More On The Married Former Lutherans Ordained As Catholic Priests

Regarding yesterday's post, a visitor comments,

As I recall, it was German Lutheran pastors, not Swedish ones, I think in the late 1940s, just after the war. I don't know if it was an indult, and I can't recall how many (although it was more than a handful) of them became Catholics (including the noted German Lutheran academic Scripture scholar Henirich Schlier - but I don't think Schlier was ordained in the Catholic Church). Later on, from the 1970s onwards, a number of Swedish Lutheran married clergy became Catholic, and were ordained, including the noted historian Magnus Nyman, who has tried to apply the "revisionist" English Reformation historical work of historians like Eamon Duffy and Christopher Haigh to the Swedish Reformation process.

Elsewhere I wrote,

By November 1997 some 240 former clergy of the Church of England had been received into the Roman Church (not including those who became Catholic after their retirement), but some 50 have become Orthodox.

Within the last 5 years I read somewhere that "nearly 500" Church of England clergy (including retired ones) have become Catholic since 1992, of whom "about two dozen" subsequently returned to the Church of England (IIRC, after being ordained in the Catholic Church). I can't recall where I got those figures, though, not how trustworthy they are.

I've begun reading Longenecker's The Mystery of the Magi: The Quest to Identify the Three Wise Men, from which I get the impression that he is a careful writer with an acute scholarly historical sense. I decided that, rather than pursue these matters as questions after his presentations, I will try e-mailing him and perhaps give him a picture of my overall project here, so that he might be able to help me clarify some of these, and perhaps other, points. This could also possibly help me with discerning where I'm headed with this whole effort, turn it into something bigger or drop it, as I'm reaching a decision point.

One point he's raised several times is that the Catholic Church is a treasure house with millennia of spiritual resources. Yes, the Church of England is 500 years old, but as soon as you cross onto the Continent, you immediately add another 1000 years, and once you reach Rome and Jerusalem, you've gone back to the start. In that context, the Anglican precious treasures start to fade (although Fr Longenecker didn't say this).

Bl John Henry Newman is one thing, the Doctors of the Church are quite another. I'm not sure how many of the rag-tag members of the OCSP have been brought to understand this.

Fr Dwight Longenecker Mission

Last night I attended the first session of a Lenten mission at our parish held by Fr Dwight Longenecker, a very well-known Catholic writer, blogger, and speaker. He represents himself, and has been represented to us by our clergy, simply as a rare example of a married Latin rite priest. I believe that theoretically, he came in as a former Church of England priest in the US via the Pastoral Provision, but he made no mention of Anglican Use or Anglicanorum coetibus in his presentation.

He did have some remarks on the modern history of married priests in the Catholic Church. He traces this back to Pius XII, who issued what he called an exemption or exception (can someone confirm this was an indult?) to a group of married Swedish Lutheran pastors who wanted to become Catholic. He then mentioned a 1978 letter to Paul VI from US Episcopal priests who referred to the action by Pius XII as a precedent for granting an exception for certain married Protestant pastors. However, neither Paul VI nor John Paul I had the chance to take any action.

This is somewhat at variance with the account we have from Fr Barker, who puts the rise of the Pastoral Provision in the context of the 1977 Congress of St Louis and negotiations sponsored by then-Bp Bernard Law, although these negotiations seem to have stalled when most of the budding "continuers" elected to form their own jurisdictions and elect their own bishops. I'm tempted, perhaps at tonight's question session, to ask Fr Longenecker if he knows how the two initiatives may or may not have been related. (On the other hand, it might be better to lurk or maybe follow up with an e-mail to Fr Longenecker.)

In Fr Longenecker's case, he was happy enough to be a Church of England priest on the Isle of Wight until he left with a group of about 800 C of E priests in 1995 over the issue of ordaining women. A certain number of these 800 who were married did apply via local UK Catholic dioceses tor exceptions that would allow them to be ordained. Whether this was done appears to have depended on the whims of both Rome and the local bishop. (The celibate C of E priests had an easier time.)

In any case, this appears to have happened somewhat under the radar, and the conventional history leading up to Anglicanorum coetibus doesn't mention it. If Fr Longenecker is right, a substantial number of married Church of England priests were ordained Catholic prior to the erection of the UK ordinariate. And it does appear that the option for married Anglican or Lutheran priests to apply for exceptions and be ordained as Catholics outside of Anglicanorum coetibus still exists, although presumably in the US, it would preferably be done via the now-established Pastoral Provision channels. I hope a visitor familiar with the canonical specifics here can clarify the situation.

In Fr Longenecker's case, the process of application took ten years due to the vagaries of bureaucratic delays and wavering intentions by bishops in the UK. He finally met with the Roman Catholic Bishop of Charleston, SC on a visit to his family there and was eventually successful in being ordained there and placed in his Greenville, SC parish in 2006. This may have been via the Pastoral Provision procedures, but it could possibly have taken place separately, since his application had been pending in the UK since 1995.

My wife and I both remarked, after we left last night's session, that we heard no weepy references to the precious treasures of the Anglican spiritual patrimony. Fr Longenecker is matter-of-fact and even-handed in discussing Anglicanism. He explains to Catholics that Anglicanism has features that "look like" Catholicism, including bishops, kneeling at prayer, praying from a book, and "a Eucharist that looks like a Mass." A good way to put it.

But there is absolutely no sense that he wishes to be seen as either unique or separate, except insofar as he could avail himself of canonical procedures that would allow him, after great struggle, to be ordained a Catholic priest in the married state. He is simply a Catholic priest, and far more prominent than any others in the Pastoral Provision or the OCSP. The OCSP ought to be considering this as a model going forward.

A Visitor Weighs In

A regular visitor provides the comments below. There is additional perspective in the 100-plus comments at the post on the blog that broke the story, which strongly suggest that there are factions in the Holly Rosary parish with strong views in both directions;.

This is to share a few observations with respect to your posts in the past week regarding Fr. Luke Reese. The one thing of which I’m certain is that none of us know all of the details, so caution is indicated.

1. Most ordinariate clergy are nearing retirement age, but Fr. Luke Reese is a notable exception. Your comments about clergy coming to the ordinariates needing to have independent means of support are accurate because the fledging ordinariates did not — and still do not — have the means to provide decent salaries. For most, the independent means of support was a vested pension from their prior denomination. Fr. Reese has, or at least had, a business producing and selling communion wafers that provided the necessary support. The pictures of Fr. Reese’s family at the time of his reception showed about eight children ranging in age from adolescent to newborn, so the youngest probably are still in elementary school. My guess is that he and his wife were in their thirties at the time of reception, which would put them into their early forties now. [News reports say he is 56. The Mary Ann Mueller piece at Virtue Online, which has the most thorough research, says he is 49 -- jb]
2. I don’t know what formal training for ministry Fr. Reese might or might not have received in his prior denomination(s), but he apparently was judged to be in the category of needing significant remedial studies but less than a full program of Catholic seminary formation. There are several clues to this: first, the statements in the public record that he commuted to St. Meinrad School of Theology and Seminary from his residence in Indianapolis, which is over 2 ½ hours each way, according to Google Maps, indicating that he was never resident, and, second, the fact that the School of Theology granted him a Master of Arts rather than a Master of Divinity (this stood out to me when I saw the degree list in the alumni newsletter) indicating that he did not do the full program of coursework for the latter. His selection of courses at St. Meinrad undoubtedly was chosen to fill in the gaps in his previous formation, and probably was more extensive than the actual requirements for the degree that he received.
3. The report that he supplied alcohol and got inebriated with a bunch of minors might well be a distortion of the gossip net rather than actual fact. [Commenters at the Fisher blog take this position, but if the arresting affadavit is correct, the complaints were made by parents of the minors -- jb] His ordinariate community met at a parish that also hosted the Tridentine mass for Catholics in or near the city of Indianapolis. For better or worse, many traditionalists who gravitate toward the Tridentine mass are of the mind that nothing can ever change, failing to distinguish between doctrine (which cannot change) and discipline (which can change). Such traditionalists undoubtedly would be shocked by the practice of distributing communion under both forms to the congregation, and even more shocked that he allowed minors to receive from the chalice (even though the official policy of the Catholic Church is that all who are admitted to communion may receive under both forms, regardless of age). It’s not unlikely that “He gave the chalice to minors!” might have mutated to “He was drinking to excess with minors!” in the traditionalist “gossip net.” If there had been real wrongdoing in this matter, a phone call from the Archbishop of Indianapolis to Bishop Lopes undoubtedly would have brought swift action as soon as the offense came to light. [The comments at the Fisher blog suggest the bishops had taken actions that aren't public -- jb.]
4. Many arch-conservative circles, Christian or otherwise, put great value on a family’s public image and thus shield all kinds of misdeeds within the walls of the family home to maintain a façade of respectability. As part of this, arch-conservative Christian circles of all stripes typically misconstrue the doctrinal position that wives should be submissive toward their husbands to mean that they must just take whatever abuse the husband might dish out — and it can go on for years. The ordinariate communities tend to be pretty conservative, so it’s certainly plausible that this dynamic was at work and that there was some history of unreported domestic abuse behind closed doors.
5. There are also many who construe any sort of corporal punishment of children to constitute abuse. Here, I differentiate between a measured spanking of a child by an adult who is in control (okay) and a beating by an adult who is in a rage (not okay) — but others don’t. [We don't have information on what happened within the family, but it does appear from the published account that Reese could lose control and become violent -- jb.]
6. But Catholic priests are human. The poor guy “lost it” when he caught his wife and another man engaging in sexual acts in the back seat of the other man’s automobile — but who among us would be a model of Christian charity and forgiveness on the spur of the moment in a similar situation? If you were to catch your wife in a similar scenario, do you really think that your reaction would have been a whole lot prettier than his? (Note: I’m distinguishing here between the reaction in the rage of the moment and the considered response after one has had a day or two — or perhaps several days or even weeks in a matter of this magnitude — to cool down and consider one’s lawful options.) [I would take the triggering episode as a symptom of more pervasive dysfunction -- this couldn't have been sudden -- jb.]
7. If the alleged acts really are as violent as the charges that you quoted make them sound, why on earth was Fr. Reese set free after posting less than $2,500 in bond money? Indiana is a very conservative state that tends to be quite strict, especially when it comes to violent crime. Something here simply does not fit! [Reese is a priest with no prior record, so the judge might have been lenient -- jb.]
8. It’s likely that some of the criminal charges against Fr. Reese will be dismissed for lack of evidence and/or witnesses and that it will be exceedingly difficult for prosecutors to win a conviction on the A&B rap(s) for what transpired when he caught his wife and another guy “in the act” due to the very clear provocation of the situation in which he caught them. My guess is that there will be some sort of resolution of the case involving either a plea deal with drastically reduced charges or an indefinite continuation without a finding. [I would agree that charges may be negotiated down, and Reese's counsel will probably argue that he is a priest with no prior record -- jb.]
9. There’s also a human tendency to reinterpret prior events after a “falling out” that could be at play here. If there’s violence in the home, the time to report it is when it occurs — not several years later. [But your point 4 above could explain this, as well as a human tendency to put up with abuse, often mentioned in media discussions -- jb.]

I lived with a lot of abuse until my teens, when I simply got big enough to make my dad worry that I might fight back. This story gave me nightmares, frankly. I would say that a theory of Reese as someone who could lose control and become violent fits the reported circumstances, as well as an unwillingness by the family to report the abuse. My dad was normally careful not to leave marks where they'd be seen, but I definitely did get bruises, cuts, and welts. This would imply that my dad was fully aware that what he was doing was wrong as a matter of natural law if nothing else, but in remaining silent, my mom and other relatives were complicit.

As I reflect on my family circumstances, though, I'm more and more convinced that the physical abuse was just one part -- and maybe just a symptom -- of a more general dysfunction. Basically my dad was living a double life, and as I look back, there were far more issues than just abuse. I can't avoid wondering if this may be the case with the Reese family.

But I think the best overall perspective is from a comment at the Fisher blog from a woman married to a former TEC priest, both now lay Catholics:

This is not to ignore all the various horrible details of this particular case. It is horrible. I do wonder how exactly candidates for ordination in the Ordinariate are vetted. I also can’t help wondering just how much time the vetters spend talking to wives, and how seriously they take what the wife might say — if the wife is honest in her responses. I can see how, for various reasons, she might not be.

When I think about the level of formation that permanent deacons **and their wives** go through prior to ordination, this all seems crazy. Again, though, I have some personal experience with married clergy in both the Anglican Use and Byzantine Rite traditions, and I don’t think the couple in this story are exemplary of married Catholic clergy generally. I just wonder how they got through the process.

The problem is that Reese is not an exception in the OCSP as far as apparently cursory vetting is concerned.

More Information (Or Not) On Luke Reese

The pseudonymous Mary Ann Mueller has done a very creditable job with additional research on Luke Reese at Virtue Online. She's clearly been able to reference the actual legal documents in the spousal abuse case, but she also raises just one of the additional issues the Reese case brings to light:

The Catholic Church is not fully equipped to deal with the home life, financial needs, problems and issues surrounding a married priest with wife, children and even grandchildren. . . . Through the marital problems and eventual breakdown of Fr. Reese's marriage, played out in such a public manner, the Ordinariate -- and the overarching Catholic Church -- is learning firsthand the lessons that Anglican bodies have already learned -- marriage and the priesthood is a delicate balancing act.

However, a visitor raised another issue that's been at the back of my mind:

It is worth asking how well his service with not only the Anglican Church of America, but with another traditionalist affiliation, the Anglican Catholic Church in the Indianapolis area, was investigated. Did anyone contact [ACC] Bishop Starks as a part of a background check? Sometimes clergy church-hop for other than spiritual reasons, and abusers are good at being charming. Was his background fully vetted for signs of trouble?

Both the ACA-TAC and the ACC have communities in Indianapolis. The published accounts of Reese's background only vaguely mention a "continuing" denomination in which he was ordained in 2006, and no published account I've seen refers to a second. The visitor suggests Reese was at St. Edward the Confessor (an ACC parish in Indianapolis) at one point when his oldest children were small and they were singing in the choir, possibly in the late 1990s or early 2000s. He may have been originally ordained in the ACC and then moved to the St Margaret of Scotland ACA-TAC group in Indianapolis, according to the visitor.

At this point, it seems to me that it's incumbent on the CDF to walk back the cat, find out where exactly Reese was as an Anglican priest, and determine why he apparently hopped jurisdictions before landing in the Catholic priesthood. A failure to check references thoroughly, and a failure to verify all prior employment, would be a major dereliction, especially in light of the allegations that he provided alcohol to minors and became intoxicated with them as a Catholic priest.

I will see if I can e-mail the parishes involved and determine if they will confirm whether he was a priest in either, and the dates of his tenure or ordination. In light of the publicity, which must certainly be pervasive in the Indianapolis area, I'm not sure if either will wish to be associated with him at this point.

If any visitors have information on Reese's prior career, which could be just dates of employment and where employed without any other judgment, it would be very helpful.

More On The 2012 Selection Process

Not long ago I heard from a retired TEC priest who'd been an associate at the parish where I had my TEC confirmation:

I retired in 2003, tried my vocation to the monastic life in the UK and returned to Atlanta where I worked as a public librarian. When the Ordinariate was established, I "enrolled" as a layman but they thought I was applying to be ordained so asked me to complete the stuff for the CDF, which gave its votum. However, Monsignor Steenson did not approve -- I have no idea why, I just got an email from the Chancellor and then a form letter. I was, no doubt, mercifully delivered, and am thankful to be a Catholic layman, currently working as Defender of the Bond in the Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Atlanta, and a lay member of the Order of Malta.

Knowing Fr R to the extent I did almost 40 years ago (and I remember him fondly), I have a sense that "I have no idea why" may be tongue in cheek. But this seems to show that at the time, Houston seemed to be going out of its way to recruit applicants only to ding them, perhaps to look good in some way to higher-ups.

My regular correspondent contributed this insight:

It's true that Luke Reese was prominent on The Anglo-Catholic back in the day but so were others who have now disappeared. Did Msgr Steenson like the optics of young men with large families? Is that why Fr Catania was removed from Mt Calvary in favour of Fr Scharbach and his seven children?

This may be closer to the problem -- the difficulty is that a stay-at-home wife and a large brood of children can be a beard. As I've said, TEC went down that road with Bp Paul Moore Jr, though it probably still hasn't learned that lesson. I believe Msgr Steenson and his wife had three children, though for whatever reason he seems to have admired more Stakhanovite efforts. These have proven chimeras in the cases of Reese and Kenyon.

Another visitor notes,

If you go to this site and scroll down, you will see Fr. Reese came from the Anglican Church in America (TAC), and more than likely from St. Margaret Anglican Church in Indianapolis...an ACA church.

I can only assume he had to take numerous RCC seminary courses because like so many clergy in the ACA, he never attended accredited seminaries. I bet those days are now over under the new bishop.

The difficulty, again, is that men from the 2012 cohort were ordained without MDivs and with only perfunctory remedial coursework. One must assume there were reasons to make Reese a candidate above others much better prepared (like Fr R above, who went to General Theological Seminary) in spite of his minimal preparation.

My regular correspondent has found additional information on Reese's background:

This article is first mention I've noted that Luke Reese's denominational background was Methodist/Presbyterian and he did not have any experience with the Anglican tradition until he became a paid choir member at an Episcopalian church. I am still unclear as to what, if any, academic preparation he had for ordination in the ACA. This article also underlines the conservative outlook of the Reese family. Presumably Holy Rosary attracts others of like mind.

Well, it's plain that Houston had been trying to fly a 30-day build-it-yourself airplane project from the start -- it looks as if Reese wasn't just not fully prepared, though; he was almost completely clueless, and there would have had to be question as to whether he had a vocation at all. But clearly, as 2017 and upcoming 2018 ordinations show, Houston hasn't given up on sketchy candidates, no matter what bitter experience may be trying to teach.

Diocesan vocations directors simply don't work this way.

I've Got Some Questions

For whatever reason, when I think about the OCSP, i keep thinking about Admiral Beatty's remark at the Battle of Jutland, "Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today." What's gone wrong?

The best account we have of Luke Reese's career is from the 2016 announcement of his diaconal ordination:

He had been ordained a priest in the Anglican tradition about 10 years ago. To be properly formed for priestly life and ministry as a Catholic, he began commuting in the fall of 2012 from his family’s home in Indianapolis to Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology in St. Meinrad.

He also received assistance from the archdiocesan vicariate for clergy, religious and parish life coordinators in formation for pastoral ministry.

This says that his process of formation began in the 2012 tranche of candidates. But it also suggests that a number of exceptions to policy occurred in Reese's case. As a visitor put it to me a while ago,

Msgr. Steenson implemented a strict policy of not accepting former Anglican clergymen unless and until it was clear that they would have adequate means to maintain a decent lifestyle, whether from stipends supported by their communities or from Anglican pensions or from clearly identified employment that would continue after their Catholic ordinations.

But it appears that Reese spent four years in some type of remedial seminary study but "received assistance" while doing this. The same visitor noted in a different context,

I do not know the details of the programs of formation or courses of study that the ordinariates have used to prepare their clergy for ordination in the Catholic Church, beyond Cardinal Wuerl's briefing to the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) several years ago in which he said that the applications were divided into three categories: (1) those who had completed a full program of formation in a "legit" Anglican seminary and thus would require relatively little additional formation, (2) those who had little formal preparation for ministry and thus would need essentially a full program of formation in a Catholic seminary, and (3) those who were somewhere in between, who would need individually tailored programs of formation to fill the gaps in the formation that they had received.

But my regular correspondent noted,

Several former ACCC clergy with no M.Div or equivalent were ordained after a few distance learning courses; one who is now incardinated in the Diocese of Calgary actually spent one year in a seminary, but no one else had to put in the time to take a full degree.

In addition, though, besides the three categories listed in Cardinal Wuerl's remarks, there was, especially in 2012, clearly a fourth category of candidates whose dossiers were "lost" or who were informally advised to drop their applications without receiving a formal rejection. But every sense I have is that this was a highly subjective, even political, process, driven by an apparent in-group surrounding Msgr Steenson.

The problem I see is that, especially among the 2012 tranche of candidates, for Reese to have had to spend four years in remedial formation would have been remarkably long, and for him to have received assistance while doing it would also be exceptional. One candidate who was informally scrubbed told me of having to spend thousands of dollars out of his own pocket for psychological evaluation -- it sounds as though Reese may not have had to make the same sort of expense, while undergoing far more remedial preparation than apparently anyone else in the 2012 tranche.

But whatever was done in Reese's case, it clearly didn't take. As a layman, I do get the impression that there must be a steady background chatter of diocesan priests who must receive some type of disciplinary or remedial attention, but clearly we almost never hear of cases where a Catholic priest explodes into a days-long criminal outburst as Reese did. Did all these exceptions in his formation have anything to do with this?

And weren't there warning signs? It's hard to avoid a sense that Reese's September violent outburst arose from pressures that had long been building. Reports of legal documents in the case refer to a long history of abuse within the family, as well as instances that had already been reported of providing alcohol to minors, intoxication with minors, and distributing white supremacist material. My correspondent noted,

Fr Reese commuted from Indianapolis to St Meinrad, 170 miles away, to attend seminary. What opportunity, if any, did faculty etc there have to see him in a family context?

My correspondent also noted,

I do agree that even if Indianapolis fumbled the ball in failing to notice problems with someone who, after all, has been employed at Holy Rosary since 2012, it still must be galling to have to consult with Houston about what to do, while local news media are having a field day with a problem that the diocese would never have faced in the absence of an OCSP priest. More usual Church sex scandals considerably less newsworthy by now. Only bright spot for Indianapolis is that presumably Houston must share the financial burden. although its resources are rather limited.

I can't avoid the feeling that the incidence of flagrant scandal in the OCSP is rather high compared to the Catholic priesthood in the US generally. In 2017, we had two really major incidents with Fr Kenyon and Luke Reese, as well as rather unseemly conduct from Fr Phillips. My own view is that the OCSP has additional ticking time bombs (others have characterized them as IEDs), about whom Houston has been warned.

I can only echo Admiral Beatty: "Chatfield, there seems to be something wrong with our bloody ships today."

Updated OCSP Press Statement

An updated press statement from Houston appears on the Houston ABC13 Eyewitness News site:

Rev. Luke Reese, a priest of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter, was placed on administrative leave on Sept. 27, 2017, when he disclosed actions that resulted in criminal charges related to domestic violence.

Rev. Reese was assigned to St. Joseph of Arimathea Ordinariate Community in Indianapolis, Ind. In addition, Rev. Reese had an assignment at Holy Rosary Catholic Church in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis. Upon receiving information related to alleged criminal conduct on Rev. Reese's part, the Ordinariate and the Archdiocese immediately placed Rev. Reese on leave.

Since Sept. 27, he has not had any priestly duties and has been prohibited from exercising any public ministry.

Bishop Steven J. Lopes of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter has pledged the diocese's full cooperation with the civil authorities conducting the investigation.

The Ordinariate is committed to collaborating with authorities to ensure justice is provided for all concerned, and affirms the Catholic Church's clear teaching that domestic violence is never justified.

Rev. Reese is on administrative leave pending resolution of the case, which remains in the Indiana criminal justice system.

Out of respect for the privacies of everyone involved, the Ordinariate will not make further statements at this time. All questions regarding the investigation should be directed to the Indianapolis Police Department or Indiana Criminal Court System.

According to the Indianapois Star,

Because Reese's archbishop is in Houston, Indianapolis Archbishop Charles C. Thompson cannot immediately make any official decisions regarding discipline and Reese's status within the church, according to Greg Otolski, a spokesman for the Archdiocese of Indianapolis.

Otolski said he had no knowledge of any of the incidents taking place inside Holy Rosary Church. Placing Reese on leave was a decision mutually made by leadership in both Houston and Indianapolis after the allegations came to light, he said.

So two days into the news cycle, Houston's responsibility for Reese is becoming clearer, although as might be expected, Abp Thompson is still working against the INDIANAPOLIS PRIEST BEATS WIFE IN FRONT OF ALTAR headline.

This is a reflection of the issue that's been raised here repeatedly, that the territorial diocese is inevitably going to get the bad publicity from scandals arising from OCSP clergy. As I've said here repeatedly, it isn't practical for Houston to supervise clergy hundreds or thousands of miles away, and the fact is, existing screening procedures for candidates are proving inadequate. Good men are being screened out, sketchy ones are getting in.

I recognize that it isn't appropriate to want to look too closely into the specifics of any priestly scandal, but it is appropriate for laity to ask what went wrong. From Fr McCarthy's statement in the parish bulletin and references in the legal documents in the case, it's hard to avoid thinking that red flags must have been present in Reese's performance well before matters came to a head in September 2017. The question is whether Houston was in a position to recognize and act appropriately on these red flags. Since Fr McCarthy was in practice Reese's direct supervisor and apparently dealing with serious issues, but since his own superiors were in the archdiocese, I question whether appropriate mechanisms were in place to deal with the problems before they got out of control.

The evidence we have is that poor screening for OCSP candidates for the priesthood results in scandals or serious personnel issues for territorial dioceses. It's hard to question what appears to be a tendency for diocesan bishops to resist establishment of OCSP groups in their territories.

I assume this has already been raised with the Vatican.