Captain Showboat

A visitor notes regarding yesterday's post:

I liked your post yesterday about showboating. When I think about what we have endured at OLA, "Showboating" is a rather gracious description. While showboating may seem harmless, as many a sea goer knows, an overexposure to the sea can make one sick. I draw your attention to OLA's Crusader Award. In 2008, the school started to throw an annual Gala in support of the school. This is a fundraising dinner, with live auction, where a member of the community was honored for their commitment to the school, by volunteer work, or otherwise. For the very first year the school chose to honor, not one of the many hardworking volunteers, or hardworking teachers, or staff - but the school chose to honor Fr. Phillips himself.

One question that comes to mind is, why did Fr. Phillips accept this award? From my way of thinking, a good leader leads by example, but he does not hold himself up as the example -- unless you are one who practices the delicate art of "showboating". A better question, however, is why those on the selection committee felt they had to choose Fr. Phillips as the first recipient of this award. I tell you, from "Good Sheep Sunday", to the annual commemoration of his ordination, the climate at OLA is one in which, if you are going to have an award like the Crusader award - you wouldn't dare not honoring Fr. Phillips first, for he is the supreme example.

For the third year, Deacon Orr was honored. According to the Crusader Times of October 12, 2010,

The Atonement Academy’s 3rd annual gala and auction fundraiser was this past Saturday, and approximately 200 participants enjoyed a lively auction and elegant dinner followed by the presentation of the annual Crusader Award to Deacon James Orr, a co-founder of our school. Headmaster Ralph Johnston and Atonement pastor Father Phillips recognized Deacon Orr’s many accomplishments, and alumna Casandra Treviño paid tribute to Deacon Orr in her own words as well as by Deacon Orr Honored at 3rd Annual Gala Deacon James Orr was the deserving — and grateful— recipient of the annual Crusader Award. reading a letter from her brother, alumnus Alex Treviño. . . .

[During the recent OLA controversy, visitors brought to my attention the numerous instances, some published at the time, of questionable conduct by Dcn Orr with young boys. A father told me about a specific complaint he made to Fr Phillips about Orr kissing his son on the mouth. The father reported to me that Fr Phillips discounted this as the "kiss of peace", and told the father he should basically get over it. However, kissing on the mouth is now specifically proscribed in the OCSP Safe Environment Code of Conduct. That Orr should be rewarded in this way suggests Fr Phillips was at best lax in supervising Orr.]

In 2015, Fr. Stravinskas was honored for his seafaring skill.

To me, this inward looking disposition reminds me of Luke 9:46-48:

An argument started among the disciples as to which of them would be the greatest. 47 Jesus, knowing their thoughts, took a little child and had him stand beside him. 48 Then he said to them, “Whoever welcomes this little child in my name welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcomes the one who sent me. For it is the one who is least among you all who is the greatest.”

This brings to mind a question that I've pondered now and then: Our Lady of the Atonement, thought to be now the biggest OCSP parish, is small by diocesan Catholic standards. Yet it's acknowledged that a significant proportion of its membership has always been cradle Catholics. This suggests that liturgical observance, a music program, and a good school can have appeal beyond Anglican converts. Our parish in the Archdiocese of Los Angeles has apparently been very successful -- much bigger than OLA -- for nearly 100 years, stressing liturgical observance, a music program, and two good schools. In changing demographics, the appeal continues. It's not just Anglicans who want these things.

Why hasn't OLA, or indeed any OCSP parish, had equivalent success with diocesan Catholics? Our own parish suggests the ingredients are actually there.

What Now For St Anselm Corpus Christi?

Clearly Houston has made some deft personnel moves in recent weeks with the transfer of Fr Lewis to OLA, moving Fr Vieira to Holy Nativity Payson, and replacing Fr Lewis at St Luke's with Fr Vidal. But this leaves the question of what will happen at Fr Vidal's about-to-be former group in Corpus Christi. My regular correspondent comments,

What will be the fate of this community, I wonder? It came into the Anglican Use of the Pastoral Provision in 1992 under the leadership of Fr Gene Hart, as you can read in two links. Fr Hart passed away in June 2013 and Fr Vidal took over as administrator of the group, which in 2015 transferred to the OCSP. Under his leadership they began worshipping at Our Lady of Guadalupe [in the Naval Air Station Corpus Christi], an arrangement whose disadvantages seem obvious, but as you see from the last comment here it was not necessarily a going concern even before.

Will it get a new location and a new parochial administrator when Fr Vidal leaves in October, or disappear like St Gilbert, Boerne/Ingram once it is no longer needed as a titular appointment for someone whom someone wishes to have ordained?

The other thing that strikes me is that Frs Lewis, Vieira, and Vidal come from earlier cohorts of OCSP ordinands (or transferees). They strike me as very solid men, in stark contrast to the most recent cohort scheduled for 2018 (leaving the seminarians aside from this characterization). It's worth noting that Fr Lewis moves to a prosperous parish that can assure him a stipend, Fr Vieira can rely on an Army pension, and I assume Fr Vidal has some assurance of financial stability while he's at St Luke's.

The 2018 cohort suggests that without some financial incentive, the quality of the candidate pool drops off severely. But the number of OCSP parishes that can pay a priest is not growing.

Fr Joseph Vieira Moves To Holy Nativity Payson

Fr Joseph Vieira is an OCSP priest who was ordained while an Army chaplain in 2013. He had previously been an Episcopal priest and had served as a chaplain since 1995. Most recently he was a chaplain at Arizona's Fort Huachuca. This past Sunday it was announced that Fr Vieira will be replacing Fr Lowell Andrews at Holy Nativity Payson, AZ; it appears that Fr Andrews is retiring as pastor. This suggests Fr Vieira is retiring from the Army. (While both Payson and Fort Huachuca are in Arizona, they are by no means close by.)

While Holy Nativity owns its property, it is not a full OCSP parish. Fr Vieira will presumably be supporting himself mainly on an Army pension. We thank him for his service and wish him the best in his new post.

Post Hoc Propter Hoc?

In the wake of insistences that yesterday's post on the lack of mention of Fr Phillips's retirement on the OLA web sites was a big nothing-new, OLA suddenly issued at last two announcements later the same day, one here, and one in the Atonement Academy newsletter. NOTE: Address corrected.

Post hoc propter hoc! Get it???

San Antonio Puzzle

A visitor points out that, despite Saturday's e-mail from the parish announcing Fr Lewis's appointment as pastor and Fr Phillips's retirement, as well as Sunday's distribution of Bp Lopes's letter announcing the same, there has been no change to the staff page of the OLA website. He notes there has also been no mention of the change on Fr Phillips's blog or Facebook page, which continues daily posts as though nothing had changed.

The parish staff page still lists Fr Phillips's photo at the top as "Rector Emeritus". Fr Perkins's photo is at the bottom as "Interim Administrator". Following normal protocol, one would expect by now -- the announcements last weekend say Fr Lewis's appointment is immediate -- Fr Lewis's photo to be at the top, with Fr Phillips's to move to the bottom. Be interesting to see how long this takes.

I've had a good many messages regarding the transfer of OLA to the OCSP and Abp Garcia-Siller's apparent reluctance to countenance this saying, "It's all about the money." But I keep getting a sense of resistance to the transfer from OLA itself, and disappointment on the part of the OCSP regarding enrollment from former Anglicans. It's not hard to extrapolate that the disappointment could cover financial issues as well -- if there was an expectation that bringing OLA into the OCSP would change the overall picture, this may not wind up being the case.

We'll have to see what develops. Meanwhile, it doesn't seem like Fr Phillips is acting as though there has been any change.

UPDATE: A visitor notes,

As is normal in dioceses, pastoral appointments are announced in the parishes (and often, though not always, posted on the diocesan website) before they take effect. The letter to Our Lady of the Atonement parish states that the appointment is effective July 1 and "With this appointment, the Rev. Christopher Phillips will be retired." Although retired I would suspect that Father Phillips will continue to take the bulk of the liturgies until Father Mark Lewis moves in August. Do not expect a change to the website before then and there is nothing unusual about it.

My regular correspondent suggests,

Everyone, regardless of background:---former Anglican, cradle Catholic, or Other---who was a parishioner of OLA at the time it entered the Ordinariate is eligible to become a member of the OCSP. So I do not believe we know that the apparent foot-dragging about signing up is on the part of any particular group. I would guess it's on the part of lifelong Catholics, or those who became Catholic from some other Protestant background. If they wish in the future to attend a diocesan parish---and should they move away from San Antonio they will have little other choice outside a few locations---they would face some (minor) restrictions as Ordinariate members. But maybe it's just a cross-section of people who like the parish but don't feel any identification with the wider project.

Regarding the parish website, as a constant troller I assure you that an up-to-date one is the exception, not the rule, regardless of jurisdiction. That is why I always try to look at a Sunday bulletin to ascertain who is on the staff or what the mass schedule is.

I'm inclined to see lack of identification with the wider project as a good explanation. Another issue, though, would be how many members the parish actually has. I would not rule out exaggeration in prior estimates.

"Do Anglicans Receive Communion Kneeling At The Communion Rail?"

The moderator of our Bible study asked us this last night, knowing of our background. He was, it turns out, exploring the idea of working with the parish priests to re-introduce the practice -- for whatever reason, the communion rail still exists at our parish. I pointed out that even mainstream-traditional priests like Fr John Riccardo find it impossible to implement simply due to traffic. He replied that it might be practical at times like the 6:30 AM Sunday mass. He then explored questions like how the Anglicans handle handicapped people or those for whom kneeling is difficult. This was clearly a serious discussion.

It's worth pointing out, of course, that the practice of kneeling to receive the Sacrament well predates the Church of England, and the gentleman was not asking how the Anglicans do things with any intention of becoming more Anglican. He was using Anglican practical experience to explore how one might go about re-introducing a traditional Christian practice. (I also added that Anglicans use cushions at the communion rail.) But this brings me to an unanswered question touching on Anglicanorum coetibus: to what extent are ordinariate parishes catering to cradle Catholics who for whatever reason find them more convenient or attractive than diocesan parishes?

I don't mean to ask this in order to prompt any sort of optimism. But my regular correspondent made an interesting point in response to a visitor's account of attendance at the Victoria, BC OCSP parish. The visitor said, "The Ordinariate Masses in Victoria normally have about 15-20 people for a daily Mass and two-three times that number on Sundays." My regular correspondent noted, "BlJHN [Victoria] holds its Sunday mass at a parish whose only other Sunday mass is in Portuguese (there is a Saturday vigil mass in English). I am sure there are those nearby who take advantage of the availability of a Sunday morning mass in English even if they have no connection with Anglicanism." Although Victoria, BC is also a special case with regard to English heritage.

I've been hearing comments from visitors to the effect that the number of former Anglicans at Our Lady of the Atonement has been exaggerated, which is a possible reason for disappointing enrollments into the OCSP there -- some number of cradle Catholics attend OCSP masses due to convenience (e.g., English at a good time, close by) or due simply to to a reverent atmosphere (Dan Schutte songs not to be heard), and this could be a factor in attendance not just at OLA but elsewhere.

Our parish uses what appears to be a version of the OCP Glory & Praise hard cover hymnal. Ralph Vaughan Williams, Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, and John Mason Neale are all names frequently encountered, but there's no specific effort to seem "Anglican". The parish has many Latino and Filipino members. On the other hand, it isn't obnoxiously Traditionalist. One might say that the Church in the US could learn something from the OCSP, except that Bp Lopes so far has no particular success to point to with his colleagues, and some element of the OCSP's small uptake is almost certainly due to a general preference emerging in the Catholic mainstream for better catechesis and more reverent worship.

Bp Lopes Letter To Our Lady Of The Atonement

A visitor has forwarded a copy of Bp Lopes's letter to the Our Lady of the Atonement parish:

It's hard to avoid a few inferences. Last week's e-mail to the parish said, "Fr. Phillips is our pastor emeritus and enters that state called 'retirement.'” Bp Lopes's letter reiterates, "With this appointment, The Rev Christoper Phillips will be retired." It would appear the man is retired indeed, finito, fini, schluss. He has been replaced by what we must conclude is the most trustworthy man in the OCSP aside from Fr Perkins, the only remaining vicar forane with Fr Kenyon's departure.

This change has been accelerated beyond the initial announcement that it would take place in 2018. A visitor told me that as of May 16, the date of Bp Lopes's letter, Bp Lopes was on site at OLA, and an audit of the parish was under way. Certainly it seems as though the outcome for Fr Phillips has been visually hard to distinguish from what it would have been under Abp Garcia-Siller.

I'm told Fr Lewis's replacement at St Luke's Washington will be Fr John Vidal, formerly of Mt Calvary, latterly civilian chaplain of NAS Corpus Christi, TX and the St Anselm's Ordinariate group.