Church Seeks Background Checks, Proper Mass
By Haidee V Eugenio
Besides adopting a national charter for protecting young people from clergy sexual abuses, Guam’s Catholic Church now also seeks legal background checks for all its adult ministers and volunteers to help prevent future abuses. The church also now requires all rites and masses to be celebrated in accordance with the Vatican’s general instructions unless they can show proof of exemptions from Rome by March 1, the beginning of the Lenten season. The Rev. Paul A.M. Gofigan, rector of the Dulce Nombre De Maria Cathedral-Basilica, issued a two-pronged Feb. 14 memo on background checks and unifying the church. Gofigan asks all current and future adult ministers or volunteers having close contact with minors, at any level, to sign a waiver allowing the cathedral-basilica to perform a legal background check. He said this is not a credit check but is essentially a police clearance. This comes days after Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes announced the Archdiocese of Agana’s voluntary adoption of the United States’ Conference of Catholic Bishops’ charter for the protection of children and young people. This includes reporting to civil authorities any alleged clergy sex abuse. The Archdiocese of Agana itself is facing $110 million clergy sex abuse lawsuits from 22 former altar boys, and more lawsuits are expected in the weeks ahead, lawyers for the accusers said. Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, Guam’s Catholic Church leader for nearly 31 years, is also undergoing a canonical penal trial over multiple sex abuse allegations. Apuron has denied all sex abuse allegations against him and hasn't been charged criminally, although he’s facing multiple civil lawsuits. “Effective immediately, I am requiring that the celebration of all our rites must be in one accord with Rome,” Gofigan said in his memo. “As the Mother-Church on Guam, we must set the bar in our Archdiocese, especially when it comes to the Mass. All Masses must be celebrated with the Roman Missal with adherence to the letter and spirit of its General Instructions, or GIRM.” Gofigan says any exemptions from Rome must be given to him by March 1. “Also note that indults must have a start date and specifically state if it has an expiration date or is permanent/ongoing,” he said. David Sablan, president of Concerned Catholics of Guam, said there are no other groups within the local church besides the Neocatechumenal Way that perform their eucharistic celebration differently than the way Catholics on Guam and all over the world do it. Sablan said if the Neocatechumenal Way has a special permission from Rome to change certain parts of the mass, they must present such permission -- or indult -- to Gofigan. One of the most noted Neocatechumenal Way figures on Guam, when sought for comment on Gofigan’s memo, hurled accusation of biased reporting and asked that he not be sought for comments. One of the founders of the Neocatechumenal Way on Guam, the Rev. Pius Sammut, could not be reached for comment. Gofigan, when sought twice for clarification, said his memo was not solely directed at the Neocatechumenal Way but all ministries that celebrate particular rites within the cathedral-basilica and chapels. He said, however, that the Neocatechumenal Way is a group that has been advised by Pope Benedict XVI and Pope Francis to begin conforming their liturgies to the Roman Missal. “It is with their directives that I have instructed the NCW at the Cathedral Basilica to follow the directive of the Roman Missal,” Gofigan told Pacific Daily News in an e-mail response. Gofigan is currently attending a liturgical and catechetical conference off-island. The goal, he said, is to ensure the church is all on the same page when catechizing the faithful or celebrating the different rites of the church including masses, baptisms, weddings, funerals, ordinations and inductions into particular apostolic groups. “When indoctrinating someone in the faith, we must adhere to The Catechism of the Catholic Church and its Catechetical Directory, which essentially lay out the doctrines of the Church. When celebrating any kind of rite, especially the mass, we must adhere to its General Instructions,” he said. Gofigan said his Valentine’s Day memo was not meant to be an attack but a clarion call to love one another. The Concerned Catholics of Guam has been advocating for Apuron to be removed as archbishop and defrocked over sex abuse of altar boys, defiance of the Holy See’s instructions and other questionable church decisions over the years. Sablan said Apuron, a member of the Neocatechumenal Way, defended the group at a parish meeting in Yona in December 2014 when he was questioned about the authority for the Neocatechumenal Way to celebrate the Mass differently than Catholics. “He told the parishioners at that meeting that he will present that indult, he just needs to find it. As of this date, we have never seen that indult,” Sablan said. Gofigan, in his memo, also announced that he is the director of both the religious education and the liturgy and music for the cathedral-basilica. He appointed Karl Sotto as his assistant. As religious education program director, Gofigan asks that all current catechists be enrolled in the upcoming faith formation class for catechetical formation that the archdiocese is forming. Contact: heugenio@guampdn.com
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