I noted that worshippers at St Thomas More, Toronto were asked to pray especially for the Australian ordinariate this Sunday, and I wondered if there were some particular crisis. Mr Murphy used to update us on things there, but now I see nothing about it. So I checked their website and found this recent newsletter.There are a couple of points worth comment. Guam is a US territory, and I've got to think that any ordinariate community there would be part of the North American ordinariate. I would also think the same of any ordinariate community in the Philippines -- there are far more overseas Filipinos in the US than in Australia, and contacts with the US are simply constant due to family connections. I would also think that in both Guam and the Philippines, US citizens abd US military members would be the main audience, since the Philippines have been a major Catholic nation for centuries.I draw it to your attention because a) while amateurish in presentation, it has content of substance (some reprinted from elsewhere, granted) in contrast to its occasional fellow, the Ordinariate Observer, and apparently is published monthly b) you may not have seen Msgr Pope’s article, which I thought you would find of interest (p 4).
On the other hand, with only eighteen small Australian communities, plus two in Japan which do not have an approved Japanese liturgy and generally seem to be a front, as explained here, it would not appear that the Australian ordinariate has a future.
There is some interest in forming Ordinariate communities in Guam and the Philippines, but I think the situation is similar to that in Japan ie driven by local men hoping for ordination. There is a Facebook page for the group in the Philippines but no website.
Early in his episcopacy Bp Lopes visited Puerto Rico to meet with Juan Garcia who had expressed interest in having his TAC diocese join the Ordinariate
I had been following the local news—-basically a flurry of ordinations ahead of Bp Lopes’s visit—-but I think he found clergy with no congregations, and nothing more was said about Puerto Rico and the OCSP. The formerly TAC leadership of the Australian ordinariate apparently was/is less discriminating.
Learned in passing that Bp Lopes is scheduled to visit St Thomas More, Toronto October 18. I guess he will be ignoring the quarantine requirement. Presumably he will fly back to Houston the same day as the OCSP Clergy Conference starts October 19. The one the Canadian clergy cannot attend because they would be required to quarantine on their return.
Second, Bp Garcia is now Presiding Bishop of the Anglican Church in America. I suspect he was evaluating his options during Bp Lopes's visit and must have gone with a fairly obvious choice: he would become an Anglican presiding bishop in the ACA, or at best a dean of a Puerto Rican deanery in the ordinariate.
We know nothing of what may or may not be going on with regard to the future of the Australian ordinariate. But recent US events reminded me of how adults in leadership positions think. Supreme Court Jusrice Ginsburg had been in poor health for years, with recurring cancer and infections at age 87. The US president would presumably have been kept fully abreast of Justice Ginsburg's condition via any of several pathways.
A few weeks ago, out of the blue, the US president updated his list of potential supreme court nominations. Wow, why would he do that? Last Friday evening, Justice Ginsburg passed away. My goodness, what a surprise to everyone! Then the Kabuki started. Two moderate Republlicans annonced they opposed confirmation of Ginsburg's successor before the November election. Only two, when the Republicans could still pass the nomination with 51 votes.
The US president and the Reupublican majority leader had this thing contingency-planned, gamed out, and the Republican votes lined up well before the inevitable event. That's how adults do things.
Is anyone at the CDF thinking through the inevitable need for a windup stragegy for Anglicanorum coetibus? An Australian closeout, let's face it, is only the first one that will be needed.
I did wonder the other day why, if the Ordinriate Observer is there mainly as something for Bp Lopes to point to, the bishop has seen no need to point to something for over a year. Is someone gaming an exit strategy?
