THOSE WHO CHOSE "NOT TO..."

By Tim Rohr

At some point, I'm going to be too old to care about who I offend, but I'm not at that point yet, so this post - since it is in reference to someone recently deceased and also greatly (locally) revered - will be intentionally vague. 

In a way, the identity of the recently deceased is not important given that he/she is but one of many powerful people here in Guam who could have made a difference in Guam's Catholic Church when it was still possible to make a difference, but for whatever reason, chose to remain "in the background." 

Of course, we all know - in fact the world knows - what has become of Guam's now bankrupt Catholic Church, and bankrupt not just legally and financially.

The present story goes back to about 2009 when I was being called by "the chancery" almost daily to appear at meetings to address what was probably our local church's first major crisis: same-sex union legislation as introduced and supported by then-Senator B.J. Cruz. 

I was called because at the time I was fairly active in the public media defending all things Catholic - and apparently this chancery think-tank thought I would be an asset to say stuff to the media that they themselves did not want to say. 

In other words, I was - in military terms - "cannon fodder," front line stuff: "look, here, shoot at him!"

I knew what "they" were doing and that I was being used, so I proposed a list of heavyweight Catholics who had both the legal acumen and the Catholic credentials to engage a heavyweight like BJ. I mean, I was just a "mosquito" to BJ, so why not bring out your big guns?

The chancery group nodded in agreement and advised that the persons on my list would be contacted.

At the next meeting, the verdict was that no one - NO ONE - (including the recently deceased) was willing to get involved. 

BJ's legislation went beyond mere legislation, it created a firestorm over homosexuality - or more specifically - homosexual acts, and the bottom line was that NO ONE in "our church" wanted to go there. 

Why?

Because almost everyone had a friend or relative who was homosexual. (Of course, as we now know, certain "members" of those chancery meetings were also homosexual.)

In order to attend these "meetings" - which were often in the middle of the day - I often had to hang a sign on my business saying "closed." This impacted my business and family finances, but I was willing to do it because my first occupation was the defense of our Catholic Church - and not the then-Archbishop. 

It was a difficult time. My only objective was to defend Catholic Church teaching relative to sex, homo or hetero sexual. Catholic Church teaching is extremely clear. The sexual act - more properly called the nuptial act - is naturally and divinely ordered to the begetting of children and thus presenting more souls to Our Lord for Him to Love. 

Chastity is that virtue which allows us to direct all our sexual desires, emotions and attractions toward the dignity of the person and the real meaning of love.  It means we learn to put our own desires and wants aside and instead look to the greatest good for the other.  And so, through practising the virtue of chastity, we learn self-mastery and true love – becoming more Christ-like. (See: CHASTITY)

But I digress.

The bottom line is that back then (2009...) our local Catholic Church heavy-hitters preferred NOT to engage. They liked their positions as "eucharistic ministers, lectors, greeters," etc. And aside from being friends and relatives of homosexuals, they knew and liked BJ. 

I didn't really know BJ, but even as his pain in the ___ in those days, I still liked him. He was honest and open. And one day, after most of the same-sex legislative drama was over, he showed up at my Catholic bookstore and purchased a book about Catholic teaching on homosexuality. 

But going back to how I opened this post - that some powerful people could have made a difference when making a difference could have mattered, our Church is now under court-order to divest itself of millions of dollars of property, property given to the Church by Guam's Catholic faithful over generations if not centuries. 

And most of this terrible trauma is due to the actions of homosexual clergy who helped themselves to young male flesh, and consequently, the people who could have made a difference but chose NOT TO.