To: The Apostolic Visitors to the Archdiocese of Agana (Jan 4-10, 2015)
Fr: Tim Rohr
Re: On the public destruction of Msgr. James Benavente
January 2, 2015
Following are copies of some of my posts on my blog JungleWatch.info relative to the removal and public trashing of Msgr. James Benavente by Archbishop Apuron. A full list of the posts can be found on the blog under the label “Msgr. James Benavente”, which can be found on the lower part of the right sidebar or by using this link:
There are many reason why Archbishop Apuron would want to remove and publicly humilate Msgr. James Benavente, and I discuss most of them in the pages which follow. However, now removed from the event by several months and given all that continues to happen, I now believe the following:
Archbishop Apuron does not act on his own. He acts on orders from Giuseppe Gennarini and Fr. Pius Sammut. Given that both Gennarini and Pius know that Archbishop Apuron’s time as bishop of Guam is limited, whether it be due to health, age, or his removal, Gennarini has moved to assure the future of his Guam-based presbyter factory.
In order to assure the future of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Guam, Gennarini needs two things: 1) control of the property, and 2) control of the bishop.
I believe he has already moved to gain control of the property by getting Archbishop Apuron to assign control of the property to RMS under the guise that it is still owned by the Archbishop. However, as I have demonstrated elsewhere, Archbishop Apuron, as per the RMS Articles of Incorporation, only controls 25% of RMS, whereas Gennarini and his wife control 50% of it, with another person, a neo-priest, controlling the remaining 25%.
Having assigned control of the property to RMS, a successor bishop’s hands are tied, probably forever, since I believe Apuron has assigned the property to RMS forever. (You, dear visitors, will have to ascertain that for yourselves.)
As for the “control of the bishop”, which has been easy to do with Archbishop Apuron, controlling the next bishop depends on their ability to control who gets the job.
It is well known that Msgr. James Benavente has always been the most logical choice. However, he is not neo and he is not friendly to the movement. Thus, he needed to be eliminated from the list of possible candidates.
There are many quieter ways Archbishop Apuron could have removed Msgr. James as rector of the Cathedral if he wanted to. However, instead of the quiet normal way of doing these things, Archbishop Apuron went to the media and blasted Msgr. James publicly in a full-on attempt to discredit and demean him.
This was obviously a response to an order from Giuseppe Gennarini. Archbishop Apuron would not have thought of going to the media on his own. The whole ugly episode wreaks with a viciousness that not even Archbishop Apuron is capable of.
Make no mistake. The public trashing of Msgr. James Benavente and most likely Fr. Gofgian as well, and everything else that has happened to both of them thereafter, is absolutely the result of a plan to get rid of the most likely candidates for the office of bishop so that the only possibilities will be neos: Adrian and Quitugua the VG.
Link to full document:
I recall the festive evening reception at the Leo Palace following Monsignor James' celebration of the mass in honor of his 20 years as a priest. Throughout the evening it was obvious AAA was jealous of Monsignor James' popularity with many of his parishioners, friends, and family. Being the vain person that he is, AAA was more than happy to get rid of his competitor. One way or another, Monsignor James was targeted for removal. While AAA's stated reason for removing the good Monsignor turned out to be bogus the damage was already done. AAA did not forsee the fact that the more he tries to damage others the more damage he inflicts on himself. Sad, very sad indeed.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeleteTim Rohr is perfectly right.
As Tim is justly pointing, Pius, Genarini, et al have a problem. While they have co opted the Archbishop for the moment, and they have also the allegiance of the other two corrupt officials of the Chancery, the succession is fraught with dangers for them.
ReplyDeleteIt goes without saying that even before the arrival of this website, it was obvious that there was a big competition between the two pretenders at the chancery, that was almost embarrassing.
To make mater worse the caliber of the "presbyters' coming out of RMS is so poor that nobody was standing out from that side. Fr Gofigan, Msgr James, both because of their Charisma, and the respect they command on this island would have been viable candidates for auxillary bishop until the situation cleared. Of course, this was unacceptable to Kiko and his storm troopers.
Hence the destruction, very public one of both priests.
I would not even be surprised if Kiko did not even dreamed to have Pius given a Bishop hat to replace Apuron, giving him another 15 years to milk the cow on Guam and continue his policies of slash and burn.
Unfortunately for them, and fortunately for us, Tim, Chuck the CCOG and many anonymous are rendering these plans almost impossible now.
But do not expect them to go without a fight, the price is too big for them to relinquish easily.
Not only they can do almost what they want here, but it is a perfect money laundering machine for the NCW dirty plans.
This is why we must remain composed and steadfast in our struggle.
We are on the right pass, we need to keep focusing on the price, which is a Catholic Church free of interlopers on Guam with true leaders, that can continue what are forefathers have started.