Charles and Neil,
enjoyed your surmising about the state of things in eastern Tennessee, and its propensity for ecclesiastical exotica. I have lived in eastrn Tennessee most of my life, and it has been only in the past year or two that I have noticed a proliferation of Old Catholics, etc. and they seem to be primarily in Knoxville (Charles, I do NOT consider Holy Resurrection to be part of ecclesiastical exotica, just a welcome breath of fresh air, and a focus for this seemingly isolated, in Chattanooga, Eastern Catholic).
it might be the ley lines of mystical earth electro magnetism that bring about the birth of EE (ecclesiastical exotica). yes, UTK is a large school bringing in people from all over the world, and so is the Tennessee Valley Authority, with its major headquarters in Knoxville with all sorts of Yankees and ferriners.
I saw a mention of the Knights of Malta. there is a suspended knight of this group who many years ago went to Christ Episcopal (the last pre Vatican ll church in Chattanooga), before going to Rome, and then went Latin in a plus catolique que le papa move. he started out as a Baptist from Wisconsin, went to a fundamentalist Bible college in Texas, discovered us cradle Catholics (East or West, it matters not, to use Yoda's diction),and here he is. whatever, he invited me to join the Order of St. John ,as it turns out I have an ancestor in Frederick Barbarossa, thus of noble/royal lineage (how is that for irony, an Eastern Catholic with a major Crusader for an ancestor), ergo eligible for membership.I learned that he had no authority to confer knighthood on anyone, period. I presume he is going to Mass in Benton, where the Order of St. John has a chapel, and I guess it is pastored by the Thuc priest type person. Benton is due east of Chattanooga, about sixty miles, I reckon.The Latin Mass they hold is not authorized by the Bishop of Knoxville, whose diocese covers the eastern third of the Volunteer State, there is a monthly Latin Mass at St. Stephen's here that is.at any rate, he is not seen at Sts Peter&Paul, where I go to Mass.
Things get more interesting, I attended UT Chattanooga for my undergrad, Temple Baptist Seminary for my grad degree. Temple Baptist is a ministry of Highland Park Baptist Church whre I have a number of friends. Two of my friends had a child and a grandchild respectively graduating from the church school's kindergarten, and I was invited by both. at the ensuing soiree after the ceremony, I noticed a man in street clericals, sure to stand out amongst a gathering of Baptists. I went over to say hello, and the man turned out to be the Metropolitan for the South of the Roman Orthodox Church, there for his niece's graduation. of all places to meet a Metropolitan. They are listed in the telephone book, but they don't seem to have services, and just about everyone advertises their worship services here. Nice to have a See in Chattanooga, we are the only major city in the State not to have either a Roman or Anglican cathedral. But yet another example of EE.
I guess you are right, bros, it is quite interesting here.
much love,
Jonn
