Parishioners
of Our Lady of the Atonement (OLA) Catholic Church in San Antonio,
Texas are claiming Abp. Gustavo García-Siller is removing Fr.
Christopher Phillips in order to repurpose the parish, which has a solid
reputation for orthodoxy and reverent liturgy.
Siller distributed a letter to parishioners
on January 19 stating, "I have asked your pastor ... to dedicate some
time to reflect on some specific concerns that I have shared with him."
It continues, "These specific concerns relate to
expressions in the life of the parish that indicate an identity separate
from, rather than simply unique, among the parishes of the
archdiocese."
He
adds, "During this time of reflection and prayer, Fr. Phillips will not
have the responsibility of pastoral care or authority in the parish."
Parishioners are responding in shock and sadness. Charles Wilson, OLA parishioner and chairman of the St. Joseph Foundation, calls Siller's decision "illegal and abusive."
"He gives the impression that we are simply in a period of
'reflection and prayer,'" Wilson commented. "I can tell you with
certainty that this is not true. Instead, the archbishop has initiated
the canonical process to remove Fr. Phillips as our pastor."
He concludes, "If he succeeds, you can expect that Our Lady
of the Atonement will become a territorial parish with perhaps one
Anglican Use liturgy per week. All that we have sacrificed for will be
lost."
An inside source close to the situation told Church
Militant, "Many within the OLA are saying this is a land grab. The
archbishop has the legal right to keep the property, of course, but for
five years now the presumption has been that OLA would eventually become
part of the Ordinariate."
"Promises and assurances were made to OLA about the
Ordinariate," he said. "They were just broken. The archbishop will keep
the property and those who want to join the ordinariate can just move
on."
In December 2009, Pope Benedict XVI established
a personal ordinariate for former Anglicans, basically giving them
their own diocese. The Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter
(the Ordinariate) was erected in Houston, Texas, in 2012 and
incorporates 45 parishes in the United States and Canada.
Although
OLA was the first Anglican Use parish in the United States, it has not
yet been incorporated into the Ordinariate, and some in the parish
believe the archdiocese doesn't want that to happen.
Wilson noted the Ordinariate "was erected with Our
Lady of the Atonement in mind. The Ordinariate wants us to become a
parish, and we want to join just as diocesan parishes in Houston, Fort
Worth, Scranton, Omaha and elsewhere have done."
He continued, "In fact, it was Fr. Phillips' petition
to do just that that prompted the archbishop's illegal and abusive
action."
Father Phillips and OLA are important to the history of the development of the Anglican Ordinariate in the United States.
In
1980, Pope St. John Paul II issued a pastoral provision allowing the
ordination of married Anglican Protestant clergy who wish to convert to
the Catholic faith. It further directed that provisional parishes — also
called Anglican Use parishes — be established to allow Anglican
converts to keep many aspects of their Anglican heritage, liturgy and
traditions.
Phillips,
originally living in Rhode Island, was a married man and considered a
priest in the Episcopalian Protestant community. After study, he desired
to convert to the Catholic Church.
He contacted Bp. Louis Gelineau of
the diocese of Providence, but Gelineau refused to ordain and establish
Phillips in the diocese because of an agreement between the Catholic and
Episcopal bishops of Providence, promising they wouldn't seek converts
from each others clergy.
In
1983, he was invited to a community of Episcopalian converts in San
Antonio, where he was ordained a priest by Abp. Patrick Flores and made
pastor of Our Lady of the Atonement — the first Anglican Use parish in
the United States.
Since 1983, OLA has grown to be a successful Catholic parish, with Abp. Siller enthusing:
Your community has become a parish that draws many Catholics with a desire for clarity of doctrine and traditional liturgical expression. I have known your parish, in my many pastoral visits, to be a place of contemplation and reverence, a place of beauty in architecture, decor and expression, a place of doctrinal clarity, and a place of close-knit community.
Atonement
Academy, the pre-K–12 school attached to OLA and started by Fr.
Philips, currently enrolls more than 500 students. Philips noted in a
2011 interview that students attend Mass daily and must participate in the school's choral music program.
One of the main apostolates for the church is education. Is not just about teaching them arithmetic; it's about forming them as Catholics, and that includes a high standard of intellectual formation, teaching all the stuff they need to learn as far as math and science, too. But all within the context of the completeness of their faith! How can you educate a child without referring to God and what God has done in our lives? You're only forming half the child.
Wilson
notes in his letter, "The threat faced by our parish is extremely
grave, but I cannot believe that Our Lady would have nourished and
protected us all those years just to abandon us now. After all, this is
Christ's Church and in the end he will be victorious, no matter how grim
things may appear in the immediate future."
The
case is now making its way to the Vatican, and Wilson is telling
people, "[P]ray like we have never prayed before for a speedy and
favorable outcome."