Monday, July 18, 2016

IN THE NEWS TODAY

Posted by Chuck White


Pacific Daily News:

Cathedral picketers: As long as it takes

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2016/07/17/cathedral-picketers-long-takes/87214926/


Guam Daily Post:

Church protests continue in Hagåtña

http://www.postguam.com/news/local/church-protests-continue-in-hag-t-a/article_9b166606-4c12-11e6-81bd-9344e01ed7ae.html


KUAM:

Protesting Catholics question Archbishop Hon's leadership

17 comments:

  1. Good time to picket is in Agana Heights since all the Island Priest are there whole day using Our Lady of the Blessed Sacrament Church and their Social Hall.

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  2. Just wanted to preface my statement that the Neo Blog used my previous post as proof that the Neos "are not the cause for the division in our church" on Guam. What a bunch of losers, if they have to use my comments to quantify their existence. To use me as a reference means that they are scraping the bottom of the burnt rice pot to find something worth using. Since Tony is no longer here it show that they have no validity in our church and the only reason for their continued existence is Hon's continued inaction.

    My comment was directed at the two priest who we, the LFM, CCOG etc. continue to support and defend. This past Sunday, someone in a black Tacoma truck was angry at our picket line because he/she had to wait until there was a break in our line to take off. That person took off at a high rate of speed and if he/she had lost control could have hurt some of us severely. We willingly and with a real conviction will continue to defend our faith and priests from the heretics who continue to plague us. However, in the past couple of weeks we lost a valuable member of our team. He continues to work the sidelines but is not in the forefront as we are used to having him. I understand our cause is greater than one man, but it still stings. What I am driving at is that in all the village meetings, all the attacks we endure from the Neo Kooks, the time we spend in the heat and rain and dark of night, the money we have donated to fight the scams from Apuron, his henchmen and the Neos, have the priest / clergy come out to give us support or at least wave at us as they pass us by. Hon ignores us, which is no big deal! Apuron ignored us and in fact threatened to sue us! No big deal! It just feels like the people who we are defending are ignoring us too! That is a big deal! There are people on wheel chairs, assisted walkers, elderly and some of us with bad knees, who continue to walk for you! Where are you? We don't want your money! What we need is an assurance that you appreciate what we are doing. What we need is your support, prayerfully and physically. This fight started because someone saw an injustice and took it upon himself to right that wrong. What he found out was that there was a shitload of injustices happening under Apuron's reign of terror. But the focus was first to "Restore". Not sure if that focus was ever really appreciated.

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    Replies
    1. Joseph A. SantosJuly 18, 2016 at 10:20 PM - In my opinion, you do not have to explain! We all know that apuron did a lot of damage before the NEOs showed up but the NEOs took advantage of his weaknesses and love of earthly materials and ran with it, including changing the appearance of our Catholic Churches. I am forever grateful for Tim and his persistence in trying to correct all the evilness that has taken over our Catholic Churches. There are no words to express how Thankful I am but now it is time for the True Katolikus to continue the fight!

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    2. Mr. Joseph Santos, I hear your frustration on so many levels. It might seem that we as clergy are unconcerned about the real issues in our Archdiocese. Far from it! We recognize the anger and disappointment of so many people for the longest time, and our inability to publicly air our grievances is not an indication of apathy. Some people have lumped us all together in very derogatory terms which is unfair. The state of the Archdiocese is a major concern for everyone, especially for priests and nuns whose ministries rely on the trust and love of the people we serve. Not a day goes by that we do not pray from the depths of our heart for things to improve, for truth to surface and for justice to triumph.

      I speak for myself, and know that I refrain from making polemic remarks because I want to be part of the healing that is slow in coming. In the past I clearly expressed my sentiments in this venue but had to opt out in obedience to my immediate superior. I have never left you nor refused to listen to cries that have reached an alarming crescendo. I am one of those stupefied by lack of incisive focus on issues at hand and blatant disregard for the voice of the people, particularly of those who have accused Archbishop Apuron of child sexual abuse. At present I maintain my patient vigil in the hope that Archbishop Hon will make the right decisions as we expect. Without imputing negligence or malice in his part, I am confident that he and those he appointed to help him will expedite their decisions to satisfactory results.

      If ever there is a silver lining in this whole experience, I believe that our laypeople have been empowered to take greater responsibility and accountability for our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. It is a very challenging time to say the least, but I hope that you and others will maintain your belief and trust in your priests who are committed to a renewed and unified Catholic Church. It is ours, a Church faithful to the Magisterium and the mandate of our Lord Jesus Christ, having been purged of undesirable machinations and unorthodox practices that have maliciously crept in recent times. I am sorry if you feel that we have failed you. I am sorry that our silence is misunderstood but know that many are trying our best to be faithful to our ordination and to just do what we do best: to facilitate the sanctification of souls in spite of our own imperfect lives through the grace of the sacraments. Be strong, be faithful and lift your heads up high for what you do is righteous and good. Fortes In Fide!

      Sincerely,
      Father Efren Adversario

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    3. It's so nice to hear from you again Father Efren. We've missed you.

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    4. Silence in the face of injustice? That's the priesthood?

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    5. Dear Fr. Efren,

      thank you for responding to Joseph's comment, your words of support and encouragement and your prayers. Yes, there are many silver linings around the dark clouds in this archdiocese. Yes, the laity has stood up and spoken out for justice. The awakening of the laity is possibly the greatest outcome of this disaster. That it had to come to such a point is a sad reality. But we remain hopeful and look forward to a day when we can sing God's praises with one voice, united in faith and love, in our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

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    6. Dear 5:11 AM, I recently spoke to a religious sister about this issue (silence, obedience, etc.) Although she and the other religious have not been marching in the picket line, they have been doing their part to voice their concerns and work for justice. She did give a bit of advice: Keep Marching.

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    7. Fr. Adversario, You said, "Some people have lumped us all together in very derogatory terms which is unfair." How fair was it when Apuron publicly and viciously attacked his victims? How fair was it that not a single priest spoke out against the injustice? Did the vow of obedience require passive acceptance of Apuron's vicious attacks on those poor innocents?

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  3. We cannot look to any priest to fight with us. We must remember that they have a vow of obedience to the seat of the bishop. They are just examples to show the malevolent acts of apuron. Just as the molested and raped boys' testimonies shed truth to the true evil of apuron.

    Focus. Get apuron out!
    Neos must be kicked out!
    Close RMS.
    Save our Church and take them back from neo heretics!

    SIMPLE.

    I'M ANONYMOUS BECAUSE I AM EVERYONE!

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  4. What Anon 6:28 states is true. We should not rely on the priests to fight for us. We, the laity, are the "soldiers" who must defend our church from these false Catholics. We must continue to bring awareness to all island Catholics of what NCW is and how negatively it effects our Mother Church. Continue the fight! Join the rest of us in reclaiming what was taken away from us. STOP THE MONEY! LAICIZE APURON! St. Michael, defends us in battle.

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  5. Mary Lou Garcia-PeredaJuly 21, 2016 at 8:24 AM

    On the same day that Tim Rohr decided it was time to "pass the torch" to Attorney David Lujan and others, I submitted the following response — with editing in light of the current situation — to his comment in the 10 July post I'm Not Sure What to Think About This in which Tim wrote "The possibility of fear on the part of priests has already been noted several times elsewhere. But fear of what? Certainly not fear of God." which I think bears repeating (with updates):

    ------

    You're absolutely right, Tim. The "fear" that has kept priests from saying and/or doing anything is the same "fear" that prevented members of the laity from signing the 2013 petition addressed to Anthony Sablan Apuron requesting him to restore Fr. Paul Gofigan as pastor of SBCC — the laity were afraid that "Archbishop Apuron will get mad."

    The "fear of Apuron" continued to paralyze the laity. Had it not been for JungleWatch, we might have remained paralyzed. While this blog began as a means of documenting Apuron's unjust treatment of Fr. Paul with a handful of page views each day back in 2013, it has become so much more, thanks to all you have done for the past 3 years.

    Thanks to your courageous stance as well as your repeated message that we the laity have the power to effect change, you can see that more members of the Church Militant are taking steps to overcome their "fear of Apuron."

    The Concerned Catholics of Guam (CCOG) first entered our consciousness in July 2014, one year after JungleWatch came into being. Back then nobody knew who CCOG was. All we knew was that they wanted financial transparency from the Archdiocese of Agana. I firmly believe that without JungleWatch there would be no CCOG … or if that small group had managed to come together, it would not have been able to accomplish as much as it has thanks to you and JungleWatch. The faceless group of individuals calling themselves CCOG who had financed the July 2014 ad in the newspaper eventually revealed themselves. These were people with names and faces — Greg Perez, Dave Sablan, Vangie Lujan and Deacon Steve Martinez (who was replaced by Gerry Taitano) — who began to hold weekly village meetings in February 2015 to educate Catholics about the real threat the NCW posed to our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. You were an integral part of those early CCOG meetings, Tim, modeling how to organize and present wealth of the informational those in attendance.
    NOTE: For the record, you left HUGE SHOES to fill after those initial CCOG meetings. The information you used to present by yourself is now being disseminated by several key members to educate and/or update our fellow Catholics. Even today, after your final post on 12 July in which you stated "I've always asked God to show me when to stop doing this. This morning he showed me. I'm done. I did my part." JungleWatch — the blog you administrated and authored single-handedly for almost 3 full years —continues with a team of courageous and dedicated individuals. So far I've been able to identify 5 contributors — Chuck White, Robert Klitzkie, Jose Martinez, "Frenchie" and "Glaucon, Jr." — who have once again proven that you leave HUGE SHOES to fill in all you do.

    To be continued …

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  6. Mary Lou Garcia-PeredaJuly 21, 2016 at 8:25 AM

    Continuation …

    In March 2015 during the Q & A session at the 6th CCOG meeting in Yigo, the seeds of the Laity Forward Movement (LFM) were planted. It started with Teri Untalan stating her intention to pray the Rosary daily outside the chancery gate as her Lenten Sacrifice. A small group of people would occasionally join her. But rain or shine, Teri prayed in full view of those entering and exiting the chancery. Eventually Teri and her group relocated to the steps of the Cathedral-Basilica to pray the Rosary daily.
    That small handful of people praying the Rosary was motivated to "do more," leading to motorcades, prayer sessions on the steps of the Cathedral-Basilica, silent protests on Sunday mornings across the street during 0930 Mass, as well as the infamous 2016 "airport reception" of the Gennarinis. The LFM now leads weekly picketing on Sunday mornings 0900-0945 in front of the Cathedral-Basilica. We started our picketing with signs that read "RESIGN Apuron but now the signs demand that Rome "DEFROCK Apuron" with new signs about the Apostolic Administrator starting to emerge. Our picket lines have been the object of scorn and derision but, in the words of our LFM Captain Lou Klitzkie, we will continue to picket with our messages as long as it takes.

    Since last year the laity have wanted our clergy to lead us in battle. But we were told that the clergy couldn't do anything because of their "Vow of Obedience." One priest told me that we the laity had to be on the front lines while priests and religious needed to stay in the background, supporting us with prayers. You constantly reminded us that we weren't bound by the same vow of obedience and that we could take action without the clergy. We're slow learners, Tim — thank you for your patience and for consistently encouraging us. We are now engaged in conscious active participation to preserve our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church.

    While more members of the laity are starting to overcome their "fear of Apuron" and are coming forward as active Church Militants, that would not have happened without you and JungleWatch, Tim. The work you have done to expose the sexual abuse in the archdiocese has made THE Difference to many of those who had remained on the sidelines or, even worse, were apathetic about the NCW-related issues (liturgical abuse, heretical teachings, RMS scam, among others). They felt they could be Silent No More, even if their only "voice" was their presence on the picketing line, carrying signs.

    Unfortunately the "fear of Apuron" (and his rumored triumphant return after being "exonerated" like presbyter Lickin' Luis) among our clergy is greater than the Fear of God and has kept the priests from joining us and/or, preferably, leading us in this Spiritual Combat. But we shall continue to fight.

    Thank you for your example of how to Walk the Talk, Tim.
    Thank you for JungleWatch (with its 500,000,000+ page views) … from which came CCOG … from which came LFM.
    Thank you for helping the laity to overcome the "fear of Apuron," even if our priests who are tasked with being our spiritual leaders are still paralyzed by the "fear of Apuron" instead of being emboldened by the Fear of God.
    Thank you and God bless you, Tim!

    St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle …
    St. Athanasius, pray for us!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Mary Lou Garcia-PeredaJuly 21, 2016 at 9:04 AM

      Somehow the first part of my comment got lost in cyberspace …

      On the same day that Tim Rohr decided it was time to "pass the torch" to Attorney David Lujan and others, I submitted the following response — with editing in light of the current situation — to his comment in the 10 July post I'm Not Sure What to Think About This in which Tim wrote "The possibility of fear on the part of priests has already been noted several times elsewhere. But fear of what? Certainly not fear of God." which I think bears repeating:

      ------

      You're absolutely right, Tim. The "fear" that has kept priests from saying and/or doing anything is the same "fear" that prevented members of the laity from signing the 2013 petition addressed to Anthony Sablan Apuron requesting him to restore Fr. Paul Gofigan as pastor of SBCC — the laity were afraid that "Archbishop Apuron will get mad."

      The "fear of Apuron" continued to paralyze the laity. Had it not been for JungleWatch, we might have remained paralyzed. While this blog began as a means of documenting Apuron's unjust treatment of Fr. Paul with a handful of page views each day back in 2013, it has become so much more, thanks to all you have done for the past 3 years.

      Thanks to your courageous stance as well as your repeated message that we the laity have the power to effect change, you can see that more members of the Church Militant are taking steps to overcome their "fear of Apuron."

      The Concerned Catholics of Guam (CCOG) first entered our consciousness in July 2014, one year after JungleWatch came into being. Back then nobody knew who CCOG was. All we knew was that they wanted financial transparency from the Archdiocese of Agana. I firmly believe that without JungleWatch there would be no CCOG … or if that small group had managed to come together, it would not have been able to accomplish as much as it has thanks to you and JungleWatch. The faceless group of individuals calling themselves CCOG who had financed the July 2014 ad in the newspaper eventually revealed themselves. These were people with names and faces — Greg Perez, Dave Sablan, Vangie Lujan and Deacon Steve Martinez (who was replaced by Gerry Taitano) — who began to hold weekly village meetings in February 2015 to educate Catholics about the real threat the NCW posed to our One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church. You were an integral part of those early CCOG meetings, Tim, modeling how to organize and present wealth of the informational those in attendance.
      NOTE: For the record, you left HUGE SHOES to fill after those initial CCOG meetings. The information you used to present by yourself is now being disseminated by several key members to educate and/or update our fellow Catholics. Even today, after your final post on 12 July in which you stated "I've always asked God to show me when to stop doing this. This morning he showed me. I'm done. I did my part." JungleWatch — the blog you administrate and authored single-handedly for almost 3 full years —continues with a team of courageous and dedicated individuals. So far I've been able to identify 5 contributors — Chuck White, Robert Klitzkie, Jose Martinez, "Frenchie" and "Glaucon, Jr." — who have once again proven that you leave HUGE SHOES to fill in all you do.

      To be continued …

      Delete
  7. This vow of obedience of the clerics must be explained to us non-clerics. I cannot see why a priest or a nun must maintain silence in the face of injustice. I remember that Hitler's generals could not use the excuse that they were merely following orders and were found guilty. If a priest witnesses a murder committed by a priest or a nun, must he remain silent? If the answer is no, why should it change if the murderer is a bishop or archbishhop? And what if it is rape? Or sexual molestation?

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    Replies
    1. ...or publicly "beating up" innocent victims of Apuron who came forward to expose him?

      Delete
  8. I cannot speak authoritatively, but it is possible--possible only, mind you--that they were explicitly told to stay out of it by AB Hon. The diocesan priests are overwhelmingly weak and flimsy, but the fact remains that they must at least give the appearance of unity, the appearance of obedience in light of what may or may not be a transition. Either way, they will bear the shame of it, not only in our eyes, but in the eyes of our children. The days of priests on Guam that burn with zeal for the Lord and His flock almost seem in the past, but there are a few there. If bound explicitly by their vow, they don't have a choice.

    Of course, they might not have come to help anyway.

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