San Antonio Archdiocese removes priest from a parish of Anglican converts

By Elaine Ayala
San Antonio Express-News
January 21, 2017

http://www.expressnews.com/news/local/article/San-Antonio-Archdiocese-removes-priest-from-a-10874303.php

Father Christopher Phillips at the Atonement Academy gala on Oct. 3, 2009, at the Club at Sonterra.

In a move that surprised members of Our Lady of the Atonement parish, the Archdiocese of San Antonio replaced Father Christopher Phillips as pastor, citing “pastoral concerns” about the former Anglican priest ordained as a Catholic in the 1980s.

Several church members said they were “heartsick” about the removal and fearful of a potential shift from the parish’s traditional Anglican-styled worship services.

The archdiocese’s decision was effective Thursday. It has appointed Msgr. Frank Kurzaj as parish administrator to assume Phillips’ role. Kurzaj, most recently pastor of Sacred Heart Church in Floresville, has served in several other parishes in the archdiocese.

A few parishioners credited Phillips with increasing the flock and focusing on Scriptural study and sacred music. He also has been managing a major expansion of its school, Atonement Academy, they added.

Many of the founding members of the parish were former Episcopalians who converted to Catholicism. Phillips, the parish’s first and only pastor, was ordained by then-Archbishop Patrick Flores, who died Jan. 9.