The target audience for Fr Mike Schmitz's YouTube presentations, which also stress discernment and vocation, also appears to be people in their teens, probably pre-college. As I think back to that stage in my life, if I'd had a vocation, I would definitely have needed the steady advice of a solid priest, as well as the support of my family (an uncle or even a brother in the priesthood wouldn't have hurt). Without real support in my mid-teens, it wouldn't happen.
But the Episcopalian process doesn't work that way. It's not a life decision, it's a career decision made late in college -- and as trends continue, it's made more and more as a second career, as well as a career option for women and gays. Anglicans follow the Episcopalian trend, and probably even more as a second career when the candidate fails to be ordained by an Episcopal bishop and falls back on the ACNA or a "continuing" group.
This means that Anglicanorum coetibus is recruiting Catholic clergy who are not only married but formed under entirely different circumstances. Even the celibate Episcopalians are most likely as gay as their TEC colleagues, and this applies to the celibate ex Episcopalians now in the North American ordinariate.
This is why I'm increasingly skeptical of the idea that Anglican priests can become Catholic with just a little touchup. Regarding this year's ordinations to the diaconate and priesthood in the ordinariaate, my regular correspondent notes,
Mr Keyes was ordained to the diaconate in May, at the same time as Scott Wooten, who was ordained priest last Wednesday. Have not seen any date posted for Mr Keyes’ priestly ordination, which according to the recent practice of the OCSP should not take place until the spring of 2021.I hope the million dollars which has materialised for the construction of a church for Fr Wooten’s community did not play any part in his abbreviated stint as deacon, because that would be simony.
I would say that there has been no report anywhere of the OCSP Clergy Conference and no pictures, even on social media, of anything but Fr Wooten’s ordination in the cathedral in Houston, so at least it gave some sort of focus to what seems to have been a poorly attended gathering.
I continue to be puzzled at what appears to be a con job from Fr Wooten. If he's received a million dollars for construction of a new parish building, I would expect to see near-immediate signs of progress. Our novus ordo parish provides constant updates on construction. In fact, in addition to a major building project, it's taken advantage of the COVID restrictions to undertake a $100,000 renovation of the adoration chapel, with a separate new fundraising appeal and continual updates.
So far, all we hear from Fr Wooten is sorta-kinda-maybe-someday. As someone who's getting more and more used to the Catholic Church, the problem I see for the North American ordinariate is that it just isn't very Catholic. I go back to the associate who was delegated to query me about this blog after our pastor received a complaint several years ago. One of the first concerns i raised with him about the ordinariate was "instant ordinations" -- of some, that's been literally true, with candidaes received into the Church, ordained as deacon, and ordained as priest in the course of a weekend.
But even where a candidate has been Catholic for years and ordained a deacon but waits a decent interval before becoming a priest, there's a lot missing, and this leaves aside men who've been ordained in the ordinariate after seriouis problems in TEC or "continuing" groups. Oddly, when I mentioned this to our associate, he simply nodded, chuckled, and basically dropped the discussion with a remark on the complainant's grammar.
I doubt if any novus ordo priest would ever specifically disparage the ordinariate to me. On the other hand, I'd go so far as to wonder if anecdotes have already made their rounds in clergy conferences and rectories.
