So What's The Market?

Yesterday I noted that one thing missing from a successful approach to reproducing results in the Anglican ecumenism movement is an understanding of the market. I think we get a hint of this in the "procurators' mandates" distributed by the Save Atonement group. These suggest that those invited to submit mandates fall into three categories: Catholics who converted, or otherwise qualify, from a loosely-defined Anglican background and are registered at OLA; cradle Catholics who attend mass and/or are registered at the parish; and parents of students at the OLA Academy.

Let's compare this list with the much more strictly defined members of St Mary of the Angels, a category subject to the most minute scrutiny during the legal controversies of the past five years. These had to have been confirmed as Anglicans, have been donors of record to the parish during the past year; have received the sacrament at Christmastide and Eastertide in the past year; and appear on the list of members prepared by the rector. Visitors have commented that of course a pile of procurators' mandates could convince ecclesiastical authorities that Fr Phillips has wide support, but I'm not clear how, and they would not count as votes in a real legal dispute. (I question whether there's a master list in existence of OLA's vaguely defined stakeholders against which anyone could match the returned mandates, for instance.)

Whatever else, I think this reflects the sloppy thinking about the Anglican market, if it even exists in any useful way. Last week I quoted an e-mail from a visitor who suggested that the enrollment of the OLA school had suffered when a charter school opened nearby, offering lower (or possibly free) tuition and paying teachers more. This reminds me of my days as an Episcopalian, when fellow parishioners sent their children to Catholic schools, even though much more prestigious Episcopal schools were closer and available, because the Catholic schools were cheaper (and in their case, 90% of the religious instruction was the same). In fact, I heard a presentation from a rabbi who was sent as a child to a Catholic school for much the same reason.

While I'm sure Catholic schools are happy to get tuition money from non-Catholics who want a better education for their children than available for free but don't want to pay too much, this isn't the best reason to give your kids a Catholic education, as I'm sure a priest will be happy to explain. But some stakeholders clearly have this in mind at OLA, and I'm not sure how it affects the opinions behind the mandates. If I were the CDF, I'd be asking questions here.

Another point in the same visitor's e-mail that I quoted is that some people simply want a reverent mass with good music and just don't care if a few Cranmerian texts have been inserted -- not being liturgists anyhow, they may not even notice, but they may simply appreciate that the chasubles aren't drab, threadbare, and dirty. What's the lesson to take away here?

How many other parishes in the Archdiocese of San Antonio offer a reverent mass with good music? My wife and I were delighted to discover the one we attend in our diocese. It doesn't hurt that the missal book contains an awful lot of Anglican hymns, but it's among those published by the Catholics in Portland, OR -- just not the cheapest. It appears that this one, which includes the Latin for the gloria, sanctus, memorial acclamation, and agnus dei on the inside back cover, is some type of standard fare that any parish can choose.

Yesterday's 12:15 Ash Wednesday mass filled the nave and the parking lot, with a holiday-level traffic jam on the way out. What's the real market -- but what's the product the Church wants to sell?