It seems as though Pope Francis is all for ecumenism if it has a charismatic or evangelical edge. His distaste for 'traditionalism' [can be] seen from the moment of his election appearance on the balcony whereupon an aide attempted to hand him the traditional regalia for the first meeting with the world and was rebuffed with the words 'the carnival is over'. I would not be surprised if he has sent new directives forth to slow down the mechanism of AC.My own view is a little bit different. If I buy a car that won't run, it doesn't matter if someone tells me to slow it down or not, it certainly isn't going to go fast, no matter what I do. I think it was always a bad idea. The record we have is that a proposal for an Anglican personal prelature reached Cardinal Ratzinger's desk in 1993 and was drafted in final form by Jeffrey Steenson in 1994. However, John Paul II was lukewarm at best and wanted a vote from the CDF, which apparently everyone knew wouldn't pass, and the matter was dropped until well into Benedict's pontificate.
However, the idea of a personal prelature went at least back to the 1980 meeting between Fr Barker and then-Bp Law's canonist in Chicago, but it was dropped then as well. It was never a good idea, it would seem. The prime mover in 1980, 1993, and 2007-2010 was Bernard Law in every case. Why was he behind it? The "ecumenism" he sponsored in the 1960s that made his reputation was evangelical civil rights-based activism, not high-church Anglican rapprochement.
I passed this question back to my visitor, who replied
I think Law was under orders from someone. I remember him once referring to a move to placate the charismatic movement by giving them office space and staff in Belgium under Cdl Suenens. I could tell it was done with consultation.And that's about all we know. One thing that's come into my head recently is revisiting the question of what might have become of Anglicanorum coetibus had David Moyer been named US ordinary instead of Jeffrey Steenson. Recall that Anglo-Catholic blogosphere speculation had Moyer or Fr Phillips as the front-runners before Steenson's designation was announced. Steenson, of course, had a history with Law via back-channel communication since the 1980s, long before he became an Episcopalian bishop.
I think Law had Steenson's measure -- a careerist, a very cautious guy, without a whole lot of imagination. He'd do what he was told. In fact, I'd say he was a patsy. He was what the powers that be wanted, and after only a few years, he was expendable. But he was replaced by Steven Lopes, from what we've come to see only a fast-track golden boy of the sort who isn't going to rock any boats himself. But I don't think this reflects any real change between Benedict and Francis. They're still trying to drive the same car that won't run.
The question is who benefits, other than the used car salesman. After all, you could always decide to cut your losses and buy another car, or decide just to ride the bus. It's in someone's interest to pretend they're still trying to change the sparkplugs or something.
This brings me back to David Moyer's homily at St Mary of the Angels Hollywood in January 2011, soon after he'd become the parish's bishop. It's stayed with me, and that's reason enough to ask what kind of a shepherd he might have been to the new ordinariate. He'd looked around the parish, apparently for the first time, and in the context of the bright future he foresaw for the US ordinariate, he said it would be necessary to do a lot of expansion on the parish site. That, in retrospect, was an interesting observation.
After a few years at a successful Catholic parish, I'm beginning to see that if a parish isn't growing, there's a problem. I think Moyer understood this. The nave at St Mary of the Angels was (the place is now closed and unlikely to reopen) at best cozy, with a capacity somewhere around 100. It started as, and was always going to be, a church around the corner, a boutique item. This isn't how the Catholic Church operates, and I don't see how a boutique division fits.
If nothing else, I think David Moyer had a grasp of this issue. Whatever he might have done with the US ordinariate in some alternate universe, I can't imagine the outcome we presently see would be the same. Except, of course, that everyone in authority had Moyer's measure just as clearly as they had Steenson's, and that was never going to happen.
