REVISITING THE ISSUE OF PARISHES ASSIGNMENTS, FOLLOWING LAST YEAR TAINTED 6 YEARS ROTATION.

 (Posted by Frenchie)

About the same time last year, I wrote a column in this blog to analyze the movement of priests organized by "the three on the Hill" as they were called by the priests of our Archdiocese. 

After Archbishop Byrnes resigned for health reasons several things happened that would impact the situation of our already weakened Archdiocese.

During his tenure Archbishop Byrnes had to address a mountain of issues left by his predecessor, the disgraced, corrupt and devious Anthony Apuron. One of these issues was the carving of fiefdoms within parishes. Archbishop Byrnes decided to enforce the at time controversial issue of tenure of priests by introducing a 6 years rotation of Priests within the Parishes of the Archdiocese. This unable the Archbishop to address the issue of the NCW "invasion" in every parish on the island, and the removal of problem priests to less influential positions, or in some cases (ie: Adrian Cristobal) to discipline rebellious and/or defiant clergy members. 

Our situation was quite exceptional, and the solution was adequate on a short-term basis. It allowed Byrnes to smoke out the rebels, and attempt to re equilibrate a form of balance in a number of parishes.

As I said it was an adequate temporary solution, but it certainly was not a panacea.

Following Byrnes sidelining, Fr Concovar who had served as Vicar General was named Apostolic Administrator to oversee our Archdiocese until the nomination of a new Archbishop. This will have consequences as we shall see.

Another issue that did affect us indirectly, was the stroke suffered by the Nuncio, who had had a very good grasp on our issues, but ended incapacitated and whose mission was taken over by his right-hand man. A much less pastoral priest, and let say, a more Manichean person. 

At the same time all this was happening, several individuals (understand priests) were jockeying to become the New Archbishop. Leading the Candidates were Bishop Jimenes from Chalang Kanoa, Fr Concovar the Apostolic administrator, Msg James the "Pastor" of the Cathedral (a very unusual situation) who told all his supporters that he was the front runner because of his alleged privileged relationship with Cardinal Tagle the head for the Dicastery for the Evangelization of people who oversees the Pacific Region. Other candidates, less known and less driven were also waiting in the background.

Not long after the lines were drawn, Bishop Jimenez became the obvious leading contender, thanks to his presidency of the Pacific Bishops conference, followed by Fr Concovar, who had very strong incentives to make sure that his tenure as Apostolic Administrator would be as smooth as possible.

Having reestablished the context of last year (2024) parishes re-assignment, lets analyze what I observed last year.

The first thing we established is that the Capuchins were not moved, because of their unique situation which is to take care of specific parishes under the care of their order. In these parishes the approach is a community approach rather that specifically that of a single priest. The Capuchins share duties and assignments from the ranks of their order.

The NCW. Following the open conflict with Archbishop Byrnes, he had accepted some NCW presbyters departure, along with the need to identify the "on mission" personnel. This led to assignments of Presbyters in NCW strongholds, namely: Agat, as well as the chapel in Yigo.  Fr Joel was sent to Barrigada to "manage" the parish. The latest becoming a disaster.  Most other Presbyters were moved to secondary roles around all parishes. In 2024 the system remained the same, after a strong advocacy by  Chrystof and Harold. Fr Concovar acquiesced to the Neos demands, making sure not to make waves. Meanwhile the other 2 from the Hill, Msg James and Fr Crisostomo organized what they thought would be the friendliest re-assignment to their planned takeover. 

Fr Val the quintessential brown noser, got assigned to Our Lady of Lourdes in Yigo with Fr Nino as replacement of Fr Vicenzo. Fr Dan Bien was moved from Santa Barbara to Barrigada. New priests were assigned to Santa Rita,  Santa Barbara, Malojloj,  Inalahan, Tumon, Umatac, and Merizo. The most notable move was the exile to the south of Fr Gofigan The vicar for Liturgy. The notable people that did not move were Msg James and Fr Crisostomo who stayed in their comfy, wealthy assigned parishes.

This all happened in July of last year, before the arrival of our New Archbishop on the Day of the Assumption of Mary.

Many of us concluded that Fr Concovar had coordinated the transition with the assent of the new upcoming Archbishop. Others who were justly concerned (and many still are) by an alignment of Archbishop Jimenes with the NCW following his very friendly relation with them in Chalang Kanoa, remained sceptic...

While this assumption was partially true, the devil is in the detail, as Archbishop Ryan quickly found out. The process of discovery was gradual and slow due to the stalling of dossiers by Fr Concovar until he was nominated as Bishop of Chalang Kanoa. Not long after Archbishop Jimenes nominated Fr Paul as Vicar general, many dossiers which had been swept under the carpet started appearing and were found fairly quickly to be time bombs which could destroy the precarious balance of trust that Archbishop Byrnes had painstakingly attempted to re-establish. 

This was a huge hot potato, especially after the Chancery was sold to finance the settlement with the abused victims, which led to a difficult to plan transfer of the Archdiocese administration down to the Cathedral. Not only did the transfer turned out to be a perilous one, but the Status of Msg James as Pastor of the Cathedral, rather than the Archbishop was becoming challenging. It became even more difficult when a series of very specific complaints were unearthed, which led to an inquiry being launched which normally would lead to a leave of absence for the person investigated. Msg James lawyered up and decided to fight the complaints, which has led to a temporary situation where he is only authorized to celebrate mass, but is restricted in almost all activities. Ergo his odd assignment at the Santa Barbara Parish which is located close to his family roots.

All that instability and come to Jesus situation of several priest which had been delayed for too long also explains the nomination as Administrators, which is usually a one-year Temporary assignment before being nominated as Pastor.

Talking to several priests around the Island there is definitely a sentiment of relief, coupled with why we had to wait so long? I guess Archbishop Ryan is very cautious navigating this minefield. I am fairly sure that his 1st year adaptation taught him, that the devil is indeed in the detail. And several people from very different background would be very pleased to see him falter.

Time will tell.