We have 58 priests in active ministry and 16 retired priests [for a total of 74 priests], 16 in Canada and 58 in the US. We have a vibrant and growing diaconate with 16 deacons, as well as one retired deacon and one transitional deacon, Robert Kirk, who will have been ordained to the Priesthood [correction as of July 2019, this was to the diaconate, not the priesthood, error in original text -- jb] by the time this newsletter is published (October 30 at Christ the King in Towson MD). Most of these clergy are assigned to the 33 communities large enough to have an assigned priest, and several of these communities have active construction projects (with our own to start soon, I pray) to create or add to existing facilities. Some other clergy have assignments in various dioceses around North America and 6 have full time assignments in the Archdiocese for the Military Services, USA. As to vocations, on a per-capita basis, we are the strongest diocese in the US in terms of vocations with 5 seminarians.My correspondent notes that this "means that 13 of the groups listed on the 'Parish Finder' on the webpage have mass celebrated by a diocesan priest, share a priest with another group, or don't really exist". This presumably includes the Potemkin groups set up primarily to justify ordaining the marginal married candidates who continue to come in -- but some of those 33 must include some of those marginal married candidates who've already been ordained in the past year.
The reference to the 33 "real" groups lacks specificity; after the first dozen or so parishes or near-parishes, the numbers quickly fall off. The number of seminarians also doesn't reflect the need to replace nearly all the priests in Canada due to retirements within the next several years. But the continued unwillingness or inability to give a total "membership" statistic is also a matter of concern.
Our diocesan parish is beginning a building project. The level of planning required, as my wife and I have begun to see as we start to participate, is astonishing. In addition, building projects normally have close and professional supervision at the diocesan level. I can't imagine that Houston is equipped to provide this kind of experienced supervision. In addition, a real building project requires serious fundraising with commitments from major donors within and outside the parish. I question whether any but a few OCSP parishes can bring this off.
On the plus side, the Epistle itself contains an intelligent discussion of the Sarum Missal and an installment of a clear explanation of the Church Fathers. The overall product is very well done. If this were in our diocesan adoration chapel, I'd read it as a devotion. This is a genuine plus, but so far with the OCSP, it strikes me as an exception, though it speaks well of Fr Vidal, and for that matter, of Bp Lopes for placing him at St Luke's.
This is the first OCSP community at which I'd consider going to mass.
