"What About The Victims?"

One of the conventional responses to the latest (or for that matter, prior) iterations of the Catholic abuse crisis is to say, "This looks like various factions in the Church arguing with each other, but what about the victims?" Actually, I think the victims have been addressed in numerous ways. They, their families, and their attorneys have been paid off in the billions over decades. Prelates from the pontiff on down have made pro forma apologies and various other demonstrations of concern, often worthy of Oprah's or Ellen's approval.

But I agree with Fr Longenecker, who recently said,

The real problem of sex abuse by priests will continue to go away because the new rules really will be working, and the bishops (most of whom are doing the best they can) will enforce the new policies and seminary rectors will be more careful in who they approve.

Now, that applies to real dioceses, and as I've said here, the new rules (including Virtus training) aren't being seriously applied in the OCSP, and at least as far as ordaining ex-Anglican priests, we have no sign that the OCSP is being anything but reckless in whom it approves. The formula of the complacent higher-ups is in force -- other than routine anodyne pronouncements, Houston has said almost nothing about Luke Reese and is simply assuming things will blow over.

I think a better question than "What about the victims?" is "What about the laity?" The whole OCSP enterprise is being run for its strange collection of clergy, as my regular correspondent puts it, "the no-hopers, the denomination-hoppers, the nakedly careerist specimens the OCSP has in fact attracted." As far as I'm aware, though, there has been a project to conduct a parish census in the OCSP for some years, with so far no result.

As I've suggested before, a simple start would be to get a middle- or high-school level volunteer to come in afternoons part time just to count the paper applications for membership that must exist in a file cabinet somewhere in the Houston chancery. That even this seems an unattainable goal strikes me as a good indication of the level of competence that must exist there, top to bottom. But this level of "incompetence" usually exists because those who run the show want it.

I sometimes had fun in my working career starting a new assignment and being told, "such-and-such needs to be done, but the technical issues are so difficult we've been waiting for the budget to be approved." I would often discover that a few days of manually counting things that already exist in the office will solve the problem -- fun to do, but not good for a long-term career. Nobody ever said, "Gee, we never thought of that! Good job!"

One question I have is how many of the OCSP laity are not ex-Anglicans but traddy Catholics who've had all the sacraments of initiation but are looking for an environment that will make them feel superior to other Catholics -- as we've seen now and then in sources linked here, many of these like the DW mass because it's snooty, and they can wear chapel veils, but they don't need to know Latin. A variation of all the prestige without paying the dues, it seems to me.

One reason Houston just can't seem to complete a parish census is probably nobody wants to know how many people are going to mass in places like Pasadena or Murrieta who are not eligible to be OCSP members. Another is how one should address the traddy group pastorally. Even Fr Ripperger, by his admission a great friend of traditionalist Catholics, has spoken very forthrightly on the "grave" problems in the movement. The typical no-hope jurisdiction-hopper in the OCSP is not equipped to deal with these issues pastorally.

My regular correspondent reports,

I see that the OCSP Chancery is advertising for an Administrative Assistant. So far they seem to have decided that the services of a Director of Communication and/or a COO can be dispensed with; not a great idea IMHO. I think given the apparent paucity of good news either within the Church or the Ordinariate this would be a good time to issue an Ordinariate Observer and put lipstick on some pigs. Instead the website is out of date, the "Latest News" is confined to the most minimal references to the summer's ordinations

My guess, actually, is that they'll try to find someone they can pay to be an administrative assistant, but try to get them to do the work of a communication director or COO. But whatever, the job of finishing the parish census will still be too daunting for anyone!