People tithe. Want an Ordinariate parish community? Then give generously to the general fund.I can't agree more here. This is a point our diocesan priests constantly make to our parish. But why hasn't this message come from Bp Lopes, Fr Perkins, or any of the more senior priests in the ordinariate? Fr Lewis's fundraising messages at pledge time at Our Lady of the Atonement are nowhere near as forceful. But now to the point I have a much bigger problem with:
We think and act like a big parish. If you want to be a fully established parish, then think and act like you’re a fully established parish. That’s the only way you’re going to get there.This brings to mind C S Lewis's comment that a chihuahua may insist that it's every bit as much a dog as a St Bernard, but a St Bernard doesn't insist it's as much a dog as a chihuahua. I think there's a certain insecurity behind Mr Smith's point here, which is justified. And this goes to what my wife and I feel is the blessing for those of us who'd hoped to go into the ordinariate in the St Mary of the Angels parish. When that fell through, we went our separate ways and found diocesan parishes.
After five years in what Mr Smith would recognize as a "big parish", my wife and I are only beginning to recognize the range of opportunities available to us, which so far include serious planned giving, Bible study, the lector program, adoration, concerts, fundraising dinners, and a growing range of fellowship. Most of these don't seem to be available at any but a few ordinariate parishes. I would also add to this list exposure to a number of accomplished and fully formed celibate priests from all around the world. But a full list of ministries and opportunities there fills an 8-1/2 x 11 page in the bulletin. How does a group "act like" a big parish if it can't remotely follow through?
There's also a problem that's integral to the ordinariate as a boutique operation. Our diocesan big parish has four Sunday morning masses 90 minutes apart, with a Spanish mass in early afternoon. The task for the priests and other leadership is to get hundreds of people through each mass to allow the next one to start on time. Fr John Riccardo, who was formerly pastor of a similar large parish in Michigan, has made the point that receiving the sacrament kneeling would be a nice-to-have, but traffic management for hundreds at one mass after another makes this impractical.
By the same token, the recent review here of ordinariate masses on YouTube shows that a Divine Worship mass takes about 90 minutes. A "big parish" that intends to accommodate what are likely numbers well into four figures on an ordinary weekend will in fact need to schedule Sunday morning masses at 90-minute intervals, so that unless something's unusual, they aim for a mass that takes about an hour. The OF liturgy, extraordinary ministers, and receiving communion standing are an inevitable part of the process.
To "think like" a big parish involves unavoidable questions of scale. But not many more than a dozen ordinariate communities even own their own facilities, and of those, a number are clearly not well maintained. There aren't resources in Houston to supervise facility management, and let's recall that before Fr Phillips fell into disgrace, the advice he gave to other priests on how to maintain facilities effectively involved techniques for spoofing building inspectors.
One might even suggest that the advice to "think like" a big parish might be not too far from secular advice to "fake it til you make it", or even positive-thinking theories that it you think hard enough that you're rich, you'll somehow become rich. But you don't develop capable lay leadership, campus-like facilities that cover entire city blocks, accredited schools, and a wide range of other programs by wishful thinking.
I'm not sure, to tell the truth, if Mr Smith knows enough about how a big parish operates even to have a realistic idea of what a big parish does. My advice to ordinariate communities who want a big parish experience would be to seek out an existing big parish in a local diocese and begin to discern there what it might actually mean to become Catholic.
Mr Smith, why not spend a year or so at an actual big parish and return with your advice to the St Albans group?
