and ask what good Whitehead had been doing as an REC chaplain, which he apparently was, versus the additional good he might now do as a Catholic chaplain. The Archdiocese for the Military Services says,
Because military service requires extraordinary sacrifices of those who serve and their families, chaplains strive to make themselves available and present, day or night, to offer guidance, education, and direction on Church doctrine or simply to listen.We have absolutely no assurance -- I repeat with no exaggeration, absolutely no assurance -- that now Fr Whitehead knows the first thing about Church doctrine. He's just as qualified to "listen" as he'd been as an REC chaplain. Indeed, since imams are chaplains too, he's as qualified to listen as an imam. He can say mass. He can hear a confession and give absolution, but I wouldn't go near the guy unless I were in combat. In fact, he can give the general absolution that can be given to soldiers about to enter combat without confession, except I betcha he doesn't know that, and even if he did, he'd probably have to call Houston to find out how to do it, except I'm not sure if anyone there could help him.
Someone can say, "What's wrong with that? At least some soldiers will get the sacraments." I would say that's fine for zombie Catholics, but it disrespects the Church. We have to expect better things.
Cui bono? Not Whitehead. Not anyone in the Army who wants to know Catholic doctrine -- and I've heard from the same priest I mentioned at the start of this post, himself a former chaplain with combat deployments, that he had to explain Catholic doctrine to soldiers and Protestant chaplains every day. And remember, he was living that doctrine by example every day.
I'm increasingly convinced that what's going on in Houston can't last. And I don't think simple incompetence explains why so much of Houston's activities goes unpublicized.
