Pope Francis Coat of Arms
One thing about Pope Francis, is that he never leaves people with a feeling of neutrality. Almost always people react to his statements with very strong sense of disagreement or a strong sense of relief. Seldom does he leave you bored or unconcerned. Very often Catholics are left confused by his questioning of well established Dogma, often, in off the cuff statements rather than from a teaching position.
It seems that most of the members of the Curia at the Vatican, have taken their cue from Pope Francis, in how to communicate. Leaving us more troubled, rather than enlightened.
As many of the Cardinals, who have been steadfast defenders of the faith are retiring, they are being relentlessly replaced by Social Justice Warriors, rather than by Religious Leaders. While this is true in Rome, it has also happened extensively in the USA, thanks to stealth bishops and cardinals like Mc Carrick, George,Wuerl, Cupich, Gregory or Dolan, and the dozens of their minions who were entrusted with Dioceses and Archdioceses, despite their unabashed coverup of the evils done by their former bosses. (when they were not active participant themselves, as it is advanced now)
The Pope, the Vatican, the US conference of Bishops have rushed to give us the impression that they took things seriously in regards to the inexcusable wanton sexual abuses in the Church at large. We on Guam, have been the witnesses to this abuse at the hands of corrupt clergy, and their efforts to keep it from being exposed for all to see. Per capita, Guam has more victims that came forward, than any other diocese around the world. Even Francis, who seemed to want to sweep our scandal under the proverbial rug, could not not take action against the depraved and corrupt Apuron. Our new Archbishop took very good administrative measures to ensure such situation would not repeat itself. We were given directives on how to proceed if made aware of any abuse. The whole personnel apparatus working for the Archdiocese of Agana has had to go to sensitivity training, and were made aware of the dos and don't of what is appropriate behavior.
Yet despite all these measures, we are left with a sense of discomfort, because many if not most (in many cases) of the people that aided and abetted these abuses are still in position of power and responsibilities. Often these same people have taken retaliatory measures against good priests that denounced their wicked ways, using too many times the pervert process of spreading doubts on people, by questioning their mental abilities. This criminalization by psychiatric process also seems to gain favor within the left side of the political arena. This is highly disturbing to observe when you know how the Soviet Union used this terrible weapon, and how Communist China still does, often against religious people they persecute.This problem is particularly acute in the Archdiocese of Detroit, where Archbishop Byrnes and Fr Richards come from, and where they were an active part of the administration of AOD (Archdiocese of Detroit)
The Catholic Channel "Church Militant" has been particularly vociferous regarding Archbishop Vigneron 's administration, his coverup of a lavender mafia at their main seminary, and the retaliation against good priests coming forward and denouncing abuses.(there are also many issues regarding the closing of parishes and some solutions brought forward) Looking at the way Fr Richards advances forward several agendas and policies, in a unilateral and dictatorial way, while Archbishop Byrnes seems strangely detached from the minutia of the Archdiocese's administration, many people are now questioning the legitimacy of said policies, and the validity of the Fr Richards diktaks. Indeed, this top down approach by two of the most powerful people at the Chancery, Fr Richards and Josephine Villanueva, was at the center of the fiasco that led to the attempt to remove the principal of father Duenas Memorial School, who apparently pushed back on some of the duo's pronunciamentos.
What we are now facing is a mountain of doubts.
Doubts about who is in charge.
Doubts about the real participation of Archbishop Byrnes.
Doubts about the intentions and goals of Fr Richards
Doubts about the background of the Chancellor
Doubts about the real intentions in the writing of the Archdiocese policies.
Doubts about the seriousness with which the NCW is monitored.
Doubts in the true calling of some of our priests
Doubts about some of the key members of the Episcopal council.
Doubts about the professionalism and Catholic identity of certain members of the financial council.
Doubts about the commitment by the Chancery to the well being of the Archdiocese
Doubts about the commitment to the salvation of the souls of the faithful.
Doubts about the necessity of a communication director who remains mute about everything all the time.
This is only a short list of the issues we are getting on a daily basis from concerned parishioners and faithful throughout the diocese. The aloof approach of the Chancellor/ Episcopal Vicar/ Special council to Archbishop/ member of the Financial council/ member of the Episcopal council/ confident in chief is starting to become more and more detrimental to his increasing role.
Lets hope and pray the confusion will be lifted by the Archbishop, and that the very concerning rumors coming from the Archdiocese of Detroit, will be proven wrong. Perhaps this is why both the Archbishop and the Chancellor are off island at this time.
By the way, who is in charge when they are both gone, and the Vicar General has resigned?
Is the Archdiocese of Guam a rudderless boat left without a captain with some nasty weather in the forecast?
Doubts about the mental stability of His Excellency for permitting the likes of Fr. Richards and Fr. Crisostomo. We can thank them should we lose parishes and schools. Hey they wanted control of parish stipends to the cent. Where is the separation in that. Ask around and you will know what we mean.
ReplyDeleteHello anonymous at 11.49, you are correct. I have seen the memo from the budding dictator at the chancery, to the pastors and school principals.This is at the chore of the attempted coup by Richards through the super intendant of Schools to rid themselves of the Principal at father Duenas. If you add the unfortunate flippant and disrespectful attitude from both Fr Richards, and Josephine Villanueva towards the court, this is a perfect storm brewing as far as the parishes and the schools. It is sad, that the Archbishop is so disconnected, either because of a lack of interest, or from rapidly decreasing mental capacities. As for Fr Mike, his lack of discerment, his need for recognition without shame, and his corruption by relinquishing his vow of celibacy can only bring more potential scandals, which are the last things we need.
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