Saturday, April 26, 2014

HYPOCRISY AND BROOD OF VIPERS - A REFLECTION FROM JANET

Jesus warned us about individuals, especially those in authority, that we should be very wary of their actions when they stray off course. Whimsically, a select few condemn Mr Rohr for bringing to light the dangers of straying from Church doctrine, magisterium, and liturgical norms. 

We should call these the Neo-Ostrich Way (NOW). It is a fitting acronym as it reminds them, and all of us that we need to pull our heads out of the sand NOW! Jesus did not allow himself to be nailed on the cross so we could happily ignore problems and turn a blind eye to abuses. As Christians, we have many rights, but we also have responsibilities. One of those responsibilities for us normal Catholics is to speak the truth, speak out and do our best to make things right. It is a very Christian form of resolving problems.


People in greater levels of authority have an even greater responsibility, like the Archbishop, to speak out and correct wrongs when they occur, teach us the ways of the Church, and of course, to follow said ways. A sacristan minister and friend just showed me the Roman Missal. It is the very thick book you see our altar servers struggle holding up for the priest, and the same book the priest uses at the altar. The red print, called rubrics give very specific and detailed instructions which are to be followed meticulously by the priest, even when to bow, when to put hands together, etc.

Curious sort that I am, I looked at the instructions for the Holy Week we just were graced with. And, as has been the case for some time now, I found several things that the Archbishop, Vicar General, and Chancellor should clarify for my benefit, and that of a lot of others who do not subscribe to the ostrich theory in the NOW.

Here are the specific instructions (rubrics) for the Easter Vigil:

“On this night’s vigil, which is the greatest and most noble of all solemnities, there is to be only one celebration in each church.” In other words, this occasion is so significant, all the faithful from that community should gather as one to observe the Easter Vigil. Some Churches, like Santa Barbara normally have two Saturday evening masses, but on THAT night, they are very specifically told to have just one celebration. So what does our bishop do? He encourages his beloved NOW to celebrate their own separate Easter Vigil. So the Tamuning Parish had two Easter Vigils, one for normal Catholics and one for NOW. Same with Agana, Barrigada, Asan, Yigo, Agat, etc. So much for one solemn celebration! So much for rules! So much for unity of parishes! The NOW wonders why people question their ways…here is an example. My parish had a beautiful celebration with a huge fire. Many parishes pulled out all the stops to make for a memorable and special celebration on that special night. Unfortunately, there were faces missing because they wanted to celebrate in private, in a gymnasium! Will one of the three on the hill explain how this is possible, and how it helps our faith community? I doubt they will, even though they should.

Oh yeah, the rubics had some other stuff, like “The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil must take place during the night, so that it begins after nightfall and ends before daybreak on the Sunday”. Adrian, our Chancellor, submitted the precise directive which all parishes were told they had to follow. It was in the U Matuna several times during the Lenten season, and he made it clear that no vigil mass was to start before 7:15PM. Guess when the bishop’s mass started? If you guessed at 7:15PM or later you would be wrong. He started his mass at 7PM so he could get it over with and then quickly hurry to the Bishop Baumgartner gym to meet with his flock. Yet another example how he has ceded the throne and needs to be replaced. Of course, maybe he has a good explanation which we would all like to hear. Maybe some ardent NOW follower will explain that he has hig blood pressure and needed to get some medication?!?

Out of curiosity, were there any other churches that started their celebration before the directive ordered earliest time of 7:15PM? If there were wouldn’t it be interesting to see they were also NOW parishes with NOW priests that needed to rush off to a more important mass? But we know that Fr Alberto was in no rush. He abandoned Mt Carmel altogether so he could be in Spain with his NOW community there. How do our friends in Agat feel about this lack of support from their pastor. People would like to know. And if you are NOW, respond because we can always use a little humor to brighten our days.

The rubrics also instruct that only one Paschal candle is to be used per parish. So important is the paschal that instructions also stated that the traditional processional cross and candles are omitted for this special occasion. So a question naturally arises in my curious mind. Does the NOW take the Paschal candle from each of their parishes to the gymnasium, hotels, and homes where they celebrate their private Easter Vigil masses? Or do they have their own paschal candles? Well, of course they need to have their own paschal candle, which has a beautiful/grotesque Kiko image on it, which is purchased from a Kiko store.

So to the three wanna be leaders on the hill, can you please explain why the NOW refuses to follow these very specific instructions on the holiest of nights? Are we really that far beneath you that you cannot have a decent liturgy with us? Does the NOW consider themselves a part of the parish or are they a separate entity? Some good questions you might like to pull your heads out and respond to.

As Jesus is fond of pointing out: you hypocrites and brood of vipers! NOW I can see why there is so much venom coming from the Chancery.

Janet B. - Mangilao

54 comments:

  1. You complain about when the Easter vigil mass is supposed to start? Aren't you going to question why you ended the mass so early. The easter vigil mass is supposed to end at daybreak on Sunday.

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    1. hahhahaa, can you show me where it says that in the Roman Missal? or the GIRM?
      or any Document besides your kiko manual?

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  2. Janet, by thier very actions, and because the archbishop permits it, they have ipso facto declared themselves a separate community(parish). The NOW can deny all they want, but they did all the things that a parish does. I never bothered to find out whether they have their own Easter fire(maybe they used the Easter lighter).
    1.paschal candle
    2.separate celebration
    3. not on Parish/church grounds

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  3. The communities do have their own private community mass. But please explain why this should be a problem. We were not asking parishes priests to do extra Easter Vigil. No. We have our own community priests to help. We also have a couple of off island community priests staying at present, they provided a home community mass lass week so no manpower overload.

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    1. You have your OWN communities; you have your OWN private community mass; you have your OWN community priests. Do you really see nothing wrong with this?

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    2. AnonymousApril 26, 2014 at 11:21 PM
      This is a problem because like other things, the NOW is not following the Directives of the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH!

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    3. Janet B - MangilaoApril 27, 2014 at 4:16 PM

      Anon 4/26 @ 11:21pm says:
      "The communities do have their own private community mass. But please explain why this should be a problem. We were not asking parishes priests to do extra Easter Vigil. No. We have our own community priests to help. We also have a couple of off island community priests staying at present, they provided a home community mass lass week so no manpower overload."

      Your intellect is mind-boggling! I have a couple of questions for you.
      1.) Which parish do you belong to? All communities are tied to parishes, are they not?
      2.) What is your understanding of the instructions which specifically state only one celebration is to take place per parish?
      3.) Are you aware of any other movement in the world that has their own secondary celebration for the Easter Vigil?
      You say: "We were not asking parishes priests to do extra Easter Vigil. No. We have our own community priests to help."
      Really? Who is the parish priest in Barrigada? In Asan? Chalan Pago? Santa Rita? Yigo? Agana? Merizo? Were not these priests also called to do an all night vigil with their NOW communities?

      Your justifications are so ridiculous it is actually sad. Sad that a supposed adult has lost all ability to think critically for themselves. Is that the fruit of the NOW?

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    4. Dear Janet B,
      What is your definition of a vigil?
      Joy!

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    5. Actually Janet's definition of a Vigil wouldn't matter. It is the church's definition of a Vigil that matters. And it is the church's prescriptions for it that matter. On Guam, those prescriptions are dictated by the bishop. The bishop dictated when to start the vigil, not when to end it. Direct your question to the bishop.

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  4. Greetings from the Archdioceses of Boston.

    I wish to relate what happened in my Parish on Easter Vigil. The Night was beautiful, & deeply troubling. Beautiful because 3 children were baptised! Troubling because everything was in a state of caos & confusion, as those who should have been making sure all was well were all doing the neo-cat thing elsewhere.
    The boys who lit the Fire, although not rude, showed no respect for the Priest & promptly split after we began proceeding inside, as they had to be @ an ALL NIGHT SPECIAL neo-cat thing.
    & if they make it through their kiko-initiation, you may be seeing them in a few years! God Help Us.

    Holy Mary, Exterminatrix of All Heresies, PRAY FOR US. amen †

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    1. Maybe you can suggest for other parishioners to get involved so it's not just the Neo in all the key places.

      So sorry about things in your parish. What does the parish priest have to say?

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    2. 1:04 p.m. We do get involved we just don't push our weight around. We don't cry to the Archbishop when we don't get our way. We don't abandon ship. Examples of abandoning ship is to quit being a reader for masses, being Eucharistic ministers, cleaning the church, just to name a few. We continue our volunteer work for the church no matter what.

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    3. Eucharistic minister=priest
      The proper term you are grasping for is:
      extra ordinary minister of communion

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  5. The rubics had some other stuff, like “The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil must take place during the night, so that it begins after nightfall and ends before daybreak on the Sunday”

    Before the Way came to Guam, was the Parish staying up all night until daybreak Sunday morning just as the rubrics says? And you're complaining about the time it begins? What about the time it ended?

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    1. You may want to check your ignorance at the door before you walk into it. Janet is referring to the norms AS PUBLISHED by the Archbishop regarding the celebration of the Easter Vigil. The Archbishop's own directions state when the Vigil is to begin by 7:15. He says nothing about an actual time the Vigil is supposed to end other than "before daybreak". The bishop has the ability to establish all the norms relative to celebrating the Vigil. He chose only to state the time when it must start and then proceeded to personally and publicly violate his own norm. That's the issue. However, if you believe the Vigil should be all night, then please inform the Archbishop so he can establish this norm for all and state the actual time the Vigil is supposed to end.

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    2. Pope Francis begain the Easter Vigil at 8:30pm. Aside from the same liturgy that we all celebrated, the Pope baptized 10 people. Thus the Easter Vigil at the Vatican probably concluded before midnight. Where my family and I went to Mass, we began at 11pm with the Mass itself commencing at midnight.

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    3. I need to understand...there is to be one Easter Vigil in each parish..is this correct?

      If so, according to Diana they celebrate as a parish. So what is the name of your NCW parish that you celebrate at?

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    4. Duh.... before daybreak means before the sun rises. It could be two hours, four hours, eight hours. as long as it is before the day breaks.
      Seems it has been drilled into your head by someone who doesn't comprehend the english language.

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    5. Janet says in her post:

      Oh yeah, the rubics had some other stuff, like “The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil must take place during the night, so that it begins after nightfall and ends before daybreak on the Sunday”.

      Notice what she put in quotes? Sunday is mentioned in the quote. What time did the parish easter vigil end? Was it on a Sunday sometime after midnight or was it still on a Saturday?

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    6. Well now, that's a good one. The whole premise of the NCW Saturday night only Mass is that Saturday night is considered Sunday.

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    7. I was talking about the parish easter vigil. The Rubics should have just read as something like "begin after nightfall and end before daybreak". They don't need to put "on a Sunday" in there unless its placed in there because it meant just that "on a Sunday".

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    8. You appear to be trying to trip up Janet with your differentiating Saturday from Sunday. So let's review:

      One of the initial criticisms of the NCW was it's Saturday night only liturgies. In the rest of the Catholic Church, the Saturday night Mass, as per Paul VI's Eucharisticum Mysterium, is to be viewed as an exception and not the norm. It was permitted by the Pope to fulfill the Sunday obligation for people who could not otherwise attend Mass on Sunday. The Pope, in his letter, was adamant about explaining this to the people so that the permission to attend Mass on Saturday evening would not obscure the meaning of Sunday. It is to our own discredit that we have allowed this to become a Mass of convenience.

      Given that Saturday evening Mass was originally permitted as an exception, most people never sought to exclude the day of Sunday as understood as beginning at midnight, with normal Mass times beginning in the morning. Thus, the exclusion of Sunday morning by the NCW was something unique and one of those practices which identified the separatist nature of the NCW.

      As an accommodation to the leaders of the NCW, the Vatican granted permission to the NCW to celebrate its Eucharist after the first Vespers of Sunday:

      Art 13. § 2. The neocatechumens celebrate the Sunday Eucharist in the small community after the
      first Vespers of Sunday. This celebration takes place according to the dispositions of the
      diocesan bishop. The celebrations of the Eucharist of the neocatechumenal communities on
      Saturday evening are part of the Sunday liturgical pastoral work of the parish and are open also
      to other faithful.

      This is permitted because while canonically the Church defines a day beginning at midnight, liturgically it begins at sundown of the previous day. Thus the Church says that the NCW Eucharists on "Saturday evening are part of the Sunday liturgical pastoral work of the parish…"

      Your attempt to discredit Janet falls on this point. The NCW Statute defines the Saturday evening Eucharist as a Sunday liturgy, because liturgically, after sundown, it is Sunday. Thus any Easter Vigil Mass begun after sundown on Saturday, regardless of when it ended, is an Easter Sunday liturgy.

      I personally think it is misnamed. Vigil means to keep watch. It implies waiting. We can't both be "watching and waiting" and celebrating the arrival at the same time. But for now I will have to accept what the Church permits.

      However, this is why I am also opposed to the practice of regularly fulfilling the Mass obligation of a Sunday or Holy day the evening before precisely because it obscures the greater meaning of a morning Mass which approximates the time of Christ's resurrection. This is precisely the danger Paul Vi warned of. (Read it.)

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    9. I"ve also been reading Diana's blog. She quoted the Roman Missal and even gave the website. It says:

      The Vigil, by its very nature, "ought to take place at night" (EV, no. 3). It is not begun before nightfall and should end before daybreak on Easter Sunday.

      The church can tell the difference between Saturday ad Sunday. So, when they say that the Saturday evening will be part of the Sunday liturgies, they are not changing Saturday into Sunday, but saying that Saturday will have Sunday's liturgies.

      When the Roman Missal says that it should end before daybreak on Easter Sunday, don't you think that would mean that the Easter Vigil is supposed to end sometime AFTER MIDNIGHT rather than before midnight? Christ did rise on a Sunday, not on a Saturday.

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    10. It really doesn't matter what I or you think. It is what the bishop ordains. The Easter Vigil liturgy I went to began at 11pm and the Mass began at 12am on Easter Sunday. The Easter Vigil at the Vatican began at 8:30pm. What time do you think it ended?

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  6. Janet was referring to the rubrics.

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  7. Good evening! On a lazy Sunday like this one, I find amazing things on the Internet like this WEB-site. I am not Catholic, but my wife used to be. When we were younger, we had a long period of time to discuss and decide which church to attend. For a while we attended two churches. First, I was fascinated by the Catholic mass, but later get bored of the sermons. I found out that all priests preach from the same book, which is not the Bible. This may be because of your Pope. I mean your Popes are respectable personalities, but making everything uniform in the Catholic church has negative impacts on the depth of faith in Jesus Christ. No other denomination is so uniform and no other denomination is preaching from the same non-biblical source. So I convinced my wife to switch to my church and raise our kids here. Since then, we are happy Christians, read the Bible every day, follow the words of Jesus Christ. Our life became simple.

    I am just asking on this lazy Sunday evening, is this possible that all the mess I read about here are coming from a forced uniformity dictated by the papacy? Don't take me wrong please I am not attacking your church. I just notice the internal tension among Catholics that is unknown in other Christian denominations. I was able to convince my wife to get out of this and she is now content with my church. The only thing that sometimes we miss is the Catholic mass, but not the sermons. Would not be better for all Catholics, if you keep your beautiful masses, but do away with the papacy and preach directly from the Bible? Just asking.

    Christian fellow from Yona

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    1. Thank you for asking. And you can't be blamed for your misconceptions. However, allow me to clarify. Boring or not, the priest is tasked with preaching on the readings of the day. The Sunday readings consist of one Old Testament Reading, a Psalm, a New Testament reading (not from the Gospels) and a Gospel reading. Thus, there are basically four full readings from Scripture at every Sunday Mass. In addition there are several other instances of Scripture throughout the Mass. And of course, at every Mass, we fulfill Christ's command in Scripture to "do this".

      The priest may or may not do a good job at illuminating the Scriptures during the sermon. And in some instances he may in fact depart from them. But nevertheless, there is more Scripture read at the Catholic Mass than the average protestant service and this is what the priest is tasked to preach on. So, I'm not sure where you're getting that the priest doesn't preach on the Bible. That's all there is to preach on, if the priest did as he was supposed to.

      As for uniformity in the Catholic Mass, yes, there is a common Missal and General Instructions for that Missal. The reason is that our Catholic Mass is a response to Christ's command to "do this in memory" of him. This was HIS instruction on how he was to be worshipped and remembered. And so we do it. Outside of the basics, the church allows for cultural expressions within the Mass, such as the music.

      There is a wide variety in protestant worship because there is a wide variety of protestant churches. But the question you need to ask yourself is "is it worship?" Most Christians, even Catholics, confuse "praise" with "worship". At the Last Supper Christ instructed us on how he was to be worshipped. In Acts 20:7 we find the first Christians doing exactly as he instructed. And we still do it that way.

      As for the Pope, well we can't get rid of him. In Matthew 16, Jesus gives Peter the keys. What are the keys? You'll find the answer is Isaiah 22:22. They are the keys to the House of David. The keys represent dynastic succession. With Peter Jesus establishes an office. He is given (by Jesus) the power to bind and loose. And he is told that the gates of hell would not prevail, meaning his office will stand, and it still does.

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    2. Oh, I am sorry I truly did not intend to start debate on the theologies. We all know well how Catholics justify their papacy. I hope you also know why would we refuse to obey the Pope. He is not the head of our church and that's it. No offense, but the head of our church is Jesus Christ. We follow him and the Bible and that should suffice for "theology".

      The reason I made the comment was that it is hard to believe what you guys are fighting about here. You have a bishop who must follow order from Vatican. But why? Why cannot he follow order from the Bible? Why do you need an all powerful office of bishop, anyway? Jesus Christ spoke clearly that is easy to follow. So why to enforce your church to do this way or the other? When to start an Easter celebration? Is this truly an issue? Not in my church.

      The impression here is the believers need to be told how to believe. But this is not coming from the Bible. Faith is divine, not coming from human offices. A uniformly enforced set of dogmas to keep: is this truly the Christian way? Come on, you all know that it cannot be! Christian is who reads the Bible every day and not listens only once a week as other people read it in the mass. You have to be able to interpret the Bible, find out the true meaning. You see, this is what divides you Catholics into bitter camps of opposing views. That you do not look at the meaning of the Bible and got confused what is important and what is not. Is this not Jesus Christ himself and his teaching that is the most important?!

      I have never seen this kind of split in any other denomination as here. We had to fight for our church for many years, so we appreciate what we have. Now our membership is steady. We don't pull the knife against each other. My wife understands this and she is glad she and the kids belong to a peaceful denomination. I hope nobody took offense of my message.

      Christian fellow from Yona

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    3. Actually Christian fellow, you did intend to start a debate. That's why you are here. But that's fine. I'm game. So my turn. If Jesus had wanted us to follow a Bible, don't you think he would have left us one?

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    4. Okay, whatever you trick is, I do not fall for it. I am not here to debate the origins of the Bible. It is given (Rev. 22:18-19). If you don't believe it is from Jesus Christ, it is not my problem, but yours. I am only here to tell you that I told my wife, come honey see what they are killing each other about. And she is reading, smiling and saying, okay we are living in peace, not like them.

      The problem is that your concern is about who is more faithful to your Pope and Vatican. You look at them when you ask what the meaning of faith is. Because in your mind everything must be uniform to a central body. But in fact, you look at human construct and not Jesus Christ, this is your problem. Faith is divine.

      We did not need Vatican II to realize that one Christian is just as good as the other. When I am in mainland, I go to any church I wish, because all of them follow Jesus Christ. But Catholics think they are different, they are better than we are. Are you? I don't think so. This is the story I read here in this blog.

      Christian fellow from Yona

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    5. Let's see now. Your first comment was a question as to why our priests don't preach from the bible. I replied that at every Sunday Mass we read more scripture than the average non-Catholic church and the priest is tasked to illumine those scriptures in his sermon.

      Then you switch to pope bashing and how you follow the Bible and we don't. I then ask you a simple question: If Jesus wanted us to follow a bible wouldn't he have left us one?

      And because you can't answer my question you call it a trick and go on to more bashing. So here it is again. I completely believe, and our Church teaches, that what is in the Bible is from God. In fact, it is the Catholic Church which decided which books would go into the bible. The Bible is a Catholic book.

      However, if Jesus wanted us to follow a book - like you do, why didn't he leave us one? So let's try this again.

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    6. O Lord, already confused but more confused as ever!! First of all to the fellow Christian, why were 7 books in the Catholic Bible not included in the KJV?
      To the NCW, you seem to always point your references to the statutes according to Kiko,so is this your Bible?

      Lord have mercy on my soul! I may as well just be a good Christian and not proclaim any religious denomination as my own.

      At the Chrism mass the Archbishop says, here at Agana out church is this and that. Here we are this and that. Here we must this and that. The this and that will not fix the problem. In the end my dear Atchbishop, as you said "the changes will be hard to accept." It would be HARDER FOR YOU TO WATCH YOUR FLOCK MOVE! YOU AND YOU ALONE CAN MEND THE RIFT!

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    7. Luke 1:1-4 answers your question. You should open and read the words sometimes. I also told you Rev. 22:18-19. Your priests do not "illuminate" the Bible reading at Sunday sermons and people at the mass do not remember any word they heard from the scripture 10 minutes ago. The sermon should cover the scripture verse by verse and not the Vatican instruction, if you guys are serious about it.

      Christian fellow from Yona

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    8. There you have it. Former Catholics who become a Protestant thinks this is funny. Catholics vs Catholics. LOL it confirm they ain't coming back now because of this fight. Thank the Super Cath olics here as follow: Janet B, Tim, Chucky White, Mary B-lidge, Frenchie and Palomo. Great job guys! Now former Catholics who left the Church are not wavering to come back. No apolgetics can bring them back. Again, thanks for sending them away HOME! Not united in Christ at all.

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    9. Hey Christian fellow from Yona. It's clear to me you think you're better than Catholics who are oh so wrong not simply following the Bible. I have dozens of friends just like you who "simply follow the Bible" and they argue among themselves what the Bible really teaches. So much for your "just read the Bible."

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    10. At 9:46 AM. Fake followers of Jesus have been leaving Him since John 6:66. Look it up (and note the number of the verse). If anyone has left the Catholic Church because of this blog then the Church is better for it. Feel free to join them.

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    11. At Christian fellow: according to who? You? I thought you said we weren't supposed to follow men? Yet, we're supposed to pay attention to you? What are you? And whoever heard of an anonymous Christian? It's a contradiction in terms. You have the courage to come in here and throw stones but don't have the Christian integrity to put your name to your words. Just another coward. But hey, stick around. Zoltan just checked out and we need another clown to play with.

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    12. Wow Tim really?! Instead of encouraging them to come back home, you just push them away. Christ did not do that. Get behind me Satan.
      I ENDORSE NOT BEING PART NCW BUT A HUGE CRITIC OF TIM "AKA"Mr. Know it all.

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    13. Obviously you didn't read John 6:66.

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    14. 9:46AM was a fake post anyway. You probably posted it.

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    15. And no, not a "Know it all". Just a "know more than you". But then obviously that's not hard.

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    16. Huge Critic, the Christian Fellow's intent wasn't to come to JW and get answers. His intent was to poke at the Catholics from behind his bush and at the same time exhibit his righteousness above all of us stupid Catholics who just follow the Pope.

      If he truly wanted answers he could have corresponded privately with Tim or even asked to meet him, but what he did was bash and bash away thinking he was going to get the last word.

      I'm not a smart person but I could already tell what Christian Fellow's real intentions were - it was quite obvious.

      Huge Critic, since you have beef with Tim I suggest you come out from under your rock and meet him face-to-face. Otherwise, don't waste your time throwing your anonymous stones here on HIS blog. The audacity!

      Ria Camacho

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    17. Thanks, Ria. But actually "audacity" implies at least some courage.

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    18. Anon Apr 28 1:05PM – you ought to be ashamed of yourself. You come to JW not to defend or counter neo or non-neo position with regard to the issues and discussions here but merely to satisfy your personal vengeance! … talk about Satan? BTW did you not just observe the Divine Mercy Sunday and its devotions? I think your personal criticism and personal attacks intended merely to put down an individual/s says a lot about you and your disingenuousness – which is really far worse than being a “know it all”! Esta.

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    19. Anon 1:05... My opinions are mine and mine alone. NCW has been my nightmare for 20 years so don't go around placing blame on anyone!

      You do not know the psychological effect it has on people like me! The mere mention of Father Pius's name makes me...............

      Keep your opinion to yourself.

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  8. Is the Archbishop a Catechist or is he the student? Just wondering!!!!!

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  9. Janet B - MangilaoApril 27, 2014 at 3:58 PM

    Benedict Apuron is supposed to be the main catechist for Guam. But that is the problem so many have been discussing for many months now. He has completely given up his responsibility to be a catechist, and prefers to be a student, adored by the seminarians who coddle him with affection every Sunday afternoon at the pizza party held for a select few at his home...at our expense.

    But on the points that I raised in my Easter Vigil ponderings, isn't it amazing to see the variety of opinions from NOW defenders? I am surprised that the NOW somehow tries to justify even the most obvious problems with a separate Easter Vigil celebration.

    The ignorance or blind following of the regular NOW members can be understood because they have been brainwashed by the catechists, Benedict Apuron and the other two leaders on the hill, as well as Kiko and Carmen.

    However, I still would like to hear an official response from the Chancery regarding the apparent violation of liturgical instructions by the NOW on the Easter Vigil. Anyone of you three care to respond?

    The people await.

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  10. Is Ben Apuron related to the archbishop. If so how.

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    1. Vicente (Ben) Apuron passed away near Holy Week a year ago. He had helped his brother the now Archbishop financially years ago when the now Archbishop wanted to pursue his vocation at a seminary. The brothers remained very close and so the Archbishop was absent during Holy Week last year to see his brother just before he passed away and the Archbishop stayed and mourned with their relatives and participated in his brother's funeral.

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    2. Janet was not referring to the archbishop's brother, he was referring to Benedict Arnold.

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  11. So the Neos pride themselves that their vigils end when the sun comes up and base it on “The entire celebration of the Easter Vigil must take place during the night, so that it begins after nightfall and ends before daybreak on the Sunday." Their interpretation of this sentence is : the vigil has to last all the way till daybreak. How about the first part of that sentence? Did their vigil BEGIN the moment the sun went down, when night fell?

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    1. One wonders why, if they are so concerned about daybreak and Sunday that they refuse to hold their normal eucharistic liturgy any where near daybreak...like the rest of the Church.

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  12. This Archbishop truly leads by example. He broke his own directive - his own rule - and some wonder why we are in such a state of affairs. It is quite apparent that he is definitely not a man of his word. Any truth to Talofofo starting their Easter vigil at 7pm also? Was there some kind of loophole in the directive that said only neo parishes could begin earlier than 715pm?

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