Pointing An Accusing Finger

My catechist once told us that if you point an accusing finger at a brother, there are three fingers pointing straight back at you.  Beware that you do not judge your brother unfairly.  Christ told us not to judge simply because all of us are sinners. Christ said, "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."  No one cast the stone because all realized they have sinned and no better than the woman who committed adultery. The only person who was able to cast the stone was Christ Himself for He was the only one without sin and the only one who can judge.  Yet, he chose not to judge the woman. He simply told her to go and sin no more. The example Christ set is what we should follow.  Furthermore, our catechists also remind us that the accusations we bring against another person tells more about the accuser rather than the accused.

For the past four years, we have seen Archbishop Apuron being accused without due process of a trial.  Due process is a right of every citizen.  Every person is entitled to be treated fairly through the normal judicial system.  Unfortunately, we have seen Archbishop Apuron being judged by the media and by the Junglewatch nation for the past four years without due process of a trial.  

David Sablan, President of CCOG demanded for financial transparency from the Archbishop (See the weblink here),  Ironically, Sablan has been charged by the Attorney General's office for allegedly holding secret meetings and conspiracy.  According to the Pacific News Center:

According to a declaration filed by the Attorney General's Chief Prosecutor Phil Tydingco, Sablan allegedly held secret board meetings to discuss things like the awarding of millions of dollars worth of Low Income Housing Tax Credits.

Resident Commissioner Roland Selvidge allegedly admitted to investigators that the GHURA Board of Commissioners would meet secretly in what they called “working sessions” in order to come to a consensus on how they would vote on issues regarding various things like bidders, bidders’ disqualification, awards of different contracts to certain bidders, Section 8 property matters and Low Income Housing Tax Credits.  

It is ironic that the President of CCOG who accused Archbishop Apuron of not being financially transparent has now been accused of a similar allegation. Sablan, of course, denied all allegations.      

Archbishop Apuron also denied the allegations made against him, and he was promptly branded a "liar" by the jungle.  They not only took away his due process, but his right in answering the allegations.  According to KUAM news:

The Archdiocese of Agana released a recorded video response of Archbishop Anthony Apuron denying all allegations of sexual abuse made by Roy Quintanilla. The archbishop urges the island's faithful to pray for him and "those behind this concerted effort to injure our Catholic Church," he said.

After denying the allegations, the jungle called the Archbishop a "liar" (See the weblink here).  It is also ironic that Tim Rohr who called the Archbishop a "liar" was recently caught fabricating another story to cover up his first story.  He was caught changing his story after he was challenged to produce the signed letter by Father Pablo.  Father Pablo never wrote any letter (See the weblink here). The only reason he changed his story was because he got caught. 

Some people would call this "Karma." Others would say, "What goes around comes around."  Still others would call it "justice."  But our catechists say that when you point an accusing finger at someone, you have three fingers pointing back at you.  So look at yourself three times before judging someone else.