St Mary’s Hollywood: The Cold Case File
November 9, 2012 50 Comments
St Mary’s Hollywood: The Cold Case File Blog
is a blog run by a certain curmudgeon who frequented our blog until I had to ask him to leave simply for being rude and posting the most uncharitable of comments. I feel compelled to point out his hypocrisy too. This was a comment he placed over here shortly before leaving:
Well, as Fr Wheeler pointed out above, things have certainly turned nasty here. The question I have is really why Fr Smuts fosters this sort of thing — there was no new news in it, since the court order was issued weeks previously. So with nothing new, Fr Smuts decides to stir up some…
Fr Smuts, frankly, I think what you’re doing here, creating the conditions for a foodfight, is a disgrace…
So what does he do? Gets banned and goes out and opens his own little blog with the sole purpose of starting ‘a foodfight,’ only, he’s the one throwing all the ‘food’ around by publicly attacking, slandering and maligning his ecclesiastical opponents. Pure argumentum ad hominem, and the first pair to bear the brunt of his wrath are Bishop Strawn and Canon Anthony Morello.
Come to think of it, I’d better watch out too, for who knows, I may be next? Mercifully I have nothing to do with St Mary’s, Hollywood, or the USA for that matter, and the best he could come up with (previously) was a pathetically infantile attempt at sarcastically insulting my name and saying that I stay in some ‘cultural backwater.’ Shame. But do feel free to Google all you will Sir (cf. Prov 16:27), you’ll find nothing… I’m sorry to disappoint but there just ain’t any skeletons in this closet. Far better bloggers than you have snuffled around and still, they come back empty-handed.
Honestly, you know, if this is the basis for starting a blog, then the only place it will go is the way of all the other blogs that so fill themselves with venom, slander and unruliness, and that is: Nowhere. Cyber-oblivion awaits…
UPDATE: It continues with: I’m Unable to Locate a Bio for Bishop Straw.
About Fr Stephen Smuts
Perhaps his method is not of a gentleman, but I have to agree that Bishop Strawn’s attitude was shameful: he prevented a congregation that had voted at more than 80% to enter the ordinariate to do so, only because the property is worth a lot of money and he wanted to keep it, even with no parishioners. As I said earlier, absolutely no difference with TEC in this sad affair… Father, I know you highly respect hierarchy, and you deserve to be praised for this, but really, Bishop Strawn is indefensible, he gave himself the stick to be beaten with.
And if it was only this… About half of his diocese’s congregation either closed or changed denomination sin the 2 years subsequent to his enthronement.
+ PAX et BONUM
I like John Bruce and the fact that he is controversial wherever he goes (Anglo-Catholic blogs, Model Railroad blogs, Literary Fiction blogs) only makes it more interesting. It seems that he is genuinely thinking, and I would like to see where it goes.
The only problem I have is that his new blog, just like his last, has Comments turned off. So it’s not a place for discussion or community but only a place to read what he’s got to say.
Monologue… speaking alone. One cannot even preach alone, if he is really “preaching”! But sadly there are many monologue blogs, and even preachers!
But, see, if there’s no preaching, or dialogue, then we sort of get a purer understanding of what the man is trying to say. Goodness knows how we usually edit ourselves knowing that anyone can contradict (whether rightly or wrongly) or criticize what we say so we end up reading commentators’ posts rather the actual post: Also, we can get a more complete thought of what the man has to say, rather than having to spend too much time in addressing people who take issue to what he said (It easily becomes a “he-said-she-said” situation.) and then there are thread derailments that frequently occur as in forums. They are distracting.
Yes, it will be interesting to read what he has to say. But then… who is to say that he won’t erase the blog in a week or a month or a year? He’s done that before. And in the past, when his controversial writings attracted the attention of others, he tended to erase everything and disappear instead of engage (or even let his writings sit there online).
People in the Ordinariate are sort of like Traditional Catholics in a way: ignored, despised, abused, forgotten. Will be interesting to see how this all plays out.
Fr. Smuts, I’ve gotten to know John Bruce a bit, and I must say that I don’t agree with your characterization of him or the intent of his new weblog. I am sympathetic with Don Henri’s comment above. Mr. Bruce has been at the epicenter of this little ecclesiastical earthquake that has happened in Los Angeles. He is an objective, professional writer who is after the truth in a case where the liars have gotten the upper hand for the moment. You would be appalled at the tricks that they have played to wrest control of St. Mary’s from the hands of her rightful officers. Mr. Bruce doesn’t tend to mince words, but underdogs have to fight that much harder when the chips are down. In my opinion, John Bruce is an investigative journalist with his sleeves rolled up.
Now see Fr, you are clearly just as passionate as he, but you have never been rude. Nor did you come and insult me (in my ‘house’). All your comments have appeared and your arguments well made. Others are free to agree or disagree and debate. Disparaging others is simply unacceptable and I don’t see how digging up dirt on others will help the situation or his cause either.
Thank you, Fr. Smuts, for the approval. I appreciate the variety of news and views of interest to Christians that you make accessible. It is quite an enormous labor of love, to be sure.
One must admit that it is not good for our souls to be embroiled in such a nasty controversy as that over the control of St. Mary’s. For my part, I am acquainted with that parish, I know some of the people, and I am good friends with Fr. Chris Kelley. St. Mary’s is much more of a treasure that can be assessed as mere material wealth. It is a magnificent shrine to the glory of God, a gem of our Anglican patrimony. More beautiful than the edifice, however, are the matchless liturgies that are … or used to be … celebrated there.
St. Mary’s has it all … or had it all …, and her people want to take those riches — intangible riches along with the tangible — into the ordinariate and share them with the wider Catholic Church for the benefit of all. Now this holy desire has been stymied by some unholy men. Mr. Bruce’s thinking and mine is that if enough people will open their eyes to see what a case of rape this is, they can do whatever is in their rightful powers, by prayer and support, to retake that which has been stolen by thieves.
By the way Fr. Lawrence, at one time Holy Cross was due to enter the ordinariate, is it still part of the plan?
In Christo
+ PAX et BONUM
Fr. Lawrence said he is a loose cannon and thus have no place in the Ordinariates because Msgr. Steenson does not like those types of people.
It’s a shame. We need more radical Catholics who are more concerned with Salvation than trying to get along. It is disheartening how many “Catholics” are in league with Satan and love the World more than God and Heaven.
Alas, I’m starting to understand why some people are saying “Thanks, but no thanks.”
Btw Ioannes, that is almost a radical Protestant idea … “We need more radical Catholics who are more concerned with Salvation than trying to get along.” I love it!
In reply to Don Henri, let me say this regarding Holy Cross, Honolulu’s petition to be received into the ordinariate. We made that appeal more than two years ago, but we have heard absolutely nothing from the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith or the ordinariate.
Likewise, at that same time I myself submitted my application to be re-ordained in the Catholic Church via the ordinariate, but as of this date I have heard absolutely nothing from either party, CDF or ordinariate regarding the yea or nay of a nulla osta. Does that answer your question sufficiently?
I’ll be praying for you and your community, Fr. Lawrence! Please don’t think that we wouldn’t love to have you with us! (Even if certain…. ugh…. “ecumenicalist” clergy…. are opposed to it.)
Unlike the SSPX, you guys are okay.
To Fr. Lawrence: It seems that the ordinariate office has failed to keep track of the documentation that was mailed early, when only Mgr. Steenson and a OLW parish secretary already overloaded with work were in charge. I pray for you and hope that if you try to contact them again, now that there is a sufficient number of people in charge, you’ll get a positive answer.
+ PAX et BONUM
I have always been given to understand that the temporalities of any parish never vest in the Diocese, but rather remain the property of the parish, as provided for in the Affirmation of St. Louis.
Please help me out here, how is it then possible for Bishop Strawn to “lay claim to the property” or is this only the perception created by some?
Is is not for the parishioners to discuss the pro-rata division of the assets between those who wish to enter the Ordinariate and those who will not/can not or are undecided?
Dear “……into the fire”: You are right. At least as far as the property of the parishes and missions of the ACA are concerned, the temporalities remain the property of the local congregation, i.e., the parish or mission itself.
Since Strawn knows the canons, he knows that he cannot lay claim to St. Mary’s by fiat, so his plan is to lay claim to them by stealth. In this case, Strawn has deposed the rightful rector and CEO of St. Mary’s, Fr. Kelley and replaced him with Fr. Morello; he has excommunicated certain objectionable members of the elected vestry and replaced them with conveniently-appointed members. In this clever way, he has attempted to usurp authority over the parish by proxy.
The parish is not to be divided pro-rata. Indeed, it cannot be divided, as most of the value of St. Mary’s is in the real estate itself, which cannot be evaluated unless it is sold. Once it is sold and cashed out, it is of no use to the parish for worship, is it? All of the parish is under the control of the majority of the parish; none of it is under the control of the minority. Unless the decision is deferred to a plenary meeting of the parish, the duly-elected vestry exercise power over the temporalities of the parish. That is the way that it works in the ACA.
Meetings of the vestry and of the parish are chaired by the rector. That is why Strawn has been keen to remove Fr. Kelley and the true vestry, and replace them with a more cooperative priest-in-charge and more convenient members. God forbid the parish of St. Mary’s should transfer everything from the ACA’s control to the ordinariate! That is the real issue here.
If one reads over Mr. Bruce’s comments, one can see he was and is often very confused and angry. But, I do wish him well, but attacking something really must always be done more theologically and of course biblically. Always the lack it seems in most forms of Anglo-Catholicism, at least in my opinion! But of course I am no longer there, myself.
“Take no part in the unfruitful works of darkness, but instead expose them.” Ephesians 5:11
Again, to my mind the more real interior life of Christ is always much more deep within, and not really affected by this press of the visible life. Yes, we are in that tension of the ‘Already but not Yet’, but as St. Paul said: “If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above [out of sight], where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is our life appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.” (Col. 3: 1-4)
I think here btw, of Tertullian’s idea of the great Antiteses in God!
A request has been sent by the powers that be that I “provide some context and explanation for your having made this post”, referring to my comments above.
Let me make one thing clear. Over the last two years, I have been in periodic contact via electronic mail with the Ordinary, Msgr. Steenson and his Vicar General Fr. Hurd . They have been responsive and courteous to me. I do not fault them for that. If my comment gave the impression that they have shunned me, I must apologize here for a comment that I made here.
Nevertheless, the fact still remains that my mission, such as it now is, has not been received into the ordinariate. Nor have I received any response from the CDF as to whether they are inclined to grant me a nulla osta or not. Since a nulla osta (nihil obstat) is a necessary, preliminary step toward ordination, my question for them is, “How long am I supposed to wait?”
I’ve been following your posts with interest, Father. I think you put forward a cogent point of view somewhat more charitably and courteously than some other posters who share it.
Have you asked Mgr Steenson or Fr Hurd to ascertain the current status of your application? It sounds to me very much as if it has been mislaid.
Thanks for the kind words, Stephen.
Fr. Hurd has assured me that he has my application and dossier, and that a decision does need to be made in my case. There must be several others who are waiting, as well. Less than a year has transpired since the erection of the stateside ordinariate and it is likely that the administration still feels overwhelmed by the paperwork. After all, the rush of clergymen and congregations to join the ordinariate this inaugural year may have appeared to be something like a stampede of shoppers on the first day of a big Christmas (excuse me, “holiday”) sale. So, I am willing to give them the benefit for now.
Ah, that puts a different gloss on things. I don’t envy the CSP office in there Herculean labours, but it does sound like their formal lines of communication are letting them down.
My nephew supplies and supports call management and voice menu systems. I’m sure he could supply them with a phone system for you to call up, enter your pin, and have a soothing electronic voice tell you “Your dossier is important to us. Please continue to hold. You are number… THIRTY… EIGHT… in the queue.”
No? No.
Oh, according to his report to the USCCB, Msgr. Steenson and his office are overwhelmed with the amount of applications, while having to support themselves with teaching jobs, etc. I’m not sure if that’s a valid excuse, but it may explain why things take so long to go through. I wish they’d get some volunteers that can help them. (Apparently, two of the three employees of Msgr. Steenson’s office aren’t paid.)
Also, apparent from that same report, Msgr. Steenson, former Episcopal Church bishop, stated that his integration into the Catholic Church as a priest took 2 years, which to him was “speed of light” fast. So I’d expect a longer wait.
Ioannes, thanks for your recent comments with information and encouragement. I’m curious. How long would you wait, if you were in my shoes?
If I were in your shoes? I’ll wait until I die. If I believe in an afterlife, I know I will be vindicated. Be an arrow and go straight, across the difficult and narrow.
Something tells me that my arrow has already struck the rock of St. Peter.
Farther, certainly there is no guarantee and both outcomes of your application are possible, but I think that approaching Fr Hurd by another email inquiring about your current status would clear much doubt. He has been reported by some Anglican priests as typically responding quite quickly to any messages sent to him.
Fr. Hurd is indeed very conscientious about responding to e-mail messages. I have no complaint in that regard. Frankly, I think that he is caught between the proverbial rock and the hard place, since he may want to take action on this matter, but has to wait for the oracle to speak first. (I think I have just mixed my metaphors, but you get my drift.)
Now, if the possibility occurs that you are denied entrance in the Ordinariate, what will you do? Would it be business as usual and stay where you are, or would you be prepared to leave everything behind and do anything possible to be in communion with the successor of St. Peter?
Here is the dilemma: if the main objective is to be in communion with the Pope, then why would acceptance into the Ordinariates matter? Why would keeping one’s clerical status matter? I suppose this is a question the “Thanks, but no thanks” crowd will ask, and I posit that the situation of St. Mary’s is a situation that transforms this question into something more than a hypothetical one. And they (At least the ACA, or whoever) lock onto Fr. Kelley as the prime target with a question similar to John Hepworth: “Why are you still wearing a collar?”
But in the case of St. Mary’s, something unjust has happened- A majority voted to join, and they are kicked out along with their priest from a property that is questionably (but legally) taken by an entity that, at the bottom line, is at odds with the Pope, his bishops, and the Catholic Church’s Magisterium. (or else this entire thing is a non-issue)
Those people who voted to join the Roman Catholic Church are now scattered, and either going into their local Roman Catholic Parishes or who knows where else. (This is not necessarily a bad thing, mind you, just stating the consequence of what has happened.)
Now, I feel that large forces beyond my comprehension and knowledge are at work, and it seems uncertain how things will turn out, but at the very least, we have our good will and prayer to do what we can to satisfy the demands of our conscience.
Another possibility would be a situation like Our Lady of the Atonement (and Fr. Christopher G. Phillips, God bless him), which from what I know is not a member of the Ordinariate, but is somehow close in relationship by being a Catholic Church which is an Anglican Use church, as set forth by an earlier Pastoral Provision.
And then there’s the unthinkable, but still possible position of becoming “unchurched” or converting to some other denomination or religion, or becoming an atheist/agnostic/etc.
Ioannes, you have backed me into a corner now, haven’t you! The questions that you raise are most apposite to my situation and that of a number of clergymen like me. As the local Catholic bishop asked me a few weeks ago, “How Catholic do you want to become?” That is the $64,000 question that will be all the more difficult to answer if the nulla osta is denied me.
The TAC bishops led us down this primrose path, so when they recoiled at the pope’s offer, I expected them to fall on their swords and accept union with the Catholic Church, even if they had no hope for (re)ordination. Soon it may be my own turn to decide how much of my Anglicanism I am willing to relinquish at the west door to the Catholic Church.
I must assume from your apparent single-mindedness that you yourself have always been a convinced Latin Rite Catholic. It may be difficult for you to understand how difficult an emotional challenge this bid for unity is for some high-church Anglicans. I cannot fault you for that, of course. Your comment above demonstrates a keen level of perception, at least as far as the rational aspect of the issue is concerned. I have to thank you for helping me think this matter through. Now, please pray for me that my heart be willing to follow my head. There are others who are wrestling with these issues who need our prayers, too.
Dear Father: All my prayers are with you and your community. I’m perhaps not as good as thinking as Ioannes, but I hope to be as “efficient” at praying!
+ PAX et BONUM
Because of the natural expression of thought in words, it’s more difficult for us to think in a foreign language than in our native language. You certainly think much better in English than I could ever hope to do in French. And, whether spoken in French or English or the tongues of angels, I appreciate your prayers. We all need to remember the many unnamed brethren who are stranded at this time of confusion.
I was Anglican in my youth, atheist in my 20′s, and RC for about 35 years, and was contemplating service as a permanent deacon. For painful reasons that I will not rehearse, my journey of faith has taken me to Orthodoxy. I think I have some small idea of what you’re going through, although I imagine that for a priest the turbulence and distress are magnified a hundredfold. You and all those who are in the same situation have my poor prayers.
To Stephen M: ‘”I was” “I will not” “My journey” “taken me”…
Faith is not about oneself but about God. It is not about where we feel comfortable (“oh my God the liturgy is so awful and the people so mean I need to find another church”), but about where does God wants us, and where is the One True Church.
Think a bit about Mary McKillop.
+ PAX et BONUM
Don Henri,
You know nothing about my experience, and I’m not going to repeat it here. Suffice it to say that it was not about liturgical expression, and that I’m equally content with the Usus Antiquor and the Folk Mass.
Should it come to pass that I find myself without a spiritual father, I will be sure to look you up.
Stephen M, As a fellow convert to Orthodoxy, your faith journey is likely similar to many others. I thank God every day for the stability, peace, comfort, and vitality I encounter. I have never had to worry about the future or how I’ll fit in. I knew I was home. Having watched one ACA/TAC parish seriously consider, but reject, the Ordinariate, it was a most trying time for them. They seem to be doing nicely now, though I suspect there are some wounds that will heal over time. All we can do is pray for these and all other such parishes and groups that they act in a truly Christian manner towards each other and any faith group they interact with.
Michael,
My journey is unique, just like everyone else’s, and I am not qualified to comment. I would hope that not everyone has experienced a similar journey to mine, although I know that some have had it much, much worse. I wouldn’t call it “home”, at least not yet. It is, however, a life-raft. I cling to it and pray.
If my distress were yours magnified a hundredfold, then I would not be able to tolerate it. By the grace of God, there comes a point when one, whether cleric or layman, just has to find and apply some methods of coping. In the last six months, I have applied more fervent prayer to three other mechanisms, all very personal. These have helped me to right my vessel, as it were, so that I can get her back underway again. I am even starting to make out a channel marker or two. Thanks for helping me in prayer toward a safe harbor.
Farther, be sure of the Rosary from almost exactly the opposite side of the globe to Hawaii.
Thanks, Conti. It is still Thursday in Hawai`i, the day that we meditate on the luminous mysteries of Christ’s three-year ministry. Pray that I and all priests consider our priesthood to be His to use, not ours to grasp.
Fr. Wheeler, as someone singularly lacking in the virtue of Patience, I cannot counsel that to you, but I assure you of my prayers — and I will add, that I, too, have heard that the Ordinariate staff, such as it is, is swamped by these matters.
I recall, also, the old adage “Rome was not built in a day,” and the statement of one of Philip II of Spain’s ambassadors in the 1570s, frustrated by the lack of response to an urgent piece of correspondence, “If death came from Spain we should all live to great old ages.” The same would seem to apply to Rome today.
Dr. Tighe, it’s always an honor. If only my life had any prospect of being as long as the eternal city’s! But, then again, if death comes from the Vatican, I may live to be a hundred.
Mind you, Fr. Lawrence, I ask the question because I believe it is difficult, and it is better to face difficulty and struggle now, than to put if off and have much regret later.
There’s no such thing as Easy Christianity.
As a side note, this is why I LOVE the Ordinariate and its members. They willingly embrace the fact that they are new, and a minority in the Catholic Church. They don’t even have church buildings, or funding- they may even be hated by one group or another.
It is as if they are performing an act of Devotio with their entrance into the Ordinariate.
In ancient Rome, the “Devotio” was an extreme form of “votum” (an offering in fulfillment of an advance promise) in which a Roman general vowed to sacrifice his own life in battle along with the enemy to the gods in exchange for a victory.
Of course, for these good people coming from Anglicanism, it would be inaccurate or even offensive to call their act a “Devotio” but it’s just a metaphor on my part.
I believe that many people in the Church are undergoing hard times now, but it’s all worth it, and they believe it’s all worth it, and that makes them admirable.
Marry in haste, repent at leisure?
Fr. Wheeler, my attention has been drawn to the interventions at the recent USCCB meeting of Bishop Hartmayer of Savannah, Georgia, concerning Anglican Ordinariate matters, and particularly “ordination matters,” and the subsequent choice of the retired Ukrainian Catholic Bishop of Stamford, Connecticut, Basil Losten, to “help” with some of these matters. Bp. Losten, in his quiet way, is a great friend of former Anglican clergy who have encountered “roadblocks” on their way towards ordination in the Catholic Church. So, speriamo bene.
Not so much “Marry in haste, repent at leisure” but “Repent now, get Married forever.”
That is to say, let us not pretend there will be no difficulties or imperfections or other issues, so that one day we will not say “Oh, if only I had known!” But rather to say “I know, but I accept.”
Father, there was a time when I hated the Catholic Church, religion, and God, and maybe everyone around me. Because it was difficult to do otherwise, because it demanded so much from me, because I felt that it wasn’t really necessary to be attached to those things or practice what they recommended anyway. I hated these things because I wanted to do what I wanted to do. But other than that, I felt somehow betrayed by how insufficient they were in many other ways, at least with how I saw the world then.
I can’t exactly say how or when, but something changed. Maybe it’s the realization that no matter how proudly we say we accomplished something, what we do and can do are not enough and will never be enough- that a person is limited in one way or another, and ultimately, death is the final reality on this earth. Then, what? What would have been the point of living, if in the end, all the things we’ve experience and achieved would be forgotten and be made into nothing once our brains stopped functioning, and our bodies become food for worms? This has led to a profound self-hatred as well, as I could not be as great as I believed, and resentment for those who are better and are happy.
Maybe, it was realizing that the Person I spent time ignoring or ridiculing as nothing more than a fairytale, this Jesus Christ, was real, and so His sufferings were real. Even now, maybe, I’ve focused more on His teachings and suffering and death than in His Resurrection, though I accept it all happened. Why? Because those two things I have experienced in my life, or observed them. And then, the leap of faith in believing His Resurrection- if there is no direct evidence, it is enough for me to accept that it was true enough that people are willing to die for this Truth. These people who were willing to die on horrible ways espoused a world view that was contrary to how I saw the world. But I started to be sympathetic with it because i started to realize the existence of people who have tolerated my own troublesome behavior and have done nothing but work for my happiness at their own expense.
For a time, it all still made no sense, until seeing the larger picture, in seeing things beyond myself and my troubles, in reading and listening the wisdom taught by holy men and women throughout history, in undergoing the difficult struggles of faith and intellect and will. Then, I finally understood why this Person is central, why His Church is important, why God exists, and why God loves us and will continue to love us, even if He has to get back to the Cross until the end of time, no matter how disgusting and horrible and murderous we get, and I have to find a way to unite myself with Him as much as possible, because I was baptized a Catholic, and that is who I am after all, and I rejected these things like a traitor. If I hated traitors, then I would myself strive to not be one. If I hated injustice and oppression in the world, why would I turn away from the most just and most merciful person I know?
I know that I am still a sinner, but if I were so perfect, why would I need Jesus and His Church? The Church is a hospital for sinners, not a museum of saints; he commands us to be perfect, as God is perfect, and we cannot do it by ourselves no matter how good and perfect we think we are. So, I will devote myself at the service of the Catholic Church in any way I can, even if just in clumsily written or spoken words and small and unsure deeds, even if I fail from time to time- because I know Jesus stumbled with His own Cross more than once. I must fight this uphill battle as I carry my own cross, in following Christ until we gain our final and ultimate victory through Him, with Him, and in Him.
That is why it is important to face the difficult now, and expect no easy things so long as we live.