Church Officials : Seminarians Studying in Guam Withdrawn from Yona Institution
By Haidee V Eugenio
Up to 10 people from Samoa and American Samoa studying to be future Catholic priests at a Yona seminary were withdrawn from the institution earlier this summer, according to local church officials. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who currently oversees Guam’s Catholic Church, said these withdrawn seminarians all were from the Diocese of Samoa in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and the Archdiocese of Samoa in Apia, Samoa. American Samoa is a U.S. territory, while Samoa is an independent state that was formerly called Western Samoa. Hon said the Samoan seminarians were studying to be priests at their respective dioceses, not the Archdiocese of Agana in Guam. “Archbishop Hon first started hearing at the start of July that the Samoan seminarians would be leaving Redemptoris Mater Seminary,” the Archdiocese of Agana said in response to questions from Pacific Daily News. Redemptoris Mater Seminary is the same seminary with a deed restriction that, according to Hon, Pope Francis instructed Archbishop Anthony Apuron to rescind and annul more than a year ago. Hon made this information public in a media release Thursday.
The deed restriction gives the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Guam and the Blessed Diego Theological Institute the legal right to use the Archdiocese of Agana’s property. This particular seminary is the former 100-room, oceanside Accion Hotel in Yona and is one of the Guam Catholic Church’s largest real estate assets of between $40 million and $75 million. The Archdiocese of Agana confirmed that Hon “knows with certainty of eight who have withdrawn from the Guam seminary.” Six are from the Archdiocese of Samoa in Apia, and two are from the Diocese of Samoa in Pago Pago, Hon said. However, the number will reach 10 if two other itinerant RMS seminarians from American Samoa that are currently on mission outside Guam will not return to Guam. The Archdiocese of Agana said “presumably they are withdrawing.” American Samoa’s church confirmed on Friday the two wouldn’t be returning to Guam. The Rev. Kelemete Pua’auli, Chancellor of the Diocese of Samoa in Pago Pago, said the two itinerant seminarians, who were on a special program in the U.S. since last year, “will be home to continue with their pastoral assignments for the remainder of this year.” The Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Guam forms priesthood candidates in Guam, the Pacific region and other parts of the world, under the Neocatechumenal Way, the Rev. Jeffrey San Nicolas said. The Neocatechumenal Way is an organization within the Catholic Church that was formed in Madrid, Spain, in 1964 by Kiko Arguello and Carmen Hernandez. Apuron and the Rev. Pius Sammut are members of the Neocatechumenal Way. Different views Sammut, rector of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Guam, said on Tuesday the archbishop of Samoa in Apia “withdrew his seminarians, because of what his Chancellor informed us, the ‘present situation in Guam.'” Sammut didn’t elaborate on what was meant by the words “present situation in Guam.” Archbishop Alapati Lui Mata’eliga heads the Archdiocese of Samoa in Apia. Hon said he didn’t receive word directly from the Archdiocese of Samoa about the withdrawal of seminarians, but said the RMS rector informed him. Hon also said he didn’t receive much elaboration from the respective dioceses as to the reasons for withdrawing their seminarians. As for the seminarians from American Samoa, there are conflicting statements between the Archdiocese of Agana and Sammut. The Archdiocese of Agana said Bishop Peter Brown of the Diocese of Samoa in Pago Pago sent Hon an email in July “stating his intention to withdraw their seminarians.” Sammut, on the other hand, said the bishop of the Diocese of Samoa “did not withdraw his seminarians from the RM Seminary.” “The seminarians of Pago Pago were asked to return to their diocese temporarily. August is the time when all the seminarians are out of the Seminary premises for pastoral training in the parishes,” Sammut said later. Pua’auli, of the Diocese of Samoa in Pago Pago, said they have four seminarians in Guam — two of them are now back in American Samoa “and are not returning,” while the two itinerant seminarians will be home in American Samoa to continue with their pastoral assignments for the rest of the year. Delegate: Situation shocking The Rev. Jeffrey San Nicolas, the delegate of the administrator for the Archdiocese of Agana, said the number of seminarians that were pulled out represented about 24 percent of the population at the seminary. He said there are now 31 seminarians at RMS, down from 41. “They left in early July. Their bishop decided to pull them out,” San Nicolas said of the Samoan seminarians. “It is a dramatic, shocking situation.” Some Agat residents said a Mass at the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Agat and a special gathering were hosted for the seminarians from the Samoan islands before they departed Guam in July. “They left in early July. Their bishop decided to pull them out. It is a dramatic, shocking situation.” Rev. Jeffrey San Nicolas One of the four ad hoc committees that Archbishop Hon formed in June is now assessing the status, not only of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Guam in Yona, but also the St. John Paul the Great Archdiocesan Seminary also in Guam. The committees are composed of priests. Hon said the assessment of both seminaries includes “studying their formation programs, their personnel and other matters involved in the formation of the clergy for the Archdiocese.” “The Archdiocese is in the process of studying the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, along with our second seminary, understanding that this is a matter of great importance and concern in our Church on Guam. There is no comment on the other questions at this time,” Hon said. One of those matters pertaining to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary is the property ownership and control.
In a statement on Thursday, Hon said Pope Francis instructed Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron more than a year ago to rescind and annul a deed restriction that gives the Redemptoris Mater Seminary of Guam and the Blessed Diego Theological Institute the legal right to use the Yona property owned by the Archdiocese of Agana. In his own words, Hon said the Archdiocese no doubt acquired the property “and yet its use has been conceded in perpetuity to RMS and BDTI,” which he said wasn’t done in a usual way by an internal Ecclesiastical agreement. Instead, Hon said, it was done by a Declaration of Deed Restriction filed in the Government of Guam in November 2011. Hon called upon the seminary and the institute to obey the pope’s directives and renounce, “without any litigation,” all rights to use the property, which he said belongs to the Archdiocese of Agana. “Such a courageous act of renouncing will certainly earn respect and recognition from the Holy See, as well as many faithful, the Presbyteral Council and myself,” he said. The Vatican sent Hon to temporarily administer the Catholic Church in Guam while allegations of sexual abuse against Apuron are investigated. Apuron has been publicly accused of molesting or raping four former altar boys when he was parish priest of the Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Agat in the 1970s. Apuron has not been charged with any crime, and has been out of Guam since late May. Apuron, the Archdiocese of Agana and up to 50 other persons are named defendants in a $2 million libel and slander lawsuit filed by four individuals who said they were maligned and called liars by Archdiocese officials when they publicly accuse Apuron of sexually abusing four altar boys in Agat in the 1970s. Off-island trips Archbishop Hon has been traveling off-island since Sunday. He was in Saipan in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands to attend the Episcopal ordination of now Bishop Ryan P. Jimenez of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa. Jimenez is only the second bishop of the Northern Marianas, and succeeded Bishop Emeritus Tomas A. Camacho. “May his leadership in the Marianas be one steeped in humility, love and obedience to Christ,” Hon said in his latest message as apostolic administrator, wherein he also focused on the 800th anniversary of the Dominican order within the Catholic Church. From Aug. 17 to 25, Hon will be in South Korea and Hong Kong to attend events such as pastoral visits which he had committed to many months ago as part of his duties as the Secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples. While Hon is off-island, the Rev. Jeff San Nicolas as Delegate of the Administrator will take charge of the church, to be assisted by the Rev. Lito Abad, Chancellor of the Archdiocese.
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