It's a dual role thing. Fr. Brian is the superior (elected office) of a weenie little community of 3 friars in the eyes of the order, and in the eyes of the Diocese he and the O.P. generally are solving their problem of who's going to run the University Parish. In other words, the Diocese doesn't care as long as the parish is being taken care of.
But everyone knows Fr. B, is da Bomb, so scuttlebutt is they want to elect him to another responsibility.
The support I provide is mostly to remind him that if he's a friar I'm a roaster and I'm gonna roast him good. And he knows he can call on me for all sorts of stuff, and he does. I am also the official security weenie owing to my massive (not!) law enforcement experience, and I do that for free.
“Well, the DARK side of being a Dominican parish is that the order can swipe your pastor.”
What I have found by experience is that most institutions are run by inertia. If one facet seems to be succeeding it throws the other facets off so the “powers that be” move the innovator from the success to the failure or the facet of the institution that is heading towards failure in order to maintain institutional equilibrium.
So, to “esteem” and keep your treasure, start sending “moderate” vibes of displeasure along with a “moderate” deficiency in the parish’s operating budget. That should satisfy the “powers that be” that all is going according to plan and they will not see any need to move him.
ena