Monday, March 13, 2017

OCSP Stats

My regular correspondent reports,
Of the 46 groups on the OCSP website,
  • 3 groups are not holding services at the moment,
  • 3 groups meet once or twice a month,
  • 4 groups have a parochial administrator/celebrant who is a diocesan priest,
  • 2 groups have a lay parochial administrator (OCSP clergy celebrate mass but do not lead community),
  • 17 groups have a parochial administrator/pastor who is over secular retirement age,
  • 20 groups have fewer than 20 members (of the group, including those not eligible for OCSP membership).
The Pasadena Ordinariate Group has not made it onto the website, although it is apparently holding a weekly Sunday mass now, celebrated by Fr Bartus and others. Fr Bergman also celebrates DW twice a month at Sacred Heart of Jesus, Bath PA.
This tends to support my correspondent's long-held view that within a fairly short time, the OCSP will shrink to roughly 10 parishes that are sustainable. Whether one of these is OLA doesn't make much difference; that parish also has a suspended pastor over secular retirement age and is divided by controversy. I question whether any fresh-faced, or maybe not so fresh-faced, OCSP priest could provide effective leadership to that parish.