Amazing Grace

In 2006, I remember reading the story of the Amish community in Lancaster, Pennsylvania who forgave a murderer. This hit the front page of most newspapers including the Pacific Daily News.  The headlines read "Amazing Grace."  

The Amish people are Christians who chose to live simple lives.  They distance themselves from the more advanced modern society of American life and worldly influence.  

Charles Robert was a milk truck driver who served the local community. He was not Amish. Nine years earlier, his wife gave birth to a baby girl; however, the girl died twenty minutes later.  Her death greatly affected him, and he never forgave God for her death. On October 2, 2006, Charles Robert entered a small Amish school.  He ordered the adults to leave.  He also ordered the boys to leave the building.  According to news report: 

 Roberts had the 10 girls lie down facing the blackboard and he tied their hands and feet. Roberts told the girls he was sorry for what he was about to do, but “I’m angry at God and I need to punish some Christian girls to get even with him.”

He shot all ten girls.  The age of the girls range from 6-13 years old.  Five were killed before he shot himself.  In the midst of their sorrow and shocking loss, the Amish community did not cast any blame nor point any fingers.  They did not held press conferences with lawyers at their sides.  Instead, they reached out with compassion and forgiveness toward the killer's family.  This is why the story hit headlines.  It is unheard of to forgive the enemy.  

However, forcing someone to kneel before you and demanding him to ask forgiveness is only seeking to humiliate.  True forgiveness is where healing begins.  Forgiveness is not for the other person.  It is for ourselves.  It is for our healing.   

As in the words of Christ, "Forgive them, Father, for they know not what they do."     

NCW Is Reason For Jungle Opposition?

An anonymous commenter made the following comment under the thread of my last post, which I think is worth listening to.  It is something that we can dialogue.  According to the comment: 

AnonymousJuly 9, 2016 at 1:05 PM
Dear readers, 
Tim is doing all of this--whatever this is--not for money, not for admiration, not for pride. I've known him a long time, and I know the man well enough to know that when he speaks plainly, he means what he says. So what does he say? What's at the heart of all of this? 

He believes that the Neocatechumenal Way is heretical. More to the point, he believes that Kiko Arguello is a heretic and is leading others into heresy and away from Christ. For the purpose at hand, it's not important whether it's true or not; I'm not debating that, and Diana has asked not to go there, so I won't.

That's the heart and soul of all of this. NOW BEFORE YOU SLING YOUR ANGER AND INVECTIVE AT ME, please listen first:

I'm not saying you're heretical. I'm saying HE does. He sees your celebration of the Eucharist as gutting the sacrificial nature from it and leaving only an "agape feast." He sees the reduction of the parish life to smaller communities as a destruction of our faith life. He sees presbyters who cannot answer hard questions of his (and they are challenging, to be sure) as evidence that they are malformed as priests. 

In light of this, he knows the Archbishop brought the NCW to Guam, so it's on him. But why the anger? Because despite the good it's done for some, he's seen the darker side too. Blind obedience to authority is troubling. Why should real obedience be for Tim? Among many reasons, because a priests tried to make a move on him, and his bishop did nothing. So he's already loaded for bear where bishops are concerned. 

But what really bothers Tim is that if the NCW is heretical, then all these souls on Guam are in the darkness (and for the love of God, I'm not saying your are--I'm saying that's Tim's side of things). 

I'm sorry to say it again and again, but I have to since as we've seen above, no one here seems to know how to read and think before responding. And the same goes for the Jungle, where they have mastered the same fault. 

What I'm saying is, this is the beef for Tim. This is the core of the man: defense of the Church as the Tradition says. 

Just a few comments above my writing this is the comment that the JW people are all conservative traditional Catholics who have been hurt by Apuron. That's not quite true, but even if it were, why the attack on "conservative?" Aren't the NCW attacked as too "conservative" in faith and morals consistently? 

My wife asked me a few minutes ago why I'm bothering with this. It's because I care. I want healing on the island. I want each side to see the other's--not to see our commonalities, but to clearly see the differences. Then we can make the peace, not by wishing for unity (God bless Arch Hon for trying) but by saying to ourselves, we cannot resolve differences until we clearly KNOW our differences.

Tim doesn't hate the Church, and yes you mockers, he actually does believe he is doing the right thing. So do you. Laugh all you want with your LMAO at me, it doesn't change the fact one iota that unless you understand your opponent and his REAL motivation, he will always beat you. ALWAYS. 

Thank you Diana for your allowing this post. You are most gracious. It is my hope that it spurs a discussion born from charity and reflection. Yes, readers say, but the Jungle is vicious in its attacks. Perhaps so. But I see daily in the attacks that you become steadily like them in not reading, thinking, praying. Just reacting. 

I've said it before. Don't just pray. Fast. Offer up your Eucharist for Tim. Even on JW there are comments about how his children should burn in hell. What a terrible cancer is present in our midst. 

This is my response:  

I do not know Tim Rohr as you obviously do, but I know that the Tim Rohr who wrote in "The Mass Never Ends" is a differnt person than the one who is now writing Junglewatch.  When he wrote about the Neocatechumenal Way in "The Mass Never Ends", he was not as obnoxious and highly critical of the Way as he is now.  At that time, he never said that the Way was not Catholic. Although he stood against the celebration of the Way, Tim recognized the good it has done.  Nevertheless, Tim Rohr helped build up the Neocatechumenal Way on Guam.  The Way needed The Jerusalem Bible or the New Jerusalem Bible, the Biblical dictionary, and the Liturgy of the Hours. Tim supplied all these to the Neocatechumenal Way through his bookstore.  As the communities grew, he ordered more of the things the Way needed.  So, although he believed the Neocatechumenal Way was not following the correct liturgy, he supplied the materials that the Way needed anyway.  Archbishop Apuron brought in the Way to Guam, but Tim Rohr helped build it up by supplying the books the NCW needed in their celebrations through his bookstore. 

Today, he says the Way is not Catholic and heretical.  He resented the Way and severely opposed it ONLY after Monsignor James was removed from the Agana Cathedral.  Tim would disagree with many things, but his use of profane words started only after the removal of Monsignor James. This was where the change in Tim Rohr began. That can be seen through his blog.  The only time he called for the resignation of the Archbishop was after the removal of Monsignor James. Therefore, I believe the true reason for Rohr's change in behavior is the removal of Monsignor James.

Tim Rohr was already told by the Vatican Delegation last year that there is nothing wrong with the NCW and that it is fine.  He kept this information from his followers.  See the weblink here.    Last year, he was told by the Vatican Delegation that the NCW is fine, so why did he keep this information to himself? Since the Vatican Delegation already said that the NCW is fine, then who should the junglefolks, LFM, and CCOG believe?  Should they believe Archbishop Hon who is only second to Pope Francis or Tim Rohr who kept this information to himself?  

God's Choice vs. Man's Choice

God's choice is not always our choice.  If it were up to me, I would have chosen the Apostle John to be the leader of the Apostles.  Why?  Because John was the only Apostle at the foot of the cross as Jesus was dying.  Where were the rest? They hid in fear.  But God did not choose John.  The person He chose was the one who denied Him.....who rejected Him.  That was His choice.  Of course, this does not mean that he did not love John.  Christ loved John and all His Apostles.  St. John was the only one who was not martyred, and he was given the task of taking care of Jesus' mother, the Blessed Virgin Mary.  

God's choice is not always our choice.  Out of his many brothers, God chose David, a very young shepherd boy with no military skills to defeat the Philistine giant soldier named Goliath.  If it were up to me, I would have chosen someone stronger and more experienced in military skills and strategy.  However, God does not choose the strong to defeat a strong enemy.  God chose a weak shepherd boy who had no military skills to defeat the strong giant Goliath so that His power would be manifested and all will know that it was the hand of God who defeated the strong enemy.  If God chose the strong to defeat the enemy, people will think that it was the strong man who defeated the enemy with his own human strength.  

According to Tim Rohr, he believes that Archbishop Hon will run aground due to the fact that Archbishop Hon has never commanded a diocese.  According to the jungle:

Bad for us again because our current quasi archbishop isn’t qualified for such a tough job as cleaning up after Apuron.  Hon has served only as a “staff officer.” Hon has never held command. Hon has never been a diocesan bishop. 

It’s as though a battleship is about to run aground and the Navy sends in a captain who has never commanded anything larger than a desk. 

To get someone more qualified and experienced to do the job has always been the choice of man.  But God is different.  He does not go by man's choice and never had.  We have seen through the Holy Bible how God has chosen the weakest, the most humblest, the poorest, the handicap, and even the worst sinner to carry out His will so that His power would be manifested and all can worship and praise God. 

Out of the many disciples Christ had, He only chose 12.  These 12 were most likely the worst among the 500 disciples.  These 12 worst Apostles went on to become the greatest of all saints.  Only God has the power to turn a sinner into a holy saint.  Out of all the nations, God chose slaves in Egypt to call His people. And this group of slaves went on to become a great nation.  Only God has the power to turn a group of slaves into a great nation.  So, Archbishop Hon has never been a diocesan Bishop.  So, what is that to God, who is Head of the Church?    

To the junglefolks and members of LFM and CCOG, make your choice.  Do you want to follow a man....Tim Rohr who says that a more experienced commander should be in charge of the Archdiocese......or do you want to follow Pope Francis who chose Archbishop Hon to take command of the Archdiocese of Agana?  Do you place your trust in a man like Tim Rohr who was NOT sent by the Pope or in Archbishop Hon who was sent by the Pope?  Think about this before you go to that picket line on Sunday.       

Archbishop Hon Is Representative Of Pope Francis

It was Pope Francis who sent Archbishop Hon in his place to bring unity to the Church in Guam.  Therefore, any defiance against Archbishop Hon is also a defiance against Pope Francis, the Vicar of Christ who sits on the chair of the Apostle Peter.  An anonymous commenter pointed out under the thread of my last post that the jungle is being disobedient to Archbishop Hon.  In his blog, Tim Rohr has called Archbishop Hon "stupid," a "racist supremacist" and a "narcissist bishop."  This also means that he has called Pope Francis "stupid," a "racist supremacist" and a "narcissist bishop."  But it does not stop there.  Jesus Christ spoke these words to His disciples: 

Luke 10:16  Then he said to the disciples, “Anyone who accepts your message is also accepting me. And anyone who rejects you is rejecting me. And anyone who rejects me is rejecting God, who sent me.”

These words from Christ is very important.  It calls for trust and obedience to Pope Francis and his representative whom he sent in his place.  Any defiance against the Pope is also a defiance against Christ and His Church.

The jungle is impatient because they demand Archbishop Hon to do this and to do that.  They have everything they wanted all laid out, and there is no compromise or negotiation.  They demand everything their way, and they want it done according to their terms and in their own timetable.     

What exactly do they want?  They call for the destruction of the Neocatechumenal Way, the shutting down of the RM Seminary, and the removal of all RMS priests from the parishes.  They demand that Archbishop Apuron be defrocked without due process of the law. These are only a few things on their list.  To demand that everything be done their way does not bring peace. The only ones who can rightly demand anything would be Pope Francis and his representatives who stand in his place (in this case Archbishop Hon).  Pope Francis has asked the people of Guam for his trust and prayers when he sent Archbishop Hon to be our Apostolic Administrator to bring unity to the Church in Guam. So, to the junglefolks and members of LFM and CCOG, let us be very clear about this........Rome has spoken!!!  So, we allow Rome to do what they came here to do.  And it will be on Rome's terms! 

Sex Scandal In The Catholic Church

Reporting sex abuse in the Catholic Church in the 1970s was not the problem.  The "cover up" was the main problem, which Pope Francis addressed in his papal decree.

Lee Webber, a former president and publisher of the Pacific Daily News, recommended two films to watch that offered some perspective on the Church situation on Guam.  His article can be found here.  The two films were Karadima and Spotlight.  In both films, the priests were guilty of sexually abusing young boys and the Bishop covered it up.  

Guam's case is very similar to the two films.  Bishop Flores covered up the sex abuse of one priest.  According to KUAM news dated November 2, 2009: 

And, a self-described, 30 year veteran of the Guam police force, who called into my radio show, stated that he had arrested a Catholic priest who molested a young alter boy on Guam. He stated that after his arrest, the priest admitted to molesting multiple victims on Guam.

According to the retired police officer, this entire incident was covered up by former Archbishop Flores. The alleged offending priest was, according to the retired officer, promptly shipped off-island shortly after his arrest, and never faced justice on Guam. 

As anyone can see from the news report, there was a priest on Guam who sexually molested young boys and it was covered up by Bishop Flores.  And this happened during the 1970s or earlier.  This priest also did NOT say he was innocent.  He admitted to molesting multiple victims on Guam.  Archbishop Apuron, on the other hand, claimed he was innocent and is a victim of a smear campaign to remove him from his position as Archbishop. 

The priest on Guam who was arrested for sexual abuse was transferred off-island by Bishop Flores; therefore, he never faced civil prosecution. However, my emphasis is that he was reported.  Therefore, reporting the crime in the 1970s was not the problem.  

If Archbishop Apuron was actually guilty of the same crime, Bishop Flores would have known about it and would also have covered it up.  However, there was no report of any sexual molestation given to Bishop Flores regarding Father Apuron at that time. Yet, according to Quintanilla and Denton, they stated that they reported their sexual molestation to Father Jack.  

The conclusion then is that Father Jack covered it up.  However, the bizarre thing is that the jungle never condemned Father Jack. In fact, even Walter Denton did not condemn him in his interview with Jesse Lujan.  Denton appeared to excuse Father Jack's failure to report it by stating that Father Jack was just a new priest in town and was under Father Tony. Being the new priest in town, Denton found it understandable that Father Jack would not report his superior (Father Tony) to Bishop Flores.  You can listen to Denton's interview here. This reaction is totally opposite from the reaction shown by many victims who were angry at Bishops who failed to report their case, but instead chose to move the offending priest to another location.      

Happy Fourth Of July

Responding To A Commenter

An anonymous commenter made the following comment, which can be found here:

AnonymousJuly 3, 2016 at 6:32 PM

Diana @ 1:38 PM, you made a general statement: "as you know most Catholics do not read the Bible." And then @ 5:58 PM you justified that statement by saying "Apologists like Scott Hahn, Steven Ray, and Tim Staples can tell you that."

Sorry Diana but Scott Hahn, Steve Ray and other apologists who converted to the Catholic Church admit that Catholics DO READ the Bible more than the average Protestant, even though they're not aware of it. Scott Hahn said this is true especially for Catholics who attend daily Mass. Hahn even said that in 3 years a Catholic will have read practically the whole Bible, including the 7 books that Protestants don't have in their Bibles.

You really think that only those in the NCW read the Bible and pray the Liturgy of the Hours? Wrong.

I have books and tapes of Scott Hahn, Steven Ray, and Tim Staples saying that MOST Catholics do not read the Bible.  Furthermore, according to the Catholic website CatholiCity:

According to the poll, 25 percent of Evangelical Protestants read the Bible daily, as do 20 percent of other Protestants, while daily Bible-reading is done by only 7 percent of Catholics..........Far more disturbing was the poll result that showed that 44 percent of Catholics "rarely or never" read the Bible, while this is true of only 7 percent of Evangelicals and 13 percent of non-Evangelical Protestants.

You also stated: "You really think that only those in the NCW read the Bible and pray the Liturgy of the Hours? Wrong".  

In the first place, I NEVER said that only those in the NCW read the Bible and pray the Liturgy of the Hours.  I stated:  

What struck me about the prayer vigil last night is the recitation of the evening prayer.  This is not new to the Neocatechumenal Way. During our annual retreat, we recite the morning and evening prayers.  During our monthly convivience, we always start with the morning prayer.  For the older communities, we also pray the Liturgy of the Hours and have Sunday morning prayers. 

Nowhere in that statement above did I compare any Catholic organization to the NCW.  I was simply speaking of what we do in the NCW.  How you manage to twist that statement around to mean something that it is not is beyond me.   And herein lies the problem.  

The Prayer Vigil

What struck me about the prayer vigil last night is the recitation of the evening prayer.  This is not new to the Neocatechumenal Way. During our annual retreat, we recite the morning and evening prayers.  During our monthly convivience, we always start with the morning prayer.  For the older communities, we also pray the Liturgy of the Hours and have Sunday morning prayers.  A family that prays together stays together. This is also true with God's family.  Last night, I saw people from different organizations there. They came in uniform wearing the same tee-shirts.  My community was also there scattered in different pews.  

There were many people at the prayer vigil last night.  It was also beautiful to see Father Jeff and Father Lito take their oaths of fidelity.  The church last night consisted of people walking in the Way and people who are not walking in the Way as well as people in different organizations of the Catholic Church.  Archbishop Hon's homily was a bit difficult to hear due to the poor acoustics or was it a problem with the microphone.  At any rate, I was able to catch most of what he says.  His homily inspired many Catholics to trust the hierarchy of the Church, which includes the Pope and Bishops.  Peace and unity reigns in God's Church with those who have Christ in them.  Last night, I was able to see that peace and unity with the many different Catholic organizations and laypeople together in prayer.    

World Youth Day Krakow 2016 - Teaser

I apologize for not spending much time on my blog.  We have been very busy preparing for our trip to World Youth Day. My husband is able to take off work due to the fact that he is self-employed. He is his own boss. Fortunately, I was also able to get leave from work.  I put in my leave form a month ahead.  World Youth Day is coming up very soon. Our children are looking forward to the adventure of seeing Pope Francis and the country of Poland.  :-)

Reminder

Dear readers, 

If you choose to make comments in my blog, please use appropriate language.  Attacking other posters such as calling them names as "losers" and "idiots" are inappropriate.  Name-calling and profanity are inappropriate and will not be published in this blog.  If you wish to make comments, please try to stick to the OP as much as possible and use proper and acceptable language.  

Thank you, 
Diana