I think this is worth the extra time, because OLA and Fr Phillips were presented as a great success story in the runup to the North American ordinariate. but as events have rolled out, it turns out to have been a case of smoke and mirrors stemming largely from one man's self-promotion. This is inevitably a reflection on Anglicanorum coetibus and a potential explanation for why the overall enterprise has been such a disappointment.
A visitor gives more perspective on how OLA had previously fit in with other parishes in the Archdiocese of San Antonio:
Your puzzlement over the placement of Msgr. Kurzaj might be from lack of knowledge of the San Antonio archdiocese. The Bandera, TX parish that Msgr. Kurzj came from is VERY conservative and there are large pockets of ultra-conservative German and Polish immigrants in and around San Antonio, Bandera being one of those areas. Fr. Jan Klak is of Polish descent and a very conservative pastor of St. Anthony Mary Claret parish out in Northwest San Antonio (OLOTA is also in NW San Antonio) which could have been one of the major feeder parishes to OLOTA before Fr.Klak could build his school, but because of experiences his parishioners were having with OLOTA, Fr. Klak allowed a home school co-op in his parish, which, has since become quite robust, while they are raising funds to build their own Catholic school (the parish is about 20 yrs or so old- they were not allowed to build a school until they paid off their debt for building the Church, which they have).It's hard to avoid the conclusion that even at the supposedly successful OLA Anglican Use parish, the draw was that it was a conservative diocesan parish in a convenient area. The parish didn't mind a thee-thou liturgy as long as there was a reverent, visually appealing mass with good music. The school was also convenient (though the visitor raises the interesting issue that it didn't have a waiting list like the others in the area). But once Houston got involved and began to insist that this wasn't just a convenient diocesan parish, it was a boutique operation for members only, the bottom fell out, although the seeds of failure had already been planted.Conservative Catholics from the more liberal parishes often attend masses there as Fr. Klak celebrates one of the most reverent OF masses in the San Antonio area. The Polish priest led parishes I am familiar with in the area closest to OLOTA are much closer to the Ordinariate liturgy in the sense of style (the vestments, the chalice, the candlesticks, the choir and music selections, the use of incense regularly, etc.) than the other OF parishes in San Antonio.
I would guess that Abp. Garcia-Siller placed Msgr. Kurzaj at OLOTA because A) he is a very experienced pastor, B) he is very loyal to the Church and understands its hierarchy, and C) he is conservative and supportive of reverent liturgy and Abp. Garcia-Siller did not want to provoke the parishioners with a modern liturgy type priest. The Archbishop misjudged the crowd -- he thought they didn’t like him because he was too liberal, thus he appointed a conservative priest; they didn’t like him because he was the Archbishop. No one put in that place would have been treated any differently by the Fr Phillips Crowd.
The fact that some parishioners rose up with metaphorical pitchforks and torches is more a reflection on the cabal that was whipping up anti-diocesan sentiment than the overlooked mortification of the pro-diocesan parishioners who upon seeing the true face of the rebellion, simply melted away.
If Fr. Phillips had been replaced without all the Ordinariate drama, OLOTA would have continued to draw conservative families from the surrounding Northwest area of San Antonio because they are the ONLY conservative Catholic school within 25 or more miles that does not have a multi-year waiting list. LET THAT SINK IN. The truly conservative parishes in the Northwest part of the diocese that are not already overcrowded are all fairly small or fairly new and do not have their own schools. OLOTA was a bird’s nest on the ground and should have grown into a wonder and jewel of Catholic education but Fr. Phillips's ego and his feud with all authority got in the way.
The Atonement Academy had several growth spurts and could have supported the new expansion but every time the growth of the non-parishioner student body became too great (Fr Phillips had a policy that the student population of parishioners to non-parishioners could not be less than 60%), Fr Phillips would have a strong arm campaign to insist incoming families join the parish or they would restrict enrollment. OLOTA parish was not and is not big enough to pay for that school.
The business model had to include Catholic kids from other parishes and it could be successful today if they had stayed in the diocese and played by the rules. The fact that it is in a death spiral is all on Fr Phillips and his pitchfork wielding friends. Sadly he led many people down a very tragic, broken path. And left many, many Catholic parents with one less option for a good Catholic education for their children. That’s on Fr Phillips AND the Archbishop of San Antonio. Shame on both of them.
That’s what really gets my goat.
It seems to me that there has been a misreading of the Anglican market from the start, viz, from the time of the 1976 TEC General Convention. Fr Barker, who will keynote the upcoming Toronto conference, led the St Mary of the Angels parish into 40 years of desert wandering, although it's starting to sound like those folks are never quite going to make it out. Yet he's apparently, after Fr Phillips withdrew as keynoter, the only other qualified ex-Anglican to represent the movement in North America. I know several now-Catholic laymen, ex-Anglican priests, who'd give a very different perspective.
I hope other diocesan bishops will pick up this message and recognize an important key to evangelization is to work with existing strengths, reverent masses, solid schools, credible fundraising. Anglicanorum cpoetibus is proving to be just a swing and a miss.
