Why is Brian Marsh Suddenly Answering Questions?

After what he acknowledges is months of silence, "Bishop" Marsh of the ACA is suddenly answering questions. On one hand, as I've said before, the ACA doesn't have many options whether he answers questions or flips them the bird -- he has no credible successor. But he seems to be getting nervous nonetheless.

He first notes that he welcomes the chance to answer when "someone will ask me about something they have read on a blog" (clearly the blog he refers to is this one). But in September's Northeast Anglican, he also notes

"Often, your bishop is asked about the possibility of merger with other orthodox Anglican jurisdictions. We currently hold friendly relations with several such jurisdictions and an intercommunion relationship with the Anglican Province of America. If merger appears elusive at this time, it is important to remind ourselves that such occurrences happen in God's good time."

What? Merger with the APA "appears elusive at this time"? Er, didn't "Bishops" Marsh and Langberg (he now conveniently retired even as a rector) take a Mediterranean cruise with APA Bishops Loiselle and Grundorf as far back as 2012 for, as Marsh put it, "discussing and getting to know each other in preparation for our anticipated unity"? More than three years later, why are things now stalled, which Marsh acknowledges here?

The elephant in the room, the source of both questions, is St Mary of the Angels. The St Mary's vestry has estimated multimillion-dollar damages resulting from the ACA's incitement and supervision of a squatter group occupying the property. But now other issues are coming to light -- the squatter group operating under the ACA's direct authority, supervised by Frederick Rivers and Owen Rhys Williams representing themselves as "rector" and "episcopal visitor", appears to have obtained half a million dollars in financing, offering as security a property they do not own or control.

Brian Marsh is one of the first people the lenders will presumably approach, assuming these circumstances are borne out in further investigation. The liability for the ACA is potentially cataclysmic. The damage to its reputation will probably be terminal

If you were Walter Grundorf, how eager would you be to have the APA assume a share in this liability?

Hinky

I had a chance to chat about recent developments with members of the vestry yesterday afternoon. I asked them in particular what their theory was on the non-occurrence of the choral evensong and requiem with full orchestra that had been scheduled for Sunday of last week, which got as far as having tables set up in the courtyard the night before, but then simply went poof. Their reaction was animated to say the least.

I will summarize the consensus with the caveat that this is pure speculation based on incomplete information. However, it does seem to be a good fit with the information we have.

• We don't know when the event was initially planned and scheduled by the squatter group. It could well have been at a time when they either assumed the parish income would remain steady, or they assumed they would have some resumption of income to pay the musicians.
• However, by October and November, very little money was coming in. The vestry members actually feel my own estimate of the income to the squatters, for instance assuming $1000 monthly rental for the parking lot, may be too large. I will defer to their judgment.
• Nevertheless, in the vestry's speculative view, the squatter group continued planning for the event, taking out the ad in the Los Feliz Ledger and presumably holding rehearsals with the paid professional (and quite possibly unionized) musicians in the orchestra and choir.
• The vestry speculates that the orchestra and choir were promised payment for both rehearsals and performance after the choral evensong and requiem performance.
• However, despite promises and sweet-talk from the squatter group, the vestry speculates that the musicians began to feel something was hinky and demanded some concrete evidence that they would be paid. In my view and the view of the vestry, there wasn't money to pay the electric bill, much less the musicians.
• The musicians, in this speculative scenario, told the squatter group to forget it at the last minute, convinced they were about to be stiffed (and probably already had been stiffed for the rehearsal time).

I can't avoid thinking that in recent weeks, more than the musicians are being stiffed, in some cases for large amounts.

The ACA Now Has An Official Position On This Blog!

If you wanted any better confirmation that this blog has an impact, you should check this out. Thanks to an Ordinariate source for the heads-up. "Bishop" Marsh concludes,

St. Mary of the Angels in Hollywood, California has been captive of the blogosphere for some time. In this particular case, the blogosphere has made the art of distortion into a masterpiece. You cannot believe everything you read and I do pray that the truth will out in the end.

I think I do a pretty good job here, too, and I appreciate the implicit praise! However, I would say that for "Bishop" Marsh to address the issue of St Mary's now at all is a reflection of his concern that developments are not going the ACA's way, and the place where people will get an accurate and up-to-date account of them is here. Knowing that this is already the case (my readership is up 40%-50% in recent months), he seems to feel the need to minimize it.

Good luck with that.

So Where's The Rest Of The Money? -- III

It took me longer to figure this out than it took my wife. OK: the Bush group takes out a $575,000 mortgage on the parish property.We don't know where that money went, it's true -- but we do know that the Bush group now has a monthly mortgage payment, presumably well into four figures.

Given that earlier this year, Mrs Bush elected to rent the now-vacant bank building on the property to BevMo! rather than Walgreen's because Walgreen's wanted free rent while they modified the building, we must assume that the $575,000 mortgage proceeds are spent, and the squatters needed the rental income to keep coming in without interruption.

But now as far as we know, with no tenant in the bank building since October, the Bush group isn't even getting in enough to pay utilities. My wife thinks they're already missing mortgage payments. Except that the Bush squatters didn't have the property to mortgage.

I still haven't thought through all the implications. Mrs Bush's family, I say again, needs to hire an attorney and get Mrs Bush out of this situation. I'm sorry to say that I'm seeing more and more suggestions that an argument based on mental incapacity would be credible.

More Puzzles

The ad shown here appeared on page 9 of the November 2015 Los Feliz Ledger. There are several puzzles in connection with it. One is that, as I've already noted, there was no announcement of this on the parish web page, which contained no new entries after September of this year. I'm told that at least one group saw this ad, arrived at the specified date and time, but the gates were locked. Nothing ever happened. No cancellation note was to be seen. They all left, disappointed.

Observers saw tables set up in the courtyard late the night before, certainly in anticipation of something, but as my informant puts it, "then it all went away." The cost of a "full choir and orchestra", including rehearsal time, would be substantial; a knowledgeable party puts it somewhere in the four figures, as well as the cost of the ad. (The ad, of course, is one indication that Ms Cohen's favorable treatment of Mrs Bush does not go unrewarded.)

This for a group that had lost its tenant and had no income -- but wait, there's more! It appears that the squatter group took out a mortgage for $575,000, I gather in late 2014, after the appeals court had already ruled in favor of the rector, wardens, and vestry. And this when they still had an income over $20,000 a month. Where was this money going?

The aborted choral evensong must have cost money, too. If tables had been set up in anticipation of the event just the night before, it's hard to avoid thinking some money had been spent before the thing went poof. Where did this money come from?

It sounds as if the vestry's legal team is aware of these issues. As I've already said, Mrs Bush's family really needs to get involved, as this is not likely to end well for her.

New Schedule

There are two pending legal events in resolving the vestry's case. The first is Judge Strobel signing the final version of her decision, which will order the squatters evicted from the property. It was expected that she woud do this by November 17, since the hearing on the disposition of the "related cases" had been scheduled for November 18. However, with Lancaster & Anastasia claiming the USPS had taken five days to deliver their copy of Judge Strobel's decision, these dates have been rolled forward.

Judge Alan Goodman, who now has charge of Judge Strobel's former Department 32, has continued the November 18 hearing on the "related cases" to January 8, 2016. However, I'm told that the law requires that Judge Strobel wrap her decision up within 50 days -- which takes us no later than December 15. We don't know exactly what her order will be, including what dates she may specify for execution of the final judgment. My wife thinks she is proceeding with extreme caution to avoid continued appeals.

The most important of the "related cases" is the one by the squatter group against Fr Kelley accusing him of "conversion", which is civil theft. (The civil charge would require only a jury majority based on the "preponderance of evidence", rather than a unanimous finding "beyond a reasonable doubt".) This case, of course, has been stalled since the appeals court returned the cases for retrial in 2014. Judges who have looked at the Bush group's allegations have repeatedly said that there is no evidence for them. During the brief time I was parish treasurer in 2011, I found no evidence of financial impropriety, and the accountant who audited the parish prior to its seizure in 2012 also found no impropriety. Presumably this case will be dismissed "with prejudice" under Judge Goodman next year.

Fr Kelley, on the other hand, is concerned that the squatter group remains in possession of his personal property that had been in the rector's office at the time of the seizure. I suspect that other problems will come quickly to light once the vestry regains access to the property and bank accounts.

The Calendar Again

As I've noted here from time to time, the squatters have seldom been conscientious in keeping the calendar up to date -- but recent weeks have been especially behind. Here it is as of this morning:

The most recent entry is for September 8, the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin. If they were making an ordinary effort, we'd assume that there would be entries for Sunday, November 22, the Feast of Christ the King, and Sunday, November 29, I Advent. I don't know if it's significant that the retrial took place in September, distracting whomever was maintaining the calendar.

Whatever else it may be, it's a continuing indication that the squatters have never been running the place as an actual parish. With nothing noted on the calendar, I'd love to know what they have or haven't announced about legal developments during Sunday "mass". There's always been something hinky here.