Sunday, June 29, 2014

RMS 101 - 29 JUNE 2014

In January of 2012, four of the five members of the archdiocesan finance council received a letter from Archbishop Apuron kicking them out of the council. (Kicking people out who get in his way appears to be standard operating procedure for AASA.) 

Cumulatively, they had served on the finance council for more than fifty years. Their crime? They opposed the decision of the Archbishop to hand over the Yona property* to Kiko. The Archbishop's crime? Another violation of Canon Law, but who's counting. 

Canon Law requires every diocese to have a finance council. There is never to be a time when there isn't one. There are to be at least three members. With the en masse firing of four of the five members, the archdiocese, on January 11, 2012, in violation of Can. 492 §1, was without a finance council. 

The one member not fired? Msgr. David C. Quitugua, who was then the only member of the finance council in the NCW. New members of the finance council were later appointed. How many are in the NCW? Three, a majority, and the minimum for a quorum.

By the way, the reason given by the Archbishop to the fired members of the finance council was that their five year term had expired. Funny. For some of them, their five year term had expired over a decade ago. The terms are renewable, and barring a document dismissing a member, the terms are considered automatically renewed. At the time the Archbishop fired them, the four members were in the midst of another automatically renewed term. 

The fired members could have filed a canonical complaint. But these are people with much better things to do and the time spent serving the church on the council was simply a service to the church, a service they had performed well for many years, but now, a service that was no longer wanted. They were simply "in the way" because they were not "in the Way". 

In hindsight, a premonition of their firing can be found in a letter they received a month earlier. On December 6, 2011, Msgr. David C. Quitugua, Vicar General of the Archdiocese of Agana, wrote the other four then-members:
The finance council, as other consultative organs of the archdiocese, has the purpose of allowing the archbishop to obtain, not a binding opinion, but a consultation about facts or activities of the archdiocese.
This an extremely disturbing statement, and not just because it is wrong, but because it shows a chancery willing to remake the church to serve a different master. 

We have already seen this in the blatant willingness of all three members of the chancery to celebrate an illicit liturgy, and in the case of the Archbishop himself, publicly defy the pope. But now we see the Vicar General, the supreme counsel to the Archbishop on matters of Church law, modifying Church law to facilitate the alienation of Church property demanded by the chancery's new masters.

The Archdiocesan Finance Council is the ONE council in church governance that is NOT merely consultative. Can. 1292 §1 requires the bishop to obtain the CONSENT, not just a consultative opinion, of the finance council in order to "alienate the goods of the diocese." This provision is intentionally prescribed in Church law to protect the ordinary members of the church (us) from out of control bishops who think they can do whatever the hell they want. 

The fact that the Vicar General himself, the person who is supposed to have the greatest understanding of and responsibility to the laws of the Church, was willing to change Church law and redefine the responsibilities of a diocesan finance council, should not only cause us all to worry much more than we already are, but should wake up the red-robed fellas in Rome, who - though they may not respond to any other cries - unexplainably wake up when they hear the sound of cash exiting church coffers. And the departure of 30 million dollars - the current estimated value of the Yona property - makes a sound louder than a curial cardinal's snoring. 

More to come.  

*Note: "Yona property" is the property which the Redemptoris Mater Seminary operates. It is usually referred to as the "seminary property", but technically the seminary is just a tenant, not an owner, at least not yet...we think.

This is the first in a series of posts about the attempt by Archbishop Apuron to give away a very valuable church asset to the Neocatechumenal Way. Rather than separate posts, the subsequent parts of this story will be added to this same post and the date will be changed to place the most recent modification of the story at the top of the blog.

17 comments:

  1. - The lies and attempted cover up of the illegal firing of Fr. Paul
    - The false rumors spread about Fr. Paul having inappropriate relations with a married man
    - The hidden KOLG interview and the attempt to cover it up with lies
    - The attempt to transfer ownership of Yona property to NCW
    - The firing of 4 non-NCW members on the financial council and the reason for the firing; replacing the fired members with NCW members
    - The fake invitation from Cardinal Tagle
    - The lie to Aaron Quitugua
    - The excessive traveling and lavish lifestyle
    - The lack of financial accountability and transparency
    - The fact that he remains silent on these issues.
    - And the many more that not listed, or that we don't know about

    WHEN IS ENOUGH...ENOUGH? WHAT DO WE NEED TO DO? WHAT ARE WE WAITING FOR?

    IF MONEY = POWER, THEN NO MONEY = NO POWER

    ReplyDelete
  2. A concerned parishionerJune 29, 2014 at 9:22 AM

    Fellow parishioners and fellow loyal Catholics: if you truly want to prevent the kikos to taking over or running the parishes thru the Diocese and the Archbishop, then what 8:30am suggests is key!

    Parish council members: take note and do whatever needs to be done, NOW, to keep the kikos powerless in your parishes because doing so will equate to keeping them powerless (financially) on the Diocese' level, as well.

    What you do, NOW, is critical and urgent because if we remain silent, complacent and apathetic we have only ourselves to blame for the kiko's expansion of their power over this Diocese and their eventual financial takeover over of every penny, estate and property that belongs to our Catholic Church on Guam! As we have seen, the kikos will stop at nothing knowing they have this Archbishop handcuffed to the kiko's pockets!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Pius stopped by for meetings. Now returning to NJ. Why does this seem like strategic war plans? Are we not the Roman Catholic Church? What has happened to us? Why were we so complacent? Now look what is happening? Hope we have not waited too long. Suffering, Dying, Resurrection. Paschal Mystery in our lives each day. Let us pray.

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  4. It is the end of Jungle Watch. Its comment counters are not moving anymore. The blog got stuck and frozen. Nobody wants to make comments or be associated to Tim Rohr in any possible way. Tim, you got what you have worked for so hard. It is too late to pick on other topics or change the conversation away from your moral failures and faults. Your blog ended the same manner all other anti-Neocatechumenal sites end around the world: in total disinterest in your irrelevant rants. TICK, TOCK, TICK, TOCK.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think things are just picking up steam here on Jungle Watch. Keep coming back and you will see.

      Delete
    2. Idiot @ 9:43,

      Sites don't freeze because no/less traffic. They freeze because of excessive traffic.

      Delete
    3. This morning's traffic report:
      Pageviews today (so far)
      1,913
      Pageviews yesterday
      2,207
      Pageviews last month
      92,443

      Delete
    4. LOL "Comment counters".

      Delete
    5. Hahaha....HAHAHAHA!

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  5. To Anon 9:43pm...

    Religious cults such as the Neocatechumenal Way always end tragically....at the expense of innocent people hoping for salvation.

    Our Roman Catholic Church will always remain until the end of time.

    ...watch these words! It is wise for this Archbishop to wake up and reorganize this Diocese.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Tick TOCK is for Diana
    and friends....tick, TOCK, tick,TOCK ...cuckoo, cukooo, cukooo Kikos!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Each day open junglewatch to read Tim's postings. Only medium of news available on the catholic church on Guam.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Curious and wondering if parishes are required to have parish councils besides a financial council? Is its elimination (the parish council) an neo-push or neo-influenced thing?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You must be from Agat. No parish councils aren't required by canon law, but they are certainly recommended, and often indispensable. However, you must understand that the Kiko considers parish-based Catholicism to be an aberration, and it must be dismantled as soon as possible. Thus getting rid of parish councils is one of the first steps. You are in the way. They come into your parish seeming normal enough, but their orders are to turn the parish into small communities and get rid of the parish altogether and eventually the church building itself. Sending Alberto in their was a sign that the Archbishop thinks that Agat is easy pickins. You'll have to prove otherwise if you want to survive. Good luck.

      Delete
  9. Parishes are not important. Never believed in the parishes. Form small communities for the faith to flourish. Close down the parishes ordain more men.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. This is a junk comment. I don't need them.

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    2. Bottom line, is NeoCats will change the structure of the parish and many of them will be taking over important positions in the parishes. Beware. i have seen it.

      Delete