Group may sue after lawyer says church no longer owns former hotel

By Gaynor Dumat-Ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News
October 12, 2015

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2015/10/12/group-may-sue-after-lawyer-says-church-no-longer-owns-former-hotel/73798142/

The Redemptoris Mater Archdiocese Missionary Seminary of Guam in Yona.

The former Accion Hotel, worth tens of millions of dollars before an anonymous donor donated it to the Archdiocese of Agana almost a decade ago, is no longer an asset of the local Catholic church, according to a Guam law firm retained recently by Concerned Catholics of Guam Inc.

The property's title was “absolutely conveyed in fee simple” in November of 2011, to the nonprofit Redemptoris Mater Seminary, according to a May 2015 legal opinion written by the law offices of Jacques G. Bronze.

Neocatechumenal Way

A New Jersey-based division of the Neocatechumenal Way controls the seminary, through its nonprofit, said Greg Perez, president of Concerned Catholics, a grass-roots lay organization incorporated in December of 2014.

Concerned Catholics has been calling for accountability of the actions Guam’s Catholic leadership, and has opposed the Neocatechumenal Way movement.

Concerned Catholics released the legal opinion Monday while confirming it's "currently investigating all available civil and canonical courses of action to see to the return of the property to the Catholic faithful of the Archdiocese of Agana."

In addition to a possible lawsuit in the local court system, Concerned Catholics also is contemplating filing a complaint with the Vatican under Canon, or Church, law.

As a result of the transfer of the property through a deed conveyance, it divested the archdiocese of title and interest of the subject property, according to the legal opinion.

“The property has been valued between $40 million and $70 million and the transfer of this asset away from the Archdiocese of Agana represents significant harm to the patrimony of the Catholic Church of Guam,” Perez stated in a press release.

Group: Ownership transferred in 2011

The deed conveying the property to Redemptoris Matter Seminary was quietly recorded at the Department of Land Management by Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron on Nov. 21, 2011, without the consent or knowledge of the Archdiocesan Finance Council, the College of Consultors, or the Vatican, all of which are required by church law to give their consent before a transaction of that amount can be approved, according to Concerned Catholics.

Upon discovery of the new deed by Concerned Catholics, Archbishop Apuron argued that the property still remained an asset of the Archdiocese of Agana and that he retained control of the subject property, Concerned Catholics stated.

The Pacific Daily News left a message with the Archdiocese of Agana Monday morning, seeking for comment.

Concerned Catholics stated the law offices of Jacques G. Bronze found:

“The Declaration of Deed Restriction executed on November 21, 2011, by the Grantor, for that certain land located at 130 Seminariu Drive, Yona, Guam, recorded at the Department of Land Management as Instrument No. 829322, in favor of (the Redemptoris Mater Seminary) operates to transfer a present interest and is an absolute conveyance in fee simple, of the subject real property to (the seminary's nonprofit), divesting all right, title and interest of the subject property from the Grantor, except for the subject restraint in use."

Concerned Catholics stated that Bronze also found that the Redemptoris Mater Seminary is not in the control of Archbishop Apuron, and isn't in the control of its board of directors as Guam law requires.

The nonprofit controlling the seminary, Bronze wrote, is controlled by “a separate, unelected, and un-removable board having veto power over (the) board of directors, the officers, and the sole member, the Archbishop of Agana and his successor.”