On Patti Arroyo's show yesterday, Arroyo stated that because Fr. Paul was saying Mass again, it appeared to her that the Archbishop was "back-pedaling" on the ouster of Fr. Paul Gofigan as Pastor of Santa Barbara Parish and ultimately from the Archdiocese of Agana. I assured her that the Archbishop was CERTAINLY NOT "back-pedaling" and was proceeding with his plan to remove Fr. Paul as per this letter:
Click HERE for a PDF copy
It's looking more and more like the Archbishop intends to move forward with his decision to remove Fr. Paul from the Archdioesce. This latest letter from the Archbishop citing three acts (documents) to justify his action of removal clearly shows that he is not backing down. The question that this raises of course is what is contained in the "acts" that justifies the Archibishop's decision to remove Fr. Paul. Of course since the faithful is not privy to this information, we won't know. About the only issue that has been clearly brought out is the allegation that Fr. Paul was disobedient to the Archibishop which is a grave violation. Of course Fr. Paul disputes this and supposedly provides proof that he did not disobey the Archbishop's order. In any case, it appears that Fr. Paul does not agree with the Archbishop and has embarked upon a course of counteracting his decision of removal.
ReplyDeleteIf the dispute and apparent serious conflict between Fr. Paul and the Archbishop cannot be settled locally accommodating the best interest of Fr. Paul and the Archbishop, what happens next? That surely is the big question. Does Fr. Paul really have a chance challenging the Archbishop's authority? Will this matter have to be referred to Rome and the Vatican for a resoultion? If so, it certainly will not reflect favorably on the Archbishop. Also, how will the faithful as a whole respond to this on going fiasco? Only time will tell.
Prayers are certainly in order for both Fr. Paul and Archbishop Anthony.
You are right about this being a "fiasco", and an unnecessary one. As you point out, the only charge thus far has been Fr. Paul's supposed disobedience in not "firing" the ex-convict. However, Fr. Paul has proved that he did "fire" him. If the Archbishop felt that Fr. Paul's allowing the man to assist around the parish was a continued danger to children as he alleges then it would have been the correct thing to do, and indeed canon law requires it, to call Fr. Paul in and fraternally correct him. However, this did not happen. Fr. Paul was called in out of the blue and told to resign. This was very unnecessary...unless...there was another reason for the Archbishop wanting to get rid of Fr. Paul. That's what we don't know.
ReplyDeleteOn the surface, with what we do know, it appears Fr. Paul has a case. If he did not have a case, his canon lawyer would not have taken it. But he has. And he's a high powered canon lawyer, the tops in the Philippines.
As to what will happen next, and because it now appears there is no attempt to resolve this locally, the case will move to Rome to the Congregation for the Clergy where it will be heard.
As for how the faithful will take all this, let it strengthen their faith. Our faith is not in men.