I received this as a circular e-mail from Dr William Tighe, and have no reason to believe it is confidential:

I am sad and sick at heart about these matters:

• http://www.theanglocatholic.com/2012/07/more-ordinariate-disappointment/#comment-69015
• http://www.theanglocatholic.com/2012/07/archbishop-falk-will-not-be-joining-ordinariate/

and angry, too, if truth be told.  I know something about the background to all this, and I have some opinions about it all (no surprise to those who know me!), but all I will say is that I know something about Abp. Falk’s committment over the years to entering Catholic communion, and with what coldness and unresponsiveness he has met with in return.

On reading this, I went to Fr Smuts’ blog, and found he had weighed in with Archbishop Louis Falk, Unity, Accountability and the Blogs. If I believe what I read, you are driving a car on a road and find an obstacle – and still you should continue at top speed and disregard the obstacle because the road “thinks in centuries”. Obviously, whatever form the obstacle has taken, Archbishop Falk is a careful driver!

I am not informed about the internal affairs of the American Ordinariate and am not inclined to cast any judgement on Monsignor Steenson. I have had a little informal correspondence with him and find the good Ordinary to be kind and gentle. I have no idea about what is going on with the American Roman Catholic bishops either – but there is one thing I find incredible – the rubbish I read on the blogs from “conservative” Catholics and even “ordinariate wannabe” Anglicans. I am not unsympathetic to the comment by Christian Campbell on his own blog, even though I have issues with Roman Catholic traditionalism. The reasons given by neo-conservative “apologists” about why everything going on is positively God’s will are as asinine as lacking in common sense.

And so, holiday time has arrived. My wife and I are finishing our packing today and getting ready to go to the bay of the Ile d’Oléron on the Atlantic coast of France. Naturally, I am taking the boat and the necessaries to say Mass and pray the Office. We have a laptop computer and the camp site has wi-fi – I’ll probably have a look from time to time, but I imagine I will care less than I do now. I think sailing round the bay, practising my navigation and visiting Romanesque churches will take priority!

We all need a change of perspective. I have fears that the only future of the TAC is in India and South Africa – and perhaps in Torres Strait too. I seem to have run out of church like a car runs out of fuel. Let the holidays take their course, and I’ll let the year run to the end. Whatever happens, life has to go on.

* * *

Update: exchange of comments on Fr Smuts’ blog.

I was a little “put out” by Fr Smuts apparently implying that Archbishop Falk was involved in some kind of underhand deception game, and I don’t believe he is. This exchange of comments refers to the posting linked to above.

Fr Anthony Chadwick says:
July 28, 2012 at 08:49

And he doesn’t even have the mettle to stand up and say so. ????

I don’t think the good Archbishop is a coward. Perhaps he has clearly expressed his reasons but not on the Internet. Perhaps he is not ready to go public because he is unsure of which Church he belongs to. Are there going to be two ACAs – one in communion with India and the other comprising himself, Bishop Campese and Bishop Moyer?

I find this article excessive in its tone and unhelpful. Be careful who you trash, Father, because you might end up sawing off the very branch you’re sitting on. I don’t want to be nasty or ad hominem – I am just ill at ease with your tone when you write in this way. You are thousands of miles from the nearest Ordinariate, and there will never be one in South Africa. I just ask you to be a little kinder, and then we might begin to understand things as they might be.

I’m not American either, and I don’t go in there like a bull in a china shop, because I only have second-hand and partial information. Be careful if you want to keep your integrity as a TAC priest.
Reply
Fr Stephen Smuts says:
July 28, 2012 at 09:11

More transparency, honesty, and taking ownership is needed, generally. Blame the blogs if you will, when the call is for transparency. You tell me Fr, where does ++Falk fit in? We should know. People ask questions and the laity are far from ignorant.

Yes, I’m frequently reminded that things in the US concern me not. Fair enough. I am a TAC Priest, following my Bishop, working hard running a vibrant and growing parish. Pastoral work and the cause of the Gospel keep me very busy here in Africa. And then I’m confronted by honest inquirers and have not answers simply because people will not stand up and live in unity and truth? I could shut this blog down today, and bury my head in the sand like an ostrich, and pretend like all is well, when leaders (in the US) are running their own agendas. I do not want to be party to such things.

Again, let me ask you Fr, what is the canonical standing of ++Falk, + Moyer and countless other priest and parishes in the US? And don’t say it matters not! Just yesterday someone asked me about Old/New TAC. What does one say?

Mercifully, I’m able to separate this blog from the reality of daily life and ministry. But that doesn’t mean that I’m oblivious to what is going on out there.
Reply
Fr Anthony Chadwick says:
July 28, 2012 at 11:40

Thank you, Father, for this candid reply and your pastoral concern for all of us who are left confused and disorientated by the fact that nothing seems to fit into place. There are honest inquirers, and some often write to me. I am forced to tell them that I just don’t know what’s going on – rather than speculate, diabolise and go all guns blazing for a solution that may not be all its appears to be.

In your third paragraph, you ask a very good question. They used to be part of the Patrimony of the Primate, and they now seem to be presented with a dilemma: submit to Bishops Marsh and Strawn, as they now rule the ACA roost in the USA – or enter the Ordinariate even if only as dismantled parts for recycling. They also have the option of forming a new continuing Anglican Church or joining another. Neither you or I have the right to lay down the law or dehumanise them in a trashing process. All we can tell people is that they apparently have no canonical status – and that is all there is to it.

What does one say? In every case – be as well-informed as humanly possible, don’t let the imagination run riot – and act according to conscience. I think the problem is speculation and emotionally loading your interpretation of what little information is available. You can’t be simplistic for other people and claim there are good reasons for your not closing down your parish and becoming a Roman Catholic in a parish in Cape Town.The problem of bishops and priests in America is really a problem for Americans, and not for we priests who have no first-hand information because we live elsewhere.

Your job is to be a good parish priest – as you have acknowledged it is. By all means, report what you read or learn, but try to be measured with your interpretation.