St Margaret, Katy, TX

Katy, TX is an affluent suburb of Houston, which in turn is the fourth largest city in the US. Katy itself had a median household income of $73,865 in 2017. According to this site, "compared to the median income of $51,111 in 2000 this represents an increase of 32.5%. "

It's certainly not incongruous that the North American ordinariate should choose to plan a community there, although of course, there are many equivalent suburbs in the New York or Chicago metropolitan areas where as far as we can tell, there's zero interest. But is the St Margaret, Katy, TX group any kind of model for growth? My regular correspondent has brought it up in several contexts in the last several days.

St Margaret, Katy, TX —- a group gathered by Fr Sellers, the former OCSP Director of Communications, worshipping at the high school of which he is President —- has three priests. Fr Sellers; Fr Scott Blick, the former school chaplain; and Fr Mitchican, the current chaplain. Fr Blick took over as chaplain from Fr Sellers when he became President of St John XXIII; St Margaret is his first Ordinariate assignment as he has been on the staff of a local diocesan parish, St Cyril of Alexandria, since his ordination in 2013. Fr Mitchican was received into the Church in Philadelphia in 2017 after a twelve year career in TEC. Since then he has worked at St John XXIII, first as a teacher, now as Chaplain.

What’s the plan, I wonder?

It's hard to avoid thinking Houston is basically hoarding priests for some future project that might emerge. Three priests for a gathered group that worships in a school cafetorium, although since it's near the Houston nerve center of the great enterprise, we must assume they're held as a strategic reserve of some sort. But then a visitor asked,

Do you think that having non married priests going forward is due to the problems experienced? I was wondering where the lot of seminarians would be sent.

I answered, "It’s hard to guess what’s in Bp Lopes's mind. Clearly even if he’s saying brave words, he hasn’t stopped ordaining them, even though there’s little for them to do once ordained." I ran this by my regular correspondent as well, who replied,

He must understand that it will not be possible for the OCSP to aspire to an entirely celibate priesthood in the foreseeable future. Maybe one third celibate, two-thirds married, best case scenario. Candidates for ordination are not overabundant in the North American Church generally; it will take a long time for Ordinariate congregations to produce significant numbers. Only a man eligible to be an Ordinariate member can be an Ordinariate seminarian, so the main source going forward will be men who grew up in an Ordinariate community. Prior to the proclamation of AC, only one man from a PP parish was ordained, and he did not choose to minister in an Anglican Use congregation.

It's hard to avoid thinking, though, that Bp Lopes is hiring for an anticipated increase in business. If a place like Katy, TX is growing explosively in population and income, that must surely mean many more will come to the ordinariate, right? My regular correspondent speculates,

Perhaps there is some thought of growing the community beyond its current membership, which seems to be drawn mostly from families of St John XXIII students, judging by available pictures. Despite his failure as OCSP Director of Communications Fr Sellers seems to have other gifts, but I do not see St Margaret breaking into the “Traditional English Mass” market under Fr Sellers’ leadership. He is frequently pictured playing the guitar during mass, with his wife at an electronic keyboard. Not the OCSP brand, although of course not unique in the Ordinariate. But if/when Fr Sellers retires from the school and the cafetorium is no longer available, perhaps the long-term plan is to emulate St John Vianney and Presentation and troll for local families who want something “reverent.” Meanwhile Fr Mitchican seems underused, although he assists at Presentation, Montgomery and perhaps at OLW.

This points to the incoherence of the project. Bp Lopes is saying he wants celibate clergy going forward, but he keeps ordaining married Protestant priests in apparent anticipation of growth that simply isn't taking place. He complained to the Toronto conference that ordinariate priests aren't following the rubrics, but right in his back yard, or perhaps his side chapel so to speak, a community is celebrating guitar masses. Is the music Dan Schutte?

It seems to me that there's no workable vision and no effective leadership, but the question is whether the product on offer is something that should even be marketed. Consider that the population in Katy, which is somehow judged to be affluent Protestants of presumptive high-church leanings, has grown hugely in size and income, but the St Margaret parish has grown hardly at all, with three underutilized priests hanging around with little to do.