Church Picketers Give Way to Byrnes" First Sunday Mass
By Haidee V Eugenio
As a gesture of good faith and welcome, Catholics who have been picketing weekly in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna shortened their picketing this weekend so they could attend Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes’ first Sunday Mass on Dec. 4. Byrnes arrived on Guam on Nov. 28, or about a month after Pope Francis appointed him on Oct. 31 to succeed Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron should Apuron retire, resign or be removed. Apuron, 71, is undergoing a canonical trial at the Vatican following multiple sex abuse allegations. “We want to assure you that our picketing is not directed at you and what you have accomplished,” Concerned Catholics of Guam President David J. Sablan and Laity Forward Movement founding President Lou Klitzkie said in a joint letter to Byrnes on Sunday, Dec. 4. Picketers continue to call for Apuron’s removal as archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana and his laicization. Klitzkie and Sablan said they will remain vigilant. Picket signs will continue to read, “Remove Apuron” and “Defrock Apuron,” Sablan and Klitzkie said. “This is an issue that may be addressed to the sound discretion of officials at the Vatican, rather than subject to your authority,” the Concerned Catholics of Guam and Laity Forward Movement leaders told Byrnes. Apuron has been archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana for 30 years. The Vatican and Catholic faithful on island have noted concerns about Apuron’s pastoral governance, his leadership decisions, and sex abuse allegations against him in recent times. As of Wednesday, 12 clergy sex abuse lawsuits have been filed against the archdiocese, Apuron, former island priests Louis Brouillard and David Anderson, and up to 50 John Does who may have helped, abetted, concealed or covered up the abuses of minors by Catholic priests. Sunday’s picket line, which had more than 70 participants, began as usual at 9 a.m. but after 15 minutes, all picketers deposited their picket signs in their boxes at the door to the cathedral-basilica and proceeded inside to attend Mass that Byrnes officiated. “As you can see from the letter, we want to give Archbishop Byrnes a chance. We want to work with him,” Klitzkie said. “As the letter says, we are not protesting Archbishop Byrnes or any of the things he has done. Our protest is aimed at Apuron and we will continue, starting again next Sunday, to picket as long as Apuron holds the title of Archbishop of Agana.” Sablan, in a separate interview, said there’s still a lot of work ahead for the new archbishop and his hierarchy within the chancery. “But Concerned Catholics of Guam will be there to help him and see what we can do. We have a very strong movement of Catholics that have been supporting us,” he said. Some 85 percent of Guam’s population is Catholic. Contact: heugenio@guampdn.com
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