Visitor Reactions To Bp Lopes's Recent Public Statements

One visitor reacted to both the interview in the Register and his talk at the Toronto conference. On the Register interview:

In reading your blog from Nov. 16th, about the Bishop Lopes interview with the National Catholic Register it appears that Bishop Lopes is inflating the numbers for the Ordinariate and not being very honest. The difference between him and Fr. Lewis at OLOTA is that Fr. Lewis in his annual report and in the recent stewardship campaign letter, is being painfully honest about the state of affairs. Fr. Lewis does not paint a very rosy picture.

The surprising thing to me is, if Bishop Lopes is right about the numbers he claims, 80 priests and 45 parishes, the Ordinariate is not near as big as the FSSP or the SSPX. Further, the FSSP and the SSPX can draw new members from all Catholics or Protestants, where, if they play by the rules, the Ordinariate can only draw new members from Episcopalians or other Protestant converts. It is not looking good for the Ordinariate.

On the presentation at the Toronto conference:

At least Bishop Lopes is honest about lack of resources. I assume he is talking about money. It is hard to know what he has in mind going forward. At some point, I feel that the bishops and pastors of the dioceses in which Bishop Lopes operates will start to come down on him for "bending the rules" in siphoning off cradle Catholics from their parishes. It will be interesting to see the next chapter in this saga.

Another visitor sent this screen shot from a Facebook post on the St John Vianney group:

In other words, if people are supposedly going to ordinariate masses for a reverent atmosphere, they may not necessarily be getting it, and even Bp Lopes seems to have expressed discomfort with how ordinariate priests follow the rubrics. The first visitor above makes the very worthwhile point that there are other options for cradle Catholics who want a reverent mass than the ordinariate -- and let's keep in mind that even full parishes don't have much of a music program, and there are only a dozen full parishes.

The first visitor above added,

I do go to a Latin Mass whenever possible, but I have never attended a Portuguese Mass. Here in San Antonio we have St. George Maronite Catholic church. For a time I went to daily Mass at this church. The Mass is said in Aramaic, the language of Our Lord. It is a beautiful Mass.

I think these reactions raise legitimate questions over whether Bp Lopes has a good grasp of what problem he's trying to solve, and why an Anglican-inspired liturgy is any kind of solution.

• Catholics who want a serious and reverent approach to liturgy? Not necessarily in the ordinariate, and given the lack of resources, not likely in the foreseeable future. There are other, more authentic, and more easily located options for Catholics who want this.
• A model for a married Catholic priesthood? Not under Bp Lopes -- but married ordinariate priests will continue to be ordained and assigned, with no coherent plan behind them.