More North American Ordinariate Personnel Moves

I'm hearing from different sources about additional personnel moves in the North American ordinariate. As we saw with the Archdiocese of Baltimore, these are typically announced by the chancery, but although Texas has been reopening, the staff there apparently continues under some type of legal advice to do nothing that might bring attention to themselves. Thus we learn only from Fr Simington's farewell letter to the St Alban group in Rochester, NY:

Our pastor, Bishop Lopes, has chosen to assign a young Deacon, Rev. Mr. Nathan Davis, who will be ordained to the Priesthood on June 29 th, to become your new Parochial Administrator. This new assignment, reminds me, and all of us, of the true value of Christian humility in pursuing our vocation.

. . . As I am reassigned to Irvine, California and to St. John Henry Newman I humbly ask that you keep me in your prayers.

The St John Henry Newman group was begun by Fr Andrew Bartus in 2012 and moved among several diocesan venues before it found a semi-permanent home in a garage area that had been remodeled into a chapel oratory by the Busch law firm in Irvine. Its layout is awkward, and it has a maximum capacity of about 60. But in 2018, Fr Bartus redirected his efforts to the Holy Martyrs group in Murrieta, leaving the Irvine group to supply priests, in particular Fr Hugh Barbour, while keeping it under his nominal control.

Assigning another, new ordinariate priest as administrator of this parish (I believe it's somewhere at the marginal minimum membership for parish status) represents a change. The other California ordinariate priests, Frs Baaten and Bayles, had been creatures of Fr Bartus and effectively assigned and supervised by him. It appears that Fr Simington will have his own channel to Houston, for whatever that's worth, as Houston seems to be under indefinite lockdown unrelated to COVID.

I'm also told that Fr Bartus is now on some type of sabbatical or leave until August 15, and a new deacon, Mr Samuel Keyes, will be the parish administrator at Holy Martyrs Murrieta during Fr Bartus’s sabbatical, and Fr Bayles will be celebrating mass.for him. Exactly how this fits into Fr Simington's move, if it does at all, is unclear.

Another unanswered question is how Fr Simington will be paid, and where he will live. None of the California communities can pay a full time priest. Fr Bartus has relied on teaching jobs, and Fr Baaten has been a property manager for the Diocese of Orange. Fr Bayles relies on pay from the Air Force, where he is a chaplain in the reserves. In Rochester, Fr Simington had a diocesan assignment as well as his ordinariate group, and he lived in a rectory.

It's hard to avoid asking whether he will have an equivalent arrangement in the Diocese of Orange.

Another question without a complete answer is what will happen to the St Augustine of Canterbury group in San Diego. I'm told that there have been postings on Facebook to the effect that the group will undergo a process of discernment once the California lockdown is lifted, so far in the indefinite future. At the same time, the expectation is apparently that Fr Baaten will be reassigned to the Our Lady of Grace community, which meetsin a rented event facility in Covina.

But at least we have the potential that new energy and a new perspective will bring the Irvine group/parish out of what appears to be a two-year period of stagnation and neglect.