Thursday, January 30, 2014

HE WASN'T JOKING


The interesting thing about the Archbishop doubling down on the parishes to come up with exponentially greater amounts of money to fund the Neocatechumenal seminary, is the fact that the Neocatechumenal Way is probably more responsible for the collapse of collections in general than anything else, and NOT just because an increasing number of people are objecting to the NCW, but because the NCW itself is extracting people from their parishes and pulling money out of them that would have otherwise gone to the parish. 


It's no secret that massive amounts of money are forked out by members into the infamous trash bags. Some might argue that they still give to their parish, but we can all bet that it is proportionately less now that they are throwing ever greater wads of unaccounted for cash into the community trash bag. There are only so many dollars in our pockets and the more Kiko gets the less Father gets. It's called math.

And what of the money that is collected in the communities and especially the big bucks collected at the "scrutinies"? The NCW Statute is rather vague on this matter:
Art. 4 § 3. In the communities, collections are made to answer different needs. It is the task of the responsible team of the community and of the responsible teams of the Way at every level, to ensure that such collections are administered with a great sense of responsibility and respect for the law. 

And where is that "responsibility"? According to Art. 6 § 2 "...the implementation of the Neocatechumenal Way must be coordinated with the proper function that the pastor/parish priest has in each parish community." 

It would seem that this would mean that the collections taken up in the communities are the property of the parish, and are to be accounted for to the pastor who then sees to the administration of those funds. Are they? 

And as regards "respect for the law," dollars given and collected have to be accounted for. Are they? The parish is a genuine non-profit legal entity, a "juridic person" administered by the pastor. What is an NCW community? 

So long as it is a genuine function of the parish, it is covered by the legal entity that is the parish. But if it functions outside it, if it collects money that is not part of the general parish collection, if it administers those funds apart from the pastor's oversight and consent, then the community is not covered by the parish and is operating outside a requisite legal construct. 

I doubt anyone will answer these questions. In fact, it is not unknown for catechists to berate pastors who ask such questions (ask Fr. Karl). So pastors who have been forced to host Neo communities in their parish probably just pay the unreimbursed power bill for the neo's many meetings and keep their mouths shut lest they themselves "suffer a more arduous and painful closure" to their own assignments. 

But if the people on the hill want to know why the money is drying up, it isn't just because people don't want it going to "the Way", it's because the goal of "the Way", the destruction of the parish and the erection of the closed community, has been incrementally happening, with the blessing of the Archbishop, for over a decade. 

My recommendation is that he add to that list of parishes on his assessment roster, a list of every Neo community in this diocese and put a big fat number to the right of it. That's where that extra $100,000 is. 

P.S. Upon receiving the "assessment chart" the other day at the clergy meeting, one pastor, known for his wisecracking, asked the Archbishop that if he couldn't meet the required amount, should he take out a loan. The Archbishop answered: "Yes". And he wasn't joking. 







22 comments:

  1. Sure, get a loan and put the parishioners in debt. Yes, the parishioners because we make up the church.

    Does your conscience not bother you that at one time people, the elderly mortgaged their homes to help you put up the money to pay for your share of the seminary? Did you ever help these people who were living on their pension.

    Were you trying to show off to the NJ couple that we the people will help you out when you call? How could you sleep at night knowing that you have taken advantage of your own people! You betrayed us for what...probably trying to make a name for yourself in Rome. Well, your wish has come true!

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  2. All this information is alarming. And yet His Excellency and his minions have nothing to say about this? As parishioners, we have always supported the Charities Appeal including the last minute phone calls from my pastor because I didn't submit my check yet. Mr. Rohr, your version of People Power is not one of protests and gatherings...it's one that digs into the minds of Catholics on Guam and causes us to reflect on not what we have always done to support the church but to ask what, if anything, we should do next.

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  3. It doesn't matter if we do not want to fund the AAA. The choice is being taken from us and so the burden will still be upon us at the parish level -- maybe no more weekday masses, no more maintenance....etc. What do we do next? I want to personally confront the Archbishop and ask why -- why are you hurting your flock, but i fear that he will not care to hear a "Judas" like me. I fear he has already abandoned us.

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  4. I hope I wake up from this nightmare because I'm really FireTrUCKING pissed off in this dream i'm having right now. I know this is a 'family channel' but I hope 'S.H.T.F' and everything gets exposed. We've been B.Fk'd by the NEO CULT.
    and our 'great one' is part of it......
    .....great, now I have to go confession.

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  5. Mr. Rohr is once again very fair and just. If the archdiocese needs a further $100,000 USD for the seminary thats ok. But in justice it should not be collected from the parishes. The funding should be raised from within the NCW groups of Guam, or from the NCW off island groups who use the seminary for its students. But to take from the people of the parishes of Guam it is not even just to do so. Justice is justice we cannot change justice.

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    1. Sell the $100,000.00 usd new exercise equipment the seminary has. Or open the exercise park up to NCW for membership fee! Bring your own towel.

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    2. Wait! Kiko can design and market gym shorts, gym bags, towels....more income! NCW Gym get your spiritual exercise in Yona! Members ONLY, please $1000.00 annual fee X 100 gym memberships ...BAM done.

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  6. Agree with the comment 8.44am. The catholic community of Guam does not require a physical people power movement. The people power movement is now a mind reflection. The people need to stop look at the events happening in the chancery, observe, and simply ask is this honest, is this just, is this acceptable to the catholic community of Guam. If your understanding leads you to see it is injustice then the next step would be to contact the office of the superior of archbishop Apuron . That is directly to the Holy Father himself

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    1. I like the suggestions of 8:44am, as well. Yes, I can see how “People Power” can effectively be demonstrated by making a personal mental reflection about everything that has been reported, documented and observed and by being open to seeing the dishonesty and deceitfulness that has been pulled on us; and then, by deciding what action to take to demonstrate our disdain about these outright injustices. After taking action (deciding not to contribute towards the appeal, for instance) then follow it up with a personal letter to the Apostolic Nuncio and another to the Pope in Rome. Yes, this certainly would more powerfully deliver a loud and clear message, en masse, to the Archbishop by members of this Diocese.

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  7. To practice justice you first have to understand justice and follow the natural law. If everything is relative one will never arrive at justice.

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  8. Way back when, people of the community were asked to deed their properties to the NEO. Just how manipulative can one get.

    They are on a mission and the mission is to wipe us clean and leave us with the shirts on our back. They may take just take that too. PATHETIC!

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  9. Well then, if people were asked to deed property to neos, perhaps the neos should sell those properties which they manipulatively got people to sign over to the neos and use the profit to cover the Archbishop's debts. Why not! In the name of justice and honesty, this is where they should look to acquiring 2014 Appeal monies, instead of burdening the parishes.

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  10. Recommendation: sell the Yona property where the seminary is located, move the seminary down to the former Carmelite monastery, furnish and renovate the monastery, set aside an endowment for maintenance and operations, pay off all of the school and parish debts, and guess what---there will still be money left over to fund all of the archbishop's trips and more, much more!

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    1. ... however, sale of Yona property and merely relocating NCW-forming seminary location on Guam would not address the fact that the NCW is the root of all this evil and injustices. We don't just want to simply address the Archbishop's debt (a consequense of his and NCW disordered "worldy appetities") but also address NCW's snub of Rome's instruction and direction to NCW with regard to their continuing irreverent practices of the distribution and receipt of Holy Communion, and NCW's abandonment of the traditional Mass or altering of other required Catholic practices or teachings.

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  11. going,going, gone...Yona....before the bidding begins: Will the brand new $100,000.00 exercise park the seminarians don't use be sold or move to Malojloj with them?? $100,000.00 plus construction.

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  12. The archbishop and his chancellor are known to have lots of money. So as I was thinking about it why can't the archbishop and his chancellor just give $50,000usd each to the seminary . This would resolve the whole problem for them . $100,000usd raised instantly.

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  13. Family of seven in the Lord's field
    We, the Borg family from the first NeoCatechumenal community of the parish of Fatima, Guardamangia, have been living with our five children on the island of Guam for five years. Guam is a small island in the Pacific ocean where the Lord invites us to follow him.
    We would like to express our appreciation to all the benefactors who showed their generosity and love for the missions through Mission Fund.
    The generous support of the Mission Fund helps us to continue our presence on Guam. We serve the Redemptoris Mater seminary, which is the first seminary for the diocese of Guam, as well as the evangelisation in various parishes around the island.
    This seminary has already provided eight presbiters in 10 years since its conception, four of them ordained last November.
    We are very grateful to assist and witness this work of the Lord in his field. We promise our prayers to all the benefactors and in the expression of the local Chamorro tongue: "Si Zu'us ma'asi!" - "May the Lord bless you!".
    The public may contribute by sending used stamps or donations to the Mission Fund.
    Donations may be sent online or by direct bank transfer on one of these accounts: HSBC (Account no: 061 197 448 050), BOV (Account no: 163 007 980 19), APS (Account no: 200 008207 62) or BANF (Account no: 000 879 631 01.

    Does our appeal money go to this particular mission funds also?

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  14. Is your family on public assistance funded by taxpayers? How many of your fellow missionary families rely on financial help of any kind from our government?

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  15. All this money and none of it seems to be accounted for with the parishes that support the communities. Do the communities even support their parish?

    It seems to be fact that Archbishop Balvo ordered a full audit of the Archdiocese after the fiasco with the AFC firings. But maybe it was really geared to this accounted for mass of money? It certainly would be nice to know that the audit looked at these issues and found no problems and crimes. But if that were the case you would think that would be front page news on the U Matuna Si Propoganda.

    My brother's business gets regular CPA audits every year, and afterwards the Company sends out copies to all directors, all shareholders, and all stakeholders. I hereby lay down a challenge to Tony and Deacon Kim. Give us the audit report and findings. Not just the financials, but the verbal background as well. That should be sufficient to quiet a lot of people.

    Oh! You don't think you need to! Well, I guess we can all surmise what that means...you have some deep problems to hide from the people. It is only a matter of time before all this gets revealed.

    BTW - for all you NeoCats who give to the trash bag and in your scrutinies, I hope you don't declare this as a charitable contribution on your tax return, because it doesn't qualify and you may have to pay back the amount of write off, plus penalties. Ask Mr Kim...he's a tax guy. Your community doesn't have a 501c3 and since the funds don't go through the parish it is not tax deductible. Just a friendly word of advice.

    What the heck is that odor...oh, I think I smell several rats!

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  16. Correct. mr Kim please put the audit on the archdiocesan web page. You may also at the same time reclaim some respect of the people of Guam if you do this. You cannot be protected by Apuron for ever you know. Contribute to the truth please. Or you have something to hide.

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  17. What is the tax status of the seminary .

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