By Tim Rohr
Concerned Catholics of Guam President David Sablan has written a letter opposing the choice of Fr. Harold Colorado Prieto by the Catholic ProLife Committee as the main speaker at this Friday's March for Life.
LETTER: Major concern with regard to the March for Life event on Friday
By David J. Sablan
There is a March for Life procession and rally this Friday starting in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica in Hagåtña. The event participants want to show strong support for life, specifically for unborn babies.
The primary objective of the Guam Catholic Pro-Life Committee is to rally our support for the unborn children developing in the wombs of their mothers. Aborting babies is evil. The unborn are children of God and are entitled to life, a gift from God, our Creator.
When I read the announcement of this March for Life event, it listed Father Harold Prieto as its main speaker at the rally. Probably for many, he is just another member of the clergy. Many probably do not know who he is.
I questioned the organizer of the event how and why was he chosen to speak at the event? The response did not satisfy me. With other leaders of our clergy, or lay persons who could speak with authority, knowledge, and influence on the subject of abortion vs. life of a baby in the womb, I was shocked that Fr. Harold Prieto was asked to speak at this important event.
If there is one member of the clergy who can be identified as probably the closest ally to the now-disgraced, demoted, and permanently exiled from Guam, former Archbishop of Agana, Anthony Apuron, it is Harold Colorado Prieto.
Apuron was found guilty by a Vatican tribunal for "certain accusations" relating to allegations of sexual abuse of minors. Apuron was stripped of his title of archbishop of Agana and exiled forever from Guam. He can never return.
This was a major scandal that hung over Guam like a dark cloud for several years till justice was finally served for the people of Guam. Pope Francis further decreed that Apuron could not appeal his conviction and sentence.
Harold Prieto was Apuron's right hand man and one of his fiercest defenders.
Why is the Pro-Life Committee giving him a platform to present himself as someone who has authority, knowledge, and influence to rally support for the Pro Life cause?
The other disturbing fact is, Harold Prieto is part of the Neocatechumenal Way, NCW, which has been trying to resurrect their reputation from the Apuron scandal.
The NCW organization on Guam started to exert their power because of their support from Apuron, only to be brought down with Apuron when he was exposed of corruption and certain accusations relating to sexual abuse of minors.
Harold Prieto is a priest. If he had any ounce of humility and concern for the feelings of those hurt by Apuron's scandal, which still is haunting us as we financially settle with the victims of Apuron and other individuals abused by other members of the clergy, he should have not accepted to be the main speaker at this event.
Concerned Catholics of Guam, Inc. is working to remove the Neocatechumenal Way organization from Guam and the region. Their methods of conversion and teachings are not in line with scripture, the magisterium and traditions of our Catholic Church.
David J. Sablan is the president of Concerned Catholics of Guam, Inc.
My Note
From the feedback I've received, it appears the real concern about Fr. Harold isn't his horrible record from the Apuron years but, in the words of one commenter: "his usual nonchalant, unprepared homilies and delivery may actually offend the non-Catholic participants," and "He's going to be too hip, trying to cater to the youth that may actually be offensive to the adult non-Catholic attendees."
Given that this is the main Catholic ProLife event of the year, one wonders why the new archbishop has to be off-island (again) at this time. It would have been a perfect opportunity for him to show leadership on this issue which, given the number of abortions procured by local Catholics and the current governor's abortion militancy, is, next to the scandal Apuron left us, the biggest scandal in Guam's Catholic Church.
Again, given the prominence of this event and the archbishop's absence, speaking duties should have fallen to the Vicar General, Fr. Romeo Convocar, or, next in line, Msgr. Ruben Espeno who is the Spiritual Director for the Catholic Pro-Life Committee. But these two either declined to speak or were not invited to.
Meanwhile, given that this is a public event and not specifically Catholic, it would probably have been advisable to have a layperson speak, especially a layperson more intimately involved with the ProLife cause.
In any event, Mr. Sablan's points are well taken and given how Harold is directly connected to the events that led to the bankruptcy of this archdiocese, in my view, Harold's selection to speak at this event is certainly ill-advised if not a slap in the face to those of us who paid a heavy price to expose the evil that Harold was defending.
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