Since Archbishop Apuron has invited Pope Francis to Guam before going to the Philippines, I am hoping that the Pope would decide to stop here for a few days. We were honored to have St. John Paul II visit Guam in 1981, and it would be a great honor to have Pope Francis visit us as well. I hope he would be able to stay for a few days. It would even be better if he could celebrate Mass in the Cathedral and then have Eucharist with members of the Way. I am certain that the Agana communities will get first priorities. If the Pope were to celebrate the Eucharist in the NCW, that may put an end to all the speculations and ugly rumors from people who have never attended the catechesis or even have first hand knowledge and experience of walking in the Way. That is my hope. After all, those persecutors are still our Catholic brothers who have been led astray by Satan. Jesus loved them too. After all, Christ also appeared to Saul who persecuted Christians. Afterwards, he was converted. On the other hand, if they persist in their persecutions, then they are truly lost and all we can do is give them up to God.
Thank you, Archbishop for extending an invitation to the Pope for coming to Guam. We are happy to hear that the Pope was very supportive of you. In fact, we can see his support of you in this photo as the Pope holds on to your arm, and both of you smile together. A picture is worth a thousands words. Continue doing good things for our island and God bless. :)
Daina -sharing an interesting excerpt from the address of the Holy Father to participants of the Third World Congress of Ecclesial Movements and New Communities on 22 November 2014:
ReplyDelete"...we must never forget is that the most precious good, the seal of the Holy Spirit, is communion. This is the supreme blessing that Jesus won for us on the Cross, the grace which the Risen Christ continually implores for us as he reveals to the Father his glorious wounds, “As you, Father, are in me, and I in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me (Jn 17:21). For the world to believe that Jesus is Lord, it needs to see communion among Christians. If, on the other hand, the world sees divisions, rivalries and backbiting, regardless of the cause, how can we evangelize? Remember this further principle: “Unity prevails over conflict” (Evangelii Gaudium, 226-230), because our brothers and sisters are always of greater value than our personal attitudes; indeed, it is for our brothers and sisters that Christ has shed his blood (1 Pet 1:18-19). In addition, real communion cannot exist in Movements or in New Communities unless these are integrated within the greater communion of our Holy Mother, the hierarchical Church. “The whole is greater than the part” (cf Evangelii Gaudium, 234-237), and the part only has meaning in relation to the whole."
The NCW needs to take this to heart.
AnonymousDecember 1, 2014 at 5:19 PM, you are sharing this, 'cause the NCW has a problem with hierarchy? That's not the picture in Guam, where a bunch of people (Christians and non-Christians) are united in their hatred for the Archbishop.
DeleteSo the Holy Father says that Christians need to be in communion, integrated in the hierarchical Church, not that political interest parties need to be united in their disgusting war against the hierarchy. So who needs to take this to hart now, really?
The Pope is rather saying with this to the deceived Catholics of this island to stop getting in bed with anyone who will hate the Archbishop with them (such as SNAP and all kinds of horrible things), but rather seek unity with fellow Catholics (e.g. NCW).
Diana...What do you mean by "stop getting in bed with anyone who will hate the Archbishop"?
DeleteSorry Daina, you've misunderstood again. It's not about the NCW having a problem with hierarchy. It's that the NCW has a problem understanding that they're only a "part" of the whole and as Pope Francis says, "the whole is greater than the part and the part only has meaning in relation to the whole." The NCW has to seek unity with the whole Church, not the other way around my dear.
DeleteDear Anonymous at 10:43 pm,
DeleteFirst of all, I was NOT the one who replied to you. I do not go by "Anonymous" in my blog. I post using my name "Diana". We never misunderstood that we are part of the greater whole (the Catholic Church with its hierarchy. This is the reason we do NOT oppose the Archbishop who is part of that hierarchy. The fact that we follow the Archbishop already shows that we are already in unity with the whole Church. After all, the Archbishop represents the Pope because he was appointed by the Pope. It is those who oppose the Archbishop who should seek unity with the whole Church.
The bishop for the diocese is the Vicar of christ for the local church. The Pope is Vicar of christ for the entire church. It's in the catechism. They who publicly cause hatred against the pope and bishop are making sins against christ and his church. The catechism says this. I find this fascinating. I thought that the bishop was just the big boss. No. There's more to it.
ReplyDeleteHow does this not strike you as a direct contradiction to what you yourself say?- 'We never misunderstood that we are part of the greater whole' .. And yet you previously asked the pope, who has the divine responsibility to unify all the christian denominations and different movements together, to celebrate a mass in the NCW style?
ReplyDeleteDear Keith,
DeleteI said it would be nice to have the Pope celebrate the Eucharist with us only to show the jungle folks that the Pope approves of the liturgy in the Way. It is the jungle who kept saying that we are not Catholic. They also say that the Pope would never celebrate Mass in the NCW because they consider it an illicit Mass.
Considering the NCW mass to be totally approved and NCW has nothing wrong with its methods.. Even then it would not be correct for the pope to celebrate mass like that because of the unity he has to promote to all christians.. So to show that you are part of the whole church you have to go to a normal mass like every catholic and not vice versa.
ReplyDeleteDear Keith,
DeleteConsidering the NCW Mass to be totally approved and nothing wrong with its method, it is ridiculous to think that it would be incorrect for the Pope to celebrate something that the Holy See himself has approved. Normal Mass??? This is the kind of mentality that the Church is trying to dispel. The Catholic Church is rich with a variety of liturgies all approved by her. For example, would you consider the Mass of the Eastern Catholics abnormal despite that it is approved by the Holy See?
No I wouldn't because it is one of the around 20 official liturgical rites approved by the Vatican. But these are all rites which were changed firstly through lots of dialogues and meetings, and all of them have a rich history from the apostles .. Something that as far as i know Kiko doesn't have.. So yes i stand by my point.. If there is nothing wrong why would it be a problem for you as NCW to go to a Latin, Western liturgical rite mass- that is the normal western mass, and as far as i know spain, from where it began is supposed to follow that rite not invent another one of his own and act like it's the best liturgy ever invented -.- it's amazing how much you don't even consider there may be something wrong in the NCW
ReplyDeleteDear Keith,
DeleteThose liturgies were changed with time, not with dialouges or council meetings. What Kiko has is a liturgy that existed during the first century. The Early Church never celebrated in that huge building that you call "church." They celebrated in the homes like the NCW. As time went by, the Early Church grew that they no longer fit in the homes. So, they built those buildings where people gather to celebrate the Mass. They did not have any council meetings to do this. It simply happened in order to accommodate the large number of people.
Also, it was never a problem for us to go to the regular mass. The NCW goes to a regular Mass once a month. There are also four members in my community that I know of who attend regular Mass daily (including the Sunday regular Mass in addition to the NCW Eucharist).
You say that there is something wrong with the NCW liturgy. Can you be more specific? Are you referring to the Jewish menorah on the table? Perhaps, it is the table you do not approve of?
As long as the rites used are the same as ours I personally do not care if you use a circular table or not.. BUT there has to be an altar to offer the body and blood of Christ. About what the church did, yes of course because instead of hiding in fear they started to meet outside after a while that is why then they built churches. So why is it so difficult to just go to mass with all the other faithful?? If not even mass unites us together as catholics I can't imagine anything else doing that, not even the pope, because the mass is more important than the pope
DeleteDear Keith,
DeleteWhat is wrong with going to the NCW Eucharist? The Mass unites us regardless of what Mass attend? There are some Catholics who prefer attending the Latin Mass. These Catholics are still united with all of us despite that they prefer the traditional Latin Mass. Would you also force these Catholics to attend your regular Mass?
ok i will stop here. i know the faults the NCW has.. Without knowing probably you just went round my questions/statements twice.. A normal free person seeking the truth would seek to see what is wrong.. But no member of the NCW including you apparently even try to accept and find out what can be arranged. As i told you this is more than a different mass personally you could do a mass underwater i still wouldn't mind but there are people who know theology more than Kiko and anyone in the movement who realise the significance of having one mass for one movement.
ReplyDeleteDear Keith,
DeletePerhaps, you need to be more specific and give examples. You say you notice something wrong about the Way. You imply that the theology is wrong. Perhaps, you need to give us an example of what you mean. Which or what teaching, for example, do you find wrong in the Way?