Ordinariate 2020 Bishop's Appeal

A visitor very kindly sent me by snail mail a copy of the ordinariate's 2020 Bishop's Appeal pitch. Interestingly, he also included the pledge card and return envelope, which either suggests he had a second copy that he planned to return himself, or that he had no need of it, or that perhaps it might move me to soften my unwillingness to pledge myself for this great project. I report, you decide. Click on the image for a larger version.

I notice that Houston is now officially calling itself a "diocese", where in the past, the usage had been "the ordinariate is like a diocese". But again this year, the bishop's appeal is nothing like an ordinary diocesan bishop's appeal, in which wealthier parishes are expected to provide mission support to poorer parishes and schools, as well as charities supported by the bishop. Instead, this year's goal of $300,000 will go entirely to support the Houston chancery and seminarians once again.

In fact, I think some of the designations are misleading.

• "Communications Outreach, $45,000": Very little communication actually comes out of Houston. At best, I think there are one or two issues of the Ordinariate Observer each year. Bp Lopes issues almost no pastoral letters -- certainly there was no Lent letter this year, and so far, there's been no general letter to the ordinariate faithful on his indisposition, although he's told clergy he'll be out through May. The latest brochure on the Holy Spirit has a major blooper in its title page and is otherwise poorly written. Clearly no competent communications professional was involved. Where's the $45K going?

• "Parish Development, $120,000": The head says "parish", but the body says "chancery" right away, which is much more accurate. The money is going to maintain the lifestyles of a few unproductive drones in Houston, pure and simple. As far as anyone can determine, these people do little or nothing, but when they put their hands to it, as in the case of Canadian tax deductions for donations, they do it wrong, and clergy must make corrections themselves. Can we get a breakdown of where this money goes and to whose salaries? A question I have is whether, with the bishop out of commission, anything noticeable at all is getting done in the chancery.

• "Evangelization, $30,000": Well, the description sorta backs off this right away: it's the bishop's travel expenses. The bishop is flying, almost certainly first class, across his "diocese", or maybe more accurately will be flying again once he recovers what he's recovering from. Although territorial bishops do fly to Rome or other conferences, they'll mostly be driven within their dioceses. Wouldn't an appeal for this amount come off much, much better if Bp Lopes were to come out and say he flies coach? Especially if he actually does?

Another point people have been educating me on is that a real diocese has functions like an education department, a building department, experienced vocation directors who are priests, and many others, that Houston doesn't have. Parish clergy in real dioceses can turn to these departments for help, and they also gain experience working at parishes with schools and other full functions, and they can network with other experienced clergy. None of this is available in the Houston chancery, where any counsel people may provide there is probably worse than none at all.

So beyond the fact that real dioceses fund all these functions from their normal budget, with the bishop's appeal going to parishes, schools, and charities instead of bureaucracy, the funds that are sent to the Houston bishop's appeal are going to sustain a corrupt group of idlers.

According to the USCCB,

What identifies a steward? Safeguarding material and human resources and using them responsibly are one answer; so is generous giving of time, talent, and treasure. But being a Christian steward means more. As Christian stewards, we receive God's gifts gratefully, cultivate them responsibly, share them lovingly in justice with others, and return them with increase to the Lord.

I think ordinariate members who are serious about being stewards need to make greater efforts to hold their clergy and their bishop accountable for effective stewardhsip.