Ten Years On, And Nothing Has Changed

My regular correspondent sent me a link to a 2016 post at the inactive Ordinariate Expats blog, Two interviews from “Our Sunday Visitor” with Monsignor Steenson and Bishop-elect Lopes give some interesting insight into the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. The interesting thing is how little of the standard line has changed, big things are on the way, we're appreciating our shared treasures, we want beauty in worship, blah, blah, blah.

From Msgr Steenson,

The thing we want to avoid above all else is the ordinariate becoming a safe harbor of refuge for people who are disgruntled with their previous church experience. That’s what we absolutely don’t want.

How's that going? The main signs of life in the North American ordinariate seem to be with groups that consist of Catholics who in fact are disgruntled with their previous church experience -- at a time when, as the visitor yesterday points out, the true fruits of Vatican II are beginning to ripen in the diocesan Church. And,

Obviously in terms of the stability of the ordinariate, we need to strengthen our congregations. Hopefully we get to the point where many of the clergy will not have to work another job in order to make ends meet, that the congregations will have their own buildings and are able to support the clergy full time.

Six years after that 2014 interview, there's been absolutely no progress toward that goal.

From Bp Lopes at the time of his designation,

We had a new community in Texas that just had its first Mass on the Third Sunday of Advent. Thirty-five people participated in that celebration, so the new community of St. Margaret of Scotland is off and running. There is continual interest in other places. I do have a certain sense that the ordinariate is a growing reality. We could build six churches tomorrow if we had the money for it.

Five years later, where are the new buildings? Where are the new groups? My regular correspondent notes, "There were 43 OCSP communities four years ago. Today there are 41, according to the OCSP website." Also, "About 25% of the men ordained for the OCSP are currently working exclusively in military chaplaincy or diocesan parish ministry. Another 10% assist at (or lead) a diocesan parish in addition to their work with an Ordinariate group."

Compare this with a recent post at Fr Z's blog, where he asks if there's a web site that gives reliable statistics on locations and mass times for Latin masses. The consensus is that there's no single completely reliable site, but this one linked in a comment gives something like 52 parishes offering Latin masses in California alone, more than the entire North American ordinariate.

And the sense is that the Latin mass movement is continuing to grow, while the appeal for Anglicans seems to have peaked, with the ordinariate now seeing disgruntled Catholics as a more productive market. But even Catholics are apparently going elsewhere if they don't like the OF mass.