By David Sablan (President, Concerned Catholics of Guam)
Below is a link to an on-line Catholic News Agency article on the Neocatechumenal Way (NCW) in Philadelphia.
https://www.catholicnewsagency.com/news/philadelphia-archdiocese-asks-two-priests-to-undo-hasty-church-renovations-66304
The news story is about two NCW priests who made renovations to their parish churches including the sanctuaries without the authorization and approval of the Archbishop of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, who directed them to undo all the renovations after the archbishop with parishioners from the two parishes who complained about these renovations.
Good for those parishioners who complained and praise be to Archbishop Nelson J. Perez of Philadelphia who listened to the complaints from the parishioners; delegated a liturgical expert to investigate the matter; and after receiving the expert’s report, determined what these two priests did was wrong and ordered the two priests to undo all the renovations made and return the churches and the sanctuaries to their original layout.
At one of the parishes, St. Charles Borromeo parish, the NCW pastor converted a basement gym into a worship space for the NCW. The parishioners used that gym for social gatherings and receptions after funerals. The parishioners complained their pastor was giving preferential treatment to members of the NCW in the parish. They felt they were being shoved aside in favor of the NCW’s need for a “place of worship.” Doesn’t this sound familiar?
Here at Barrigada, in the lower level of San Vicente church, there is a room used regularly by one prayer group to hold devotional prayers to our Blessed Mother Mary. One evening the prayer group started their prayers late. In the middle of their prayers, they were interrupted and advised to finish their prayers in the hallway, because the room they were in needed to be prepared for the NCW, probably for their bizarre mass.
Back at St. Charles Borromeo parish, the parishioners went so far as to protest to have their NCW pastor removed! A 76-year old parishioner, Carolyn Jenkins, a devout Catholic and protestor said, “There’s no way he can stay here with all the bad history and signs of racism we have experienced.” Wow!
Here are two excerpts from the article:
“. . . critics point to its unusual liturgical style and have accused it (the NCW) of forming parallel communities in the parishes where it operates.”
“When the Neocatechumenal Way is present in a diocese, it is often responsible for bringing priestly vocations from around the world, though some critics say those priests do not always integrate well into the local communities they serve.”
That is because the NCW hierarchy and its lieutenants (priests ordained for the NCW) serve their own communities using the resources of our parishes which should be used to benefit all the parishioners! They are the cause of divisiveness in our Archdiocese.
Toward the end of the article, Kenneth Gavin, the chief communications officer of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia certainly had the “wool pulled over his eyes” with his comments about the NCW:
“The Neocatechumenal Way is a distinct charism within the Roman Catholic Church that is sanctioned by the Vatican. Its liturgical celebrations have some elements that are different from what the parishioners would traditionally experience.”
Really? Contrast that with the comments of Bishop Athanasius Schneider, who was a delegate to the NCW in Karaganda, Kazakhstan for several years. In a March 2016 interview at the John Henry Newman Center for Higher Education in Hungary, Bishop Schneider said this about the NCW:
“It is a Trojan horse in the Church.”
“The Neocathecumenate is a Protestant-Jewish community inside the Church with a Catholic decoration only.”
The Neocatechumenal Way has been a thorn in our side since we discovered their alliance with disgraced (And now banished) Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron, and their plan to convert the Archdiocese of Agana into a model Neocatechumenal Way archdiocese for the world to see. With Apuron, the NCW had a “quid pro quo” relationship. They conspired to change and effectively takeover the leadership of the Archdiocese and infiltrate the parishes as well forming NCW communities.
They needed a local figurehead to lead the “way." Apuron fit that role for them, and a real reward for the NCW was when Apuron, an archbishop, became a member of an NCW community in Agana. A first for the NCW. [Editor's note: In hindsight, one wonders whether or not the NCW hierarchy was using what they knew of Apuron's past to obtain the "quid pro quo.']
The NCW have been operating on Guam since approximately1994 when Adrian Cristobal and Apuron invited them to “evangelize” to our local Catholics. Because of our trust in Archbishop Apuron, we believed this was good for our Church. [Editor's note: The "them" is a certain Fr. Pius Sammut who, upon arrival, became Apuron's roommate.]
A few years later after the NCW arrived on Guam they were given an asset of the Archdiocese in Yona (for free) to establish an NCW seminary. Young men from the US, the CNMI, South America, Central America, and Europe came to study at this seminary. In 2009, the first of these seminarians were ordained priests by Apuron. [Editor's note: Eventually, the "seminary" was determined to be a fraud. And it was disbanded and the property has been sold to help pay for the massive debts Apuron and his "seminarians" helped to perpetuate.]
One of those ordained in 2009, an Italian, Fr. Fabio Faiola, was assigned as pastor of Our Lady of Guadalupe (OLOG) parish in Santa Rita. The parishioners welcomed this new pastor. Within a short while, his true objective was revealed. His sermons and homilies were disjointed, confusing, uninspiring - a general characteristic of NCW formed clerics.
His Italian accent made it difficult for the people to understand what he was trying to preach to them. He displayed no empathy for the people of Santa Rita. In one homily, he lashed out at the Mass attendees, lecturing them as being gossipers, always talking about people behind their backs! Many were offended, not because it was true or not, but he had the gall to include all the villagers in his blanket accusation!
In the few years he was at OLOG, Fabio did some things that upset the parishioners even more.
Fabio demolished the priest conbento [the pastor's residence] with no plan for another pastor's residence.
[Editor's note: Fabio had no plan for a pastor's residence because NCW priests did not live in their parishes. They stayed at their "headquarters," the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona.]
Fabio wanted to build an NCW pastoral center on the spot where the priest conbento stood for many years directly across the street from the church grounds.
The parish had made plans to build a split-level structure on that same spot a few years earlier but paused to raise funds. It would house the priest on the first level, with a social center on the top level with a garage for the parish vehicle. Renderings and basic layout plans were developed.
Without any idea where he was going to get the money to build this NCW pastoral center, he went ahead and spent $20,000 of parish funds to demolish the conbento that housed the pastor since the late 1970’s.
To further add salt to the wound, he spent another $20,000 for architectural plans. Guess to whom he paid the $20,000? To Giuseppe Gennarini’s son. Giuseppe Gennarini, Sr. is the head of the NCW in the US and Guam.
The plans Fabio paid with parish funds were useless. They were in metric measurements. They would have to be converted into Imperial measurements (feet, inches, etc.). Prior to the plans being drawn up, the soil should have been tested and analyzed. This was not done. The terrain of the lot is sloped. There was no topographical survey done. Fabio had no idea what he was doing. Gennarini, Jr. is not licensed to do architectural work on Guam, so there was no way to get permits for construction from the Department of Public Works.
$40,000 of church funds wasted and probably stolen.
It has now been years since the conbento was demolished. Since Fabio was an NCW priest as well as his successor, Fr. Krzysztof Szafarski, they did not reside at all in the village. They just said Mass as scheduled and left Santa Rita. They both were not pastors, but transient priests. Who knows where they stayed. [Editor's note: They stayed in their palatial, seaside estate at the former RMS "seminary" in Yona.]
Now Fr. Richard Kidd is the pastor of OLOG parish. His office is his residence as well. A bedroom is set up in what was the office of the pastor.
The parish now must plan and raise funds to build its pastor a decent home. That $40,000 wasted by Fabio could have been used to spruce up the conbento that Fabio demolished. The conbento was a well-constructed two-bedroom red brick house with an efil wood and tin roof that was built circa 1959. It went through many typhoons that came across Guam since Typhoon Karen in November 1962 with minimal damage.
Because the lot in Santa Rita is vacant, it has been put on the list of assets to be sold to pay for the sexual abuse claims against certain members of our clergy. Had the conbento been on the lot with the pastor staying there, it probably would not have been put on that list for sale.
Fabio had the CCD building condemned by the Department of Public Works.
Fabio called the Department of Public works to come and condemn the CCD building which sat right next to the church building. The inspector was not a structural engineer nor any type of engineer, but he represented DPW, and his signature on the condemnation report made it an official order of the government not to occupy the building. The building was locked and taped off.
The building was originally a storage facility. The finance council of the parish before Fabio was assigned as pastor, invested money to fix up the building and convert it into CCD classrooms for the children of the parish who went to public schools. The building has a concrete floor, hollow block walls, and a wood and tin roof.
Fabio had something else in mind. He wanted to demolish the church building. Since the CCD building was next door, he at least got that building condemned which made it easy to say the church building needed to be condemned and demolished as well.
Fabio started to spread the lie that the church structure was leaning to one side. He had parishioners stand at the back of the church and ask them to see the church building leaning to one side. His plan: To build an NCW-designed church with the altar in the center and the pews set up around it for the NCW communities to sit together in designated sections. He even got Apuron to go along with his con. At a fiesta Mass, Apuron preached to the people that they needed to consider demolishing the church building and to work toward building a new one!
Fabio did not know that in 1998, the church building was hardened after Typhoon Paka (December 1997) blew the wood and tin roof of the church away. The parish borrowed several hundred thousand dollars from the US Small Business Administration to build a strong, hardened church structure with concrete columns and beams, large footings for the columns, and a strong concrete roof. The walls of the church were the original ones, but they did not carry the weight of the roof; the new columns, beams, and the large footings did. And there was a soil test and analysis done preceding the construction. The architect and engineers were prepared to design the church structure based on that data.
Some of the parishioners asked an engineer to come by and assess the integrity of the church building. That engineer said the building was strong and there was nothing wrong with construction, nor was it leaning to one side.
So Fabio’s plan for a new NCW designed church was foiled.
The CCD building is still condemned. Fr. Richard Kidd is now working on getting that condemnation rescinded by the Department of Public Works.
Fabio fakes a burglary of the statues of the saints and the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Late one evening, Fabio with the help of others, probably from the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, removed all the statues from their pedestals and niches in the sanctuary. They lined the statues (each about 5 feet in height) down the center aisle, getting them ready to be taken out and stored somewhere not on church grounds or buildings.
A parishioner happened to be driving by and was curious why the church lights were on at such a late hour (close to midnight), so he pulled his car into the parking lot and entered the church. He saw what was happening and asked Fabio what was going on? Fabio responded that he and the others with him stopped burglars from stealing the statues! They came just in time before the statues were taken away.
In my opinion, I believe Fabio wanted to replace the statues with paintings of statues by Kiko Arguello. If this was his intent, then his plan was foiled.
The statues were returned to their pedestals and niches, but the statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe was damaged. So that statue was presumably taken for repairs. After several years, in early 2016, the statue was located in a storage room at Mt. Carmel School in Agat. There were no repairs done.
So, it was taken from that storage room to an artist who immediately repaired the statue. A few months later the statue of Our Lady was placed on its pedestal in the sanctuary of Our Lady of Guadalupe church in Santa Rita.
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Our Lady of Guadalupe is one parish on Guam that has been set back by NCW priests who were assigned there for 9 years since 2009.
As a parishioner of Our Lady of Guadalupe since 1978, I saw a huge decline in the interaction between the pastor and his flock since 2009, when NCW priests were assigned to our parish.
They were never around except for scheduled Masses and other times they had to be there for administration of the sacraments like First Holy Communion for new Communicants; marriages; etc.
Guam and our Archdiocese of Agana would best be served without the NCW. They should be expelled from Guam, never to return.
Those who followed in the “Way” can be taken care of by good pastors who can establish adult catechesis in their parishes for these adults seeking to know the Truth as taught by Jesus Christ down through the ages by the Pope and his bishops—not by Kiko Arguello and his cohorts.
David J. Sablan
Santa Rita, Guam