Sunday, September 4, 2016

OBJECTIVES NOT MET, OUR MISSION CONTINUES

Posted by Jose M.

The sidewalk was crowded, the picket line extended further than ever before!


When it was announced that Fr. Paul Gofigan's installation Mass would occur at 9:30 am, some took to their keyboards to opine their position in reference to continuing the picket.  I am not sure why there was even any discussion.  Everything we have been protesting for are still in place.  Nothing has changed to justify abandoning our weekly morning display.



Roland Sondia, survivor.




Apuron has not been "defrocked;"







the sham RMS still exists in Yona and thus is still siphoning from our Archdiocesan coffers;
Roy Quintanilla, survivor.





and most importantly, justice for Apuron's victims survivors has not been served.

We cannot rest, we must not pause, we will not cease until our Church is restored.


For more pics from today's record breaking number of participants protest,  click here.

27 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. This is Rude-ee the mad priest. You should see the other stuff he said.

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    2. Thank you for sharing your rotten fruits, Anonymous at 4:01 PM.

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    3. Rude seriously you should be ashamed. If it is you posting 4.01pm then you need help. Please find a Spiritual Director, a friend who can guide you, a family member. You can have opinions as we all do but swearing is not best way to go. It shows a person not at peace.
      Is it not best for you to retire back to PI? Live in peace. ?

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    4. Surprised he has time to write expletives. He's so busy f---ing that woman.

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    5. Thank you Fr. Rudy! Do unto other's you've done it to Jesus. God bless you.

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    6. Rudee, you're a funny guy. You and your neocult time is short. So let your anger out since it's about as useless as you are. Hypocrite.

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    7. Fr.Rude. where you going after St.Anthony? Going PI?

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    8. Is there a call for the process of defrocking this poor excuse of a priest? That should remove all entitlement benefits going to him...hopefully. spn2

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  2. I felt compelled to join the "Should I?/Shouldn't I?" discussion because I had considered going in to the Mass — albeit late — AFTER we completed picketing. I wanted to do BOTH picket AND "celebrate" with Fr. Paul. But, as I explained in an earlier comment, my daughter helped me come to terms with how incompatible my wishes were, no matter how hard I tried to rationalize! Come through think of it, I was almost caught up in the delusional warped thinking similar to that "NCW Insider" …

    And while I worried that Fr. Paul's popularity would affect the turnout this morning — I was aware some of our "regulars" had indicated their intention to "celebrate" his new assignment — it turned out that I worried for nothing. A handful of our "regular" picketers went inside but the number of brand new faces on the picket line more than made up for their absence.

    Usually as 0900 approaches, there are about 10 of us ready to go … and we do. We start off as a scraggly bunch and eventually the line begins to lengthen as the minutes tick by. This morning, it was wonderful to see so many new faces arrive bright and early. I couldn't help noticing that the sign chosen by most picketers was my personal favorite DEFROCK APURON. When we began to walk at 0900, I was pretty far back in the line — usually I'm number 2 or 3 behind our leader Gerry Taitano. There were so many as we started out that I met Gerry and others from the head of the line after they made their "turn-around" at the end of the sidewalk — and I was still quite a distance from that point.

    When I made my first turn-around, I was delighted to see a long line of picketers going in the opposite direction … and I still couldn't see Gerry (or his sign)! People kept joining the picket and we eventually ran out of signs. Some of the Early Birds were holding TWO of the DEFROCK APURON signs and ended up "sharing" their extra sign with the late-comers.

    As Jose M stated We cannot rest, we must not pause, we will not cease until our Church is restored.

    I look forward to seeing you all next Sunday — and as many Sundays as it will take — 0900-0945 in front of the Cathedral-Basilica. Let's DO IT!!

    St. Athanasius, pray for us.

    St. Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle…

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  3. This battle continues. St. Michael protect us.

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  4. The number of participants and their willingness to express their desires for the Church in Guam ought to give clear indication to Archbishop Hon that these issues are not going away until he heeds their message and give them what they want. There is no shame in listening to the will of the people they serve; on the contrary it is great tribute to church leadership to enter into dialogue with the protestors to see how they can work together to make these things happen. The voice of the Laity is indispensable and they will not remain silent. The small handouts being given out right now are useless unless swift justice is meted out to those who suffered horrible abuse under Apuron and his band of rogue quasi-catholics. It still remains a big question mark what will happen to the property deceptively alienated from Church ownership for the benefit of RMS/NCW/Kikoland.


    unless justice is given to those who suffered abuse from Apuron and his band of rouge quasi-Catholics.

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  5. - From afar - THANK YOU TRUE KATOLIKUS - for continuing to fight the battle! As stated by Tim - We still have lot to get to do to get our Catholic Church restored!

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    1. And to quote from Jose M - We cannot rest, we must not pause, we will not cease until our Church is restored.

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  6. I love the tenacity of our faithful protesters. I saw Mae Ada's picture at the picket. And I saw her at the mass for Ben Ada at Sinajana 10:30am mass.

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  7. Rose de los Reyes (Seattle, WA)September 5, 2016 at 12:20 AM

    "Protesting" is generally acting or speaking out against something. It can take many forms, such as boycotts, media campaigns, letter-writing, a blog like JungleWatch or any number of group and individual actions. "Picketing" is a specific form of protesting that involves people organizing in lines, often marching, WITH THEIR PHYSICAL PRESENCE tied directly to the effectiveness of the protest. As an example of a picket those on Guam can relate to, take the Sunday pickets at the Agana Cathedral-Basilica organized by the CCOG. I wrote yesterday that the mess in the local Church is many and they are layered. It is a tangled web of a mess created over the span of at least a couple of decades. The mess will not be cleared in one big fix. It will take time to effect the proper fixes just as it took time to create the mess. There was much discussion on previous blog posts of the past couple of days whether or not to picket when the regular day and time of the Sunday picket came into conflict with Fr. Paul’s installation mass as rector of the Cathedral-Basilica. There are those who felt conflicted about attending the mass or the picket. I believe the feeling of their personal conflict was rooted, in part, because of the general lack of understanding of the purpose and the power of the picket. While it may seem that a picket line's only purpose is to publicize an injustice or air a simple demand, the practice of picketing is not to be taken lightly. Until the injustices are righted then picketers can relent. But keep in mind that the reasons (with an “s”) for the Sunday picket at the Agana Cathedral-Basilica are many and varied. One righted injustice is a good step forward, but each there are others that remained unaddressed. For this reason, those who love the Church should continue to continue to picket until the local Church is solidly on track to steady and strong health. For this reason, when future corrections are addressed by the Archdiocese and improvements are made one at a time, while those improvements are heralded and welcomed, there should be no conflict whether to attend or not attend a Sunday picket until all injustices are righted.

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  8. Rose de los Reyes (Seattle, WA)September 5, 2016 at 12:23 AM

    I mentioned earlier that the effectiveness of the picket as a form of protest is the protesters’ PHYSICAL PRESENCE. For this reason, for those who want improvements in the various messes in the Church; for those who feel outraged for being deceived in big and small ways by Fr. Apuron and others who acted with him and want to get out that feeling of outrage; for those who are incensed by Fr. Apuron, Fr. Brouillard and other clergy over the predatory sexual molestation acts they took upon the young and vulnerable; for those who wish to show their support for the brave survivors of the clergy sexual molestation; for those who just simply feel exasperated by the mess in the local Church and want to “do something” to help clean up the mess … join the Sunday morning picket at the Agana Cathedral-Basilica. Your physical presence is a huge help in making the Sunday morning picket effective. Your physical presence is a help toward cleaning up the mess in the local Church. Other people are able to give of their talent, skill, and knowledge toward this cause. Other people are able to give money for the same reasons. Other people give their time and their effort. Talent, time, and money are all equal. If you aren’t able to donate financially to the cause of cleaning up the mess, donate your time on the picket line. 1 to 1-1/2 hour of travel and actual picketing time on your Sunday morning is minimal compared to the alternative which is to leave the Church in its present state of sickness and mess. The picket line is also a teachable opportunity for the young. Bring your children and teach them about taking responsibility for the good health of their local Church and that one way of taking responsibility is how to peacefully disagree with institutions to which you belong and one that you respect and love.

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    1. Rose de los Reyes (Seattle, WA)September 6, 2016 at 2:03 AM

      I am heartened by Bob’s post of 9/5/2016 “ … The Backfire!” In it he writes of the highest number of picketers on 9/4/2016 since picketing began and, more importantly, it was a Sunday wherein the regularly scheduled picket was in conflict with a special mass many of the local Faithful would have wanted to attend. Upon reading Bob’s post from Seattle, WA, my reaction was, “…they’re FINALLY getting it!” “They” meaning more of the island Faithful. “It” meaning the importance of the picket as a form of protest. I wish to elaborate on my writings above about the effectiveness of the picket. I’m spelling this out in practical terms so that you can personally relate to the picket and see how important it is for the Faithful to participate. First, the picket is one of, if not, THE most visible forms of peaceful protest. That is what makes it effective. When picketers are seen, in the minds of those who see them will automatically rise, “What are they picketing about?” Bringing this question to the minds of others will help raise the awareness of the cause. This is also why picket signs are important. The signs answer that question and serve in planting a seed of curiosity about the cause. Second, a picket’s effectiveness is brought about by “strength in numbers.” The more the picketers, the more their cause draws attention because of the crowd. Its human nature to be inquisitive when one sees a bunch of people gathered. Questions that will come to a spectator’s mind are: “Why are there so many people? What are they mad about?” This is what I meant when I wrote above that PHYSICAL PRESENCE is important in a picket. One of the ways a picket can be effective is in the number of picketers. My understanding is that the Faithful have lost confidence in the workings of the local Church. If you are one of those who want to see the situation turned around to a positive direction, donate your presence and your time to the Sunday pickets. The more picketers present, the more the world will see that, literally, “the natives are getting restless” about seeing improvements in the local Church.

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    2. Rose de los Reyes (Seattle, WA)September 6, 2016 at 2:18 AM

      And while I’m on the topic of picketers and numbers, I’m going to expand. Follow this math so that you can see the numbers we ought to see in the picket line. Guam has an estimated population of 160,000 residents. Of that number, 85% are Roman Catholics. That means there are about 130,000 Katolikus on the island. Most of the island Faithful agree that the Church has been poorly run the Fr. Apuron and others in leadership, for at least the past couple of decades. During that period not many, whether clergy or laity, wanted to tell the Emperor he had not clothes on for fear that heads would roll. [for those handful who did tell him, their heads did roll …]. As a result, the condition of the local Church is such that it is --- a mess in multiple ways. A mess that was a couple of decades in the making. The good news is that all of that is in the past. It’s time to move forward and clean the mess. Counting yourself in the picket line is one of the ways you can help clean the mess. If there are an estimated 130,000 Katolikus on the island, if even half of them showed up at the Sunday picket --- there should be at least 65,000 picketers. That number would definitely draw attention and effect movement toward cleaning up the mess and bringing the local Church back to strong health. No one is going to clean this up for the Faithful. The Faithful have to do it for themselves and for the Church.

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  9. thanks for sharing the photos. i'm reminded once again of the story of the fall of jericho (joshua 6), when the Lord won the city after the israelites marched around it for seven days. the Catholics of guam aren't marching to destroy the cathedral, but to demand justice, to reclaim the guam Church and to restore it to the true faith.

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    1. As JDR had stated from Afar..My family and I want to thank each and everyone of you too for continuing on the battle to get OUR Catholic Church back and fighting for what we ALL believed in..Hopefully some day we will ALL be back again to join in the picket line..

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  10. Okay, the installation of Fr. Paul as Rector is over. Let us not be so intolerant to those who attended his mass of installation that we cannot
    accept them as fellow protesters in the Sundays to come. And let us not reject any and all financial support, either. We need all the help we can get.

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    1. Don't you mean to say that as Catholics we can and should show charity to those who were so intolerant of the principles of their brothers and sisters, who had been picketing for months, as to cross, and advocate that others cross, their picket line?

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    2. That's more like it, Anonymous @ 2:47 pm!..."Crossing and advocating that others cross the picket line".

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    3. As far as I know, no one was taking the names of those who crossed the picket line. In fact, most snuck in the back door.

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  11. Is that you Eileen?

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