A New Video Of Rev. Mr. Robert Chapman Kirk

This now appears, dated July 9, on the YouTube channel of Fr Edward Meeks, which confirms my regular correspondent's impression that Fr Kirk is some type of longtime crony of Fr Meeks. But what does this new ordinariate priest bring to the party? We know nothiing about him, other than he appears to be in late middle age. What was his previous career? Where? What was his Anglican formation? The homily he gives with pursed-lips nods and pompous pauses seems to be a cut and paste from any web search on why bad things happen to good Catholics.

Does he have a family? He reminds me of my fifth grade music teacher, who did not.

UPDATE: Fr Kirk does have a family. Here is a Twitter post, I think dated 2013, from his current wife, a Reggie Littlejohn:

Thanks to the visitor who also sent me a link to a 2011 story in the San Jose Mercury News covering Fr Kirk's prior ministry in the United Methodist Church.

The Rev. Rob Kirk, who became pastor of Cambrian Park United Methodist Church last July, took a trip around the world while he was attending divinity school, and it was during the six weeks he and his wife spent working with the poor in Calcutta, India, alongside Mother Teresa that helped him focus on what he wanted to do with his life.

. . . The trip around the world was a kind of time out for the Kirks. He took time off from studying, and she took time out of law school to visit places all over the world, including Tibet and Africa.

Kirk is a graduate of Wesleyan University in Middleton, Conn., with a degree in religion. Between that and his entrance to Yale Divinity School, he and his wife traveled; he worked in a psychiatric hospital and he drove a bus.

I guess the pompous part comes from Yale Divinity, huh? Here's a guy who's been Catholic for how long, a year? And in between portentous water sips, significant pauses, and meaningful glances over the top of his half-glasses, he explains what all Catholics need to think about.

The visitor notes that the story in the Mercury News from 2011 lists a wife named Gina Giannini, who is not Reggie Littlejohn (but further web research indicates that at least for a time, Ms Littlejohn did go by that name, or Ms Giannini went by Reggie Littlejohn.)

In the context of YouTube, perhaps Fr Kirk will wish to reconsider the homiletic style he seems to have brought with him from the Ivy League -- this may be of assistance.

If ordinariate members find his current style appealing, they are a special breed indeed.