Fr Sellers was originally the (unpaid) Communications Director of the OCSP. He was pretty incompetent, but at least he held the brief. Then he was replaced with a professional—-full-time, for a while, and then on a contract basis. Why did someone decide that this was no longer a priority? The Chancery staff has expanded. Bp Lopes’ former Executive Assistant is still on staff in a new capacity. But no Communications Director.Beyond the chancery staff, I'm told that there are an additional ten lay employees of the Our Lady of Walsingham parish. As of this morning, there is still no update on the ordinariate website. The most recent news item is from February 21 covering the Solemnity of the Chair of Saint Peter the Apostle. The dialogue in the thread is amusing: Peter Smith, whom I would characterize with Mrs Gyapong as an ordinariate narcissist, insists that the website can't be updated because there's no communications director.
Er, who put the February 21 news item up, regardless of title? In response to three participants who suggest someone ought to do it anyhow, Mr Smith insists that a person earning $100,000 a year is needed and seems to be oblivious to a suggestion that Mr Smith, an amateur writer himself, might volunteer for the task. While Mr Smith attributes the lack of updates on the website to the unwillingness of donors to fund a full-time flack, nobody brings up the fact that dioceses do in fact have the resources -- isn't this a recommendation for simply registering at a diocesan parish across town?
Another interesting case is Fr Lewis's letter to the Our Lady of the Atonement parish dated March 12, presumably based on Bp Lopes's e-mail to clergy from the day before. Both this letter and Bp Lopes's e-mail have, of course, been superseded, but page 2 of the letter, still up on the parish website, provides another example of ordinariate narcissism:
Reception in the hand, though allowed by the Church, is problematic. Great care has been taken at Our Lady of the Atonement over the years to preserve the ancient tradition of kneeling and receiving on the tongue. There are great theological reasons for such reception. I would b more than glad to speak with you about this matter.In the preceding paragraph on page 1, he sneers, "You are not obligated to receive. . . . Maybe you could offer your sacrifice up for the salvation of souls." Ah, this takes me back to Fr Bob Oliver at St James Episcopal, the same grand condescension to the benighted among us and one reason I left TEC 30 years later.
There are, of course, great theological reasons why Anglicans are schismatics. Fr Lewis made his career as a schismatic and only came to the Catholic Church in middle age -- but now he's more Catholic than the pope, more than glad to explain to anyone how the USCCB has it all wrong. As of Monday, of course, it appears that the USCCB had a thing or two to explain to both Fr Lewis and Bp Lopes. A communication specialist really ought to take that snotty letter off the OLA facebook page.
A vistior comments,
I continue to follow your blog with interest. This matter of who is running this show is a fascinating question.Diocesan bishops are in fact taking visible and inspiring leadership roles in the current crisis. On March 13, Abp Gómez of Los Angeles, president of the USCCB, issued a statement that said in part,
God does not abandon us, he goes with us even now in this time of trial and testing. In this moment, it is important for us to anchor our hearts in the hope that we have in Jesus Christ. Now is the time to intensify our prayers and sacrifices for the love of God and the love of our neighbor. Let us draw closer to one another in our love for him, and rediscover the things that truly matter in our lives.The Dioces of Orange, CA has a full-screen announcement on its website on current status. The Diocese of Spokane, WA has a prominent link. The Diocese of Peoria, IL has a message from the bishop on the home page. The Archdiocese of Halifax-Yarmouth, NS has links to statements from the archbishop and the CCCB. As of today, no such message appears on the ordinariate website. If the bishop is incapable of drafting one, or asking someone to draft one, his vicar general appears to have neither the authority nor the initiative to do such a thing himself.
Who's running the show?
