More On Bp Lopes, The Holy Spirit, And What They Do All Day In Houston

My regular correspondent speculated on the possible reasons for Bp Lopes to issue his glitzy pamphlet on the sacraments:

Varying disciplines on the Sacraments of Initiation, their order and the recipients’ age, have been an issue in the OCSP, before we get to the fact that those members who are former Anglicans would be familiar with only a bishop as the Minister of Confirmation. As you may recall there was some unpleasantness at Atonement Academy over different disciplines for Ordinariate and diocesan students. So I can understand Bp Lopes’ wanting to get everyone on the same page. Throwing St JHN into:the mix struck me as gratuitous, and the pictures were quite narcissistic, although his hands are not that photogenic IMHO

I replied that if there are disagreements or questions about confirmation, the appropriate thing would be a to-the-point communication of one or two pages on letterhead explaining how things are to be done. However, my correspondent apparently did some networking and came back with the following:

Apparently the plan is not to have a uniform protocol for the OCSP. Pastors and PAs are being asked to submit their plan for preparing candidates in their community, which will then be approved individually by the Chancery. Glossy pamphlet is supposed to “start the discussion.”

Well, if the idea is to bring the Separated Brethren on board with the Church, I suppose the thing to do is have them all get their heads together and decide what to do and run it by the Church, huh? The pastors and parish admins were, of course, formed in a wide variety of Protestant seminaries, some very shaky, and their parishioners are just as diverse. So they'll be making the rules now, and probably not even Fr Perkins, more likely Bp Lopes's assistant, will decide which procedures to approve.

Speaking of the bishop's assistant, another visitor asked,

What exactly does Lopes do from day to day? Do we have any idea?

I have an idea of what a local ordinary typically does, often for many dozen large parishes. I also have an idea of what a local auxiliary does, often dealing with human resources and the priests. Lopes has a very small Diocese, very few parishes and most are small. He doesn't manage much property, or have many priests to oversee.

And how did he break his foot? Very unusual. I once knew an old lady who would drink too much malmsey and break herself - then brittle bones are more common in older ladies than in (relatively) young Portuguese Prelates.

My regular correspondent commented earlier,

Msgr Steenson was assisted by a woman who seemed far from competent; when Bp Lopes arrived she was shortly thereafter transferred to a token position in the administration and replaced by Laurie Miller, who had previously worked as a diocesan bishop’s assistant and brought a new level of professionalism to the OCSP Chancery. Now she assists Fr Perkins, and the somewhat less impressive Mr Vásquez-Weber has been judged fit to carry out whatever duties the bishop’s assistant is responsible for. Restaurant reservations. Plane tickets.

Er, if someone had to carry something upstairs, why did the bishop have to do it himself? Isn't that what Mr vaswuez-Weber is for?

However, now it appears that the staff will at some point in the possibly near, possibly less near, future be tasked with reviewing the plans of individual communities for preparing their kids for confirmation.