More On The Stetson Timeline

Further web searches bring this out: William Stetson is mentioned several times in Chicago media over the reopening of the St Mary of the Angels parish there under the Opus Dei prelature. This 1991 Chicago Tribune story provides background:

When Rev. William Stetson arrived in Chicago in 1983 to head Opus Dei`s Midwest office, he recalled: ``I spoke to Cardinal Bernardin about the possibility of providing a couple of priests to run an inner-city parish when the time was right.``

Apparently, Bernardin has decided that time has come. On Jan. 1, Twist and Debicki went on the archdiocesan payroll for an initial three-year assignment at St. Mary of the Angels.

Bernardin did not issue a statement with his appointment, which was announced on Dec. 28. But Sister Joy Clough, archdiocesan director of public information, said the decision was supported by the nine-member archdiocesan Priest Personnel Board, as well as by parishioners at the church.

``Given the shortage of priests in the archdiocese, the current needs of this parish and the willingness and ability of Opus Dei to take on the challenge involved, the cardinal decided this was an appropriate action,`` she said. ``It was difficult to find anyone else for this parish.``

She noted that Twist, 44, and Debicki, 52, speak Spanish, and that Debicki also speaks Polish.

Nonetheless, the appointments are being questioned privately by a number of Chicago priests who said they were shocked by them. And Monsignor John Egan, a former archdiocesan official who is now assistant to the president for community affairs at De Paul University, was outspoken in his opposition.

According to the timeline given in Stetson's Wikipedia entry, which says he was the Chicago vicar for 17 years, this would put him in Chicago between 1983 and 2000.

So here's the timeline we have:

• 1952-53: Stetson is recruited for Opus Dei as a Harvard student by Bernard Law
• 1953: Stetson joins Opus Dei as a numerary member
• 1957: Stetson graduates from Harvard Law School and moves to Rome to study at the Roman College of the Holy Cross, in effect the Opus Dei seminary
• 1962: Stetson is ordained a priest in Opus Dei
• 1960s (presumably): teaches on the faculty of Canon Law at the University of Navarre, the Opus Dei university
• 1960s-1983: so far, a blank
• 1983-2000: Vicar for the Opus Dei Midwest office in Chicago
• 1983-2011: Consultant and then Secretary to the Delegate for the Pastoral Provision.
• 2004-2007: Director of the of the Catholic Information Center in Washington, DC
• 2007-2010 Operates Pastoral Provision office at Our Lady of Walsingham in Houston
• 2009: Stetson appears with Abp Myers of Newark on an EWTN program regarding Opus Dei
• 2011: Moves to Los Angeles and briefly supervises the abortive move of the St Mary of the Angels Hollywood parish into the OCSP.

The job of Secretary to the Pastoral Provision seems to have been part-time, although there are periods where that was all he was doing. According to Wikipedia,

The number of personal parishes established is only 7, but, since 1983 over 80 former Anglicans have been ordained for priestly ministry in various Catholic dioceses of the United States.

So Stetson had about 28 years in his role as consultant and Secretary to the Pastoral Provision. This means that between three and four former Anglican priests per year were ordained Catholic on his watch. One parish came in about every four years. Even as a part time effort, this isn't much of a record.

So far, we still don't know exactly where he was or what he was doing for a roughly 20-year period between 1962 and 1983, and in particular, what role he may have played in the early stages of the St Mary of the Angels Hollywood debacle. I suspect Fr Barker will never be of much help.