Saturday, October 17, 2015

GROUP MAY SUE CHURCH OVER TITLE TRANSFER

For those who may have missed it. Here is the article in the PDN and the press release about CCOG's intent to see to the return of the Yona property.





FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 10/12/15
Concerned Catholics of Guam Inc.


MEGA-MILLION DOLLAR ARCHDIOCESAN ASSET GIVEN AWAY
Concerned Catholics of Guam looks into civil and canonical remedies

The former mega-million dollar Accion Hotel property is no longer an asset of the Archdiocese of Agana. According to a Guam law firm retained recently by Concerned Catholics of Guam, Inc. (CCOG), the property was “absolutely conveyed in fee simple”, in November of 2011, to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, a Guam non-profit corporation. 

“The property has been valued between FORTY and SEVENTY MILLION DOLLARS, and the transfer of this asset away from the Archdiocese of Agana represents significant harm to the patrimony of the Catholic Church of Guam.,” says Greg Perez, President of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, Inc., a grass roots lay Catholic organization incorporated in December of 2014 to address the questionable actions Guam’s Catholic hierarchy.

The deed conveying the property to RMS was quietly recorded at the Department of Land Management by Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron on November 21, 2011, without the consent or knowledge of the Archdiocesan Finance Council, the College of Consultors, nor the Vatican, all of which are required by church law to give their consent before a transaction of that amount can be approved.

According to Perez, the deed conveying title to the mega-million dollar property away from the Archdiocese of Agana and to a corporate entity controlled by a New Jersey based division of the Neocatechumenal Way, was discovered this past January by the CCOG. 

Upon discovery of the deed by the CCOG, Archbishop Apuron argued that the property still remained an asset of the Archdiocese of Agana and that he retained control of the subject property. 

However, the law offices of Jacques G. Bronze found otherwise. In a Legal Opinion dated May 13, 2015, Attorney Bronze found:

“The Declaration of Deed Restriction executed on November 21, 2011, by the Grantor, for that certain land located at 130 Seminariu Drive, Yona, Guam, recorded at the Department of Land Management as Instrument No. 829322, in favor of (the Redemptoris Mater Seminary) operates to transfer a present interest and is an absolute conveyance in fee simple, of the subject real property to RMHF, divesting all right, title and interest of the subject property from the Grantor, except for the subject restraint in use.”

Attorney Bronze also found, that the Redemptoris Mater Seminary is not in the control of Archbishop Apuron as he maintained, and in fact is not even in the control of its Board of Directors as Guam law requires. RMS, is controlled, as Bronze opines, by “a separate, unelected, and un-removable board having veto power over (the) board of directors, the officers, and the sole member, the Archbishop of Agana and his successor.” 

Concerned Catholics of Guam, Inc., is currently investigating all available civil and canonical courses of action to see to the return of the property to the Catholic faithful of the Archdiocese of Agana. 

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For questions please contact Greg Perez at 727-3233

2 comments:

  1. It's sad that AAA could just give away the most valuable asset the archdiocese of agana had without thinking of the island parishioners who had consistently been donating to the archdiocese for the improvement of Guam's Catholic Church.

    All this has reminded me of what the man'amko use to say, "God isn't sleeping." Greed and self indulgence of the position entrusted on him by the pope has gotten the better of him and he's forgotten about the parishioners of this Catholic Community.

    In the end, AAA will have to answer to God himself.

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    Replies
    1. Oh, he thought of us alright. And his actions show WHAT he thought of us.

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