Careers in writing are hard to come by, even harder than tenured academic careers, which is probably why there are so many tenured creative writing profs like Ms Nicolosi. (If she could actually earn a living as a writer, she wouldn't need academic tenure, but she gets paid to tell other people how to make a living at it. Go figure.) She survives mainly by teaching "creative writing", which is an utterly useless academic field that damages young people by giving them the impression they can survive as poets, novelists, and playwrights, rather than encouraging them to develop either serious intellectual skills or marketable practical abilities.
By the way, total tuition, room, and board at third-tier Azusa Pacific University, where she teaches, was $46,124 for the academic year just ended. We may assume it will increase well above the rate of inflation this fall. Courses students take from Ms Nicolosi will qualify them to live in their parents' basement on leaving, although the graduation rate there is only 68%.
So professors of creative writing are running a scam, which ought to call for serious soul-searching. Indeed, one of the Bush sympathizers at St Mary of the Angels taught creative writing at another university across town. She made her money by teaching creative writing courses, as well as by selling rooms and meals at a "writer's retreat", where suckers could go to work on their novels or whatever.
So anyhow, rather than giving such people a wide berth, Mrs Gyapong is Facebook friends with Ms Nocolosi and passes on her take on the OCSP group in Pasadena. More to the point, though, is Ms Nicolosi's bashing of diocesan parishes in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles:
Your suffering can be at an end. Motorcycle Guy and I were like you – flitting around from parish to parish in the San Gabriel Valley and beyond, trying desperately to find a Sunday Mass that wasn’t the hardest thing we had to do all week. We finally found an unlikely home, but a great one.I'm not sure who Motorcycle Guy is, but if I were to identify myself or my significant other that way, I'd expect people to imagine greasy denim, a pony tail, and sleeve tats, or something like that. But Ms Nicolosi is an expert writer, and I must have this all wrong, because otherwise it's hard to imagine how she and Motorcycle Guy would even recognize a reverent mass if they showed up after flitting over on their Harley. I guess I just can't recognize good writing, huh?
My policy is not to mention our parish by name, since one visitor has sussed it out and complained to our pastor, which wasted some of his time and the time of an associate -- and I'm not sure how Ms Nicolosi and Motorcycle Guy would fit in. We have a reverent mass, a server program, a hard-cover missal with lots of Anglican and German hymns, a music director, and a choir with paid section leaders. And we're not that far from the San Gabriel Valley.
But Latin masses are available at (among other places) St Victor Church in West Hollywood, St Vitus Church in San Fernando, and indeed at St Therese Church in Alhambra, right in the San Gabriel Valley. Have Ms Nicolosi and Motorcycle Guy tried that one? Or would Ms Nicolosi look incongruous kneeling in a chapel veil next to the guy in greasy denims and sleeve tats? Instead, she's ga-ga over
The baby parish of Our Lady of Grace is part of the Anglican Ordinariate. They are a group of Anglicans who petitioned to be reunited to the Catholic Church and have recently had their pastor, Fr. Aaron Bayles ordained as a Catholic priest. The liturgy is lovely – basically follows the Latin Rite but using some of the splendidly rich prayers from the Book of Common Prayer. They also have wonderful music – robust, lyrical hymns rich in theological imagery – nothing like what I hear at most Evangelical praise and worship sessions, and far better than what passes for hymnody at regular Catholic parishes these days.According to this expert writer (she has a PhD!), if you aren't going to a baby parish with one of those microwave Catholic priests, where nobody shows up, you're white-knuckling it through Sunday mass in Los Angeles. I beg to differ, and I'm wondering what's behind this apparent wish to misrepresent what really happens in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles. Because what she's doing, based on our experience, is a sin against justice.All we need is more people to come! The parish currently is using the cafeteria at La Salle High School, but, hopefully, we will be moving to a real church soon. Meanwhile, they have built a lovely altar and the spirit of the people is very reverent.
There is no need to white-knuckle it through Sunday Mass in Los Angeles any more. You have an option. Do join us some Sunday at 11am (1030am confessions)!
