The verdict is now in. The parishes and Catholic schools are part of the Archdiocese of Agana and can be sold to pay the alleged child abuse lawsuits. According to the Guam Daily Post:
“The court finds that the parishes and schools are part of the debtor and are unincorporated divisions of the Archdiocese of Agaña,” the federal judge stated.
Catholic parishes and schools, through attorney Vincent Camacho, said in a hearing in April that if the court rules in favor of the claimants/creditors, this could lead to the selling of assets that include Catholic schools and parishes and will have "grave implications" for the community.
We have seen the closing down of parishes in the United States as a result of the sex abuse lawsuits against the Church. The same thing will happen here in Guam, now that the judge has struck down the Church's argument. The selling of the parishes and Catholics schools in Guam will have a major negative impact in the Catholic community. When Catholic schools are sold off, thousands of students will be displaced. When parishes are sold off, parishioners will be forced to look for parishes that are still open. And of course, many Catholics will become disillusioned and will no longer remain in the Catholic faith. However, I commend Archbishop Michael for doing his best, trying to protect the parishes and Catholic schools from closing. He has my respect in this regard, and I am glad that he continues to fight for the parishes and Catholic schools. On the other hand, it is unfortunate that the judge ruled in favor of the claimants and creditors. Archbishop Michael continues to maintain that the parishes and schools are held in trust. Hopefully, the judge will rule in favor of the Archdiocese on this issue. We continue to pray for Archbishop Michael.
Also, remember that the Neocatechumenal Way did not have anything to do with the proposal and passage of a law that will close down the parishes and Catholic schools. In fact, Rick Eusebio, who is a member of the NCW, garnered over 4,500 signatures in a petition to veto Bill 326, which would allow alleged victims of sexual abuse to bring a lawsuit against the Catholic Church. Those who introduced and worked for the passage of the bill gathered 3000 signatures in their petition. One anonymous poster even made the following comment. His/Her comment is found here.
I wouldn't be so proud of the "4500 signatures" Diana. Patti on the radio read a message that pointed out the petition got 4500 signatures because the petitions were at every church AND the priests encouraged people to sign it.
Silent No More managed to get 3000 signatures WITHOUT the support of the priests and school officials OR having the petitions at every church. So I'd say that Silent No More didn't do as badly as you would like to think.
Imagine what the numbers could have been if the Silent No More petition was supported by the church!
Oh no I forgot that you don't want to go there.
Here is the thing. Yes, we got the signatures with the support of the priests, Church officials, and the petitions were signed at every Catholic Church. This means that since the petitions were signed inside the Church by members who attended the Church, we can be certain that the majority of Catholics disapprove of the bill. As for the organization "Silent No More," they got signatures OUTSIDE the Church without any support from the Church, which then makes me wonder how many of those signatures were signed by Non-Catholics and Atheists. So, remember, the Neocatechumenal Way had nothing to do with the introduction or the passage of this law that would bring a lot of pain and suffering to the Catholic parishioners and students of Guam.
So far, only the lawyers have been profiteering from the sex abuse scamdals. I'm also hoping and praying that AB Byrnes would succeed in protecting the parishes and schools. In the US, so many parishes have closed. Hoping that doesn't happen here.
ReplyDeleteAnyone looking at the news for the past years can see that child sex abuse are occurring outside the church. Open today's newspaper. All the offenders arrested are not priests. The sex abuse allegations caused by priests all occurred decades ago and most of the accusations are against dead priests. Soooo....it seems the Church had done something right to clean up its act a loooooong time ago.
ReplyDeleteProtecting the parishes & schools doesn't mean that AB Byrnes don't care about the victims of sex abuse as some people say. I don't want my parish of Barrigada to close down, but I'm gonna be angry if it does. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 5:06 pm,
DeleteI believe that Archbishop Michael is trying to find a win-win solution, in which parishes and schools continue to operate while alleged victims are compensated through mediation. Many people will be angry if their parishes close. Parents will also be furious if the Catholic schools close. It will be a nightmare when thousands of students are displaced, and the public schools cannot accommodate all of them. Many public schools are already overcrowded.
If anyone is to be blamed for the loss of our parishes and Catholic schools, it would be Silent No More and the entire Junglewatch Nation, which includes LFM and CCOG. They were the ones who introduced the legislation to close down the parishes and schools. They worked hard to get this legislation passed. As for the politicians, they acted on their emotions. If Calvo were to run for Governor, I ain't gonna vote for him. I'm hoping James Moylan would run for Governor. He was the one who came out, stating that such legislation would only benefit lawyers rather than victims of sexual abuse. And many lawyers quickly got on the bandwagon to take up sexual abuse claims that happened over 40 years ago, many of which accused dead priests who can't defend themselves. One alleged victim also waited until Fr. George Maddock died to make his sex abuse claim.
ReplyDelete