QVP: The new prior is a young priest; he must be exhausted from taking care of the priory, school, and retreat house. The higherups in the SSPX appointed him, when they should have appointed someone with experience to take care of Our Lady of Sorrows. If he can't cope with the stress, I'm afraid Fr. Riccomini will be ruined, as an SSPX priest told me
You say the sspx higherups appointed him over someone who might be better experienced. Do you have any idea why. Where did Fr. R receive his seminary training? Is he an American? How many years has he been a priest. Has he exhibited strong loyalty to Bp. Fellay? I mean, is he pretty vocal about it?
Also, QVP, another question: Are you aware of well over one hundred people having left Our Lady of Sorrows over, say, the last five years?
Fr. Frank Riccomini was in my class. Class of 2007.
He was the only one out of 10 solid, promising seminarians that was ordained. He was starting his 3rd year (out of 6) when Fr. Le Roux came to the seminary. So he had 2 years of +Williamson, then a good 4 years of Fr. Le Roux changes during the final years of his formation.
Oh, and he went straight into 1st year. He didn't do the extra Humanities "0 year" under +Williamson like I (and others in his class) did. So he had a very small dose of +Williamson.
He is an American, obviously of Italian extraction. He was from St. Mary's -- I think his family has been there for some time. He was of average age -- maybe slightly on the young side. Though he was around 20, his parents had another baby back home while he was in the seminary! Classic Italian family! :) I forgot how many siblings he had, but it was into the double-digits.
His father died of a heart attack during Frank's 3rd year. As I mentioned, the youngest child in that family was an infant.
I know Fr. Riccomini was recently ordained when my own father passed away in 2007 -- he sent me a short letter with his condolences, stating that he was going to offer a Mass for my father's soul. I'd say he's a good man, and I'm sure he is trying to be a good priest, but he's the kind of man who likes to be mainstream and not stand out.
I got along with him just fine, though I wouldn't say we were especially "close". Mostly because I was eccentric, while he was quite the opposite.