Sunday in the Life of an Ordinariate Priest

Writes Fr Andrew Bartus:

In keeping with the promise of updates, at least from Bl. John’s, I would like to share about a Sunday in the life of an Ordinariate priest in Southern California.

Yesterday morning, my family and I were honored to be present at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, as I was invited concelebrate a special Mass with Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, who ordained me to the diaconate. But it wasn’t just with Abp. Gomez. It was also with a priest who has become a friend, and a friend to all Anglicans seeking unity with Rome: Msgr. William Stetson. It was Father’s fiftieth anniversary of ordination, and in his homily he recollected those whom he knew and who influenced him most, particularly St. Jose Maria Escriva; lest anyone think the homily was a name-dropping session, no acolytes had to clean up the floor of business cards, I assure you! Msgr. Stetson, in his usual self-effacing manner used these men as examples of what it means to be a holy priest and a faithful Catholic and encouraged us to follow their paths in similar Eucharistic devotion. A particularly timed homily in light of today’s festivities to venerate a relic of the tilma.

After a nice brunch, we drove back down to Orange County to begin setting up for Bl. John’s Anglican Use Mass at 3:00 pm. We are graciously hosted by St. Joseph’s, Santa Ana, until – or if – that day comes when, Lord willing, we can save up enough money to purchase our own building. We just finished our fifth mass today and it gets better and better! I am truly honored to serve this group of extremely faithful, devout, committed and energetic people. Our numbers are small: our first mass on July 8 we had seventy people exactly, the second week we had fifty two, the third week we had twenty six (many people out of town), and yesterday we had about forty. As I said, I intend to be realistic about our parish journey on Anglican Patrimony – but even still, every week we consistently have new people coming to check us out, and I am pleased we do have a small confirmation class starting this month!

Mass was wonderful…

Read on here.

 

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