The subpoena seems designed to harass and punish Steenson as the messenger who delivered the news to Moyer he would not receive the required votum from Archbishop Charles Chaput of the Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia. As a result, Moyer cannot proceed with the required for the Catholic priesthood. It appears that whoever has the task of delivering him bad news gets sued or whoever may have jobs gets hauled into court. Eg Bennison, the Standing Committee, Lewis and now Steenson.

First, Moyer responded with a lawsuit when he became unhappy about being told by the Diocese of Pennsylvania that he was required to follow the Canons. Second, when Moyer was unsuccessful in his first lawsuit, he responded with a lawsuit against his lawyer and friend. Presumably, he will begin a third round of lawsuits against his new lawyers should they fail to win the second lawsuit, etc. etc.

There is a triple irony in all this. Yesterday, Maundy Thursday, the Newman Fellowship which Moyer leads, returned 12 boxes of ecclesiastical refinery, prayer books and other materials removed from the Church of the Good Shepherd by him as an act of "reconciliation" with the former church Moyer led for more than two decades.

Moyer and his followers had earlier assured Good Shepherd that they had taken nothing from the church. And, it appears that some, if not all, of the returned items were delivered only after the Fellowship had arranged for its members to purchase and donate new prayer books and other items for their use. It appears that Moyer and his followers, therefore, cannot be accused of sacrificing their own convenience in order to seek "reconciliation" with the Parishioners at Good Shepherd.

And, lest anyone think that the return of the stolen items was the result of Moyer's own guilty conscience, it appears that the items were returned only after Steenson asked Moyer in a letter to return the stolen books and ecclesiastical robe. Moyer apparently believes that returning these items might help him receive the necessary votum to cross the Tiber and enter the sacred circle of the Vatican.

After all, Steenson is a fine man, a Christian and it is one of the Holiest Weeks of the Christian year. Sadly, however, any chance that these things might have helped Moyer's cause may be shattered by the fact that they were followed by Moyer's decision to serve Steenson (and me) with the Good Friday Subpoenas, an act, albeit minor, of ecclesiastical crucifixion that betrays everything about which Christianity stands.. Jesus had his Judas, Steenson has his Moyer. I have something to write about.

The subpoenas, which contain an eye-popping seven pages of instructions, definitions and document requests bear no obvious relationship to the question of whether Moyer defamed Lewis or filed a frivolous lawsuit against him several years ago. For example, it boggles the mind to think that Steenson, an individual who resided and worked outside Pennsylvania for most of the last ten years, might have documents that might bear on whether Lewis was defamed by Moyer or whether Moyer filed a frivolous lawsuit against him.

Why is Moyer trying to uncover information about Steenson? What is he looking for? Is he so aggrieved at being rejected by Steenson for the Ordinariate that he is launching an investigation into Steenson - an investigation that plainly has no relationship to Lewis's lawsuit?

The Subpoena seems designed to denigrate and insult Steenson, the former Episcopal Bishop of the Rio Grande who crossed the Tiber several years ago. This is a move Moyer has sought, but has not, nor will he ever likely obtain.

Moyer has hit the self destruct button, not unlike his leader, TAC Archbishop John Hepworth who accused three Roman Catholic priests of allegedly unwanted homosexual behavior while at the same time seeking admission to Rome via the Ordinariate.

In the end, Rome declined to offer Hepworth the Ordinariate, inviting him to be laicized instead. Hepworth declined and is now in the process of trying to rebuild his denomination after being tossed out as Archbishop and Primate by TAC's House of Bishops. Moyer has likewise been offered laicization. He appears likewise to be self-destructing.

Moyer has burned all his bridges having been cast out of The Episcopal Church, resigned from the Diocese of Pittsburgh, the Anglican Province of Central Africa, and lastly the Anglican Church in America, a Continuing Anglican group. It would appear that in filing a subpoena against Steenson, Moyer has burned his final bridge and is left with a small unaffiliated congregation that makes him little more than the leader of a cult.

On a more positive note, however, the Ordinariate's decision not to admit Moyer proves beyond a fair peradventure that it has worked carefully to select only true men of God to serve the Roman Catholic Church, and that its decision-makers have exquisitely good instincts about those they may permit to be ordained as Catholic priests. This writer, at least, finds this to be a hopeful and comforting thought on this Easter Week.

FOOTNOTE: On advice of ACA Presiding Bishop Brian Marsh I have removed TAC from the story. Moyer's status as a bishop in the ACA/TAC is ambiguous in that he has not at present placed himself under a bishop.