Picketers Give Way to Vatican's Decision on Apuron

By Haidee V Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
July 6, 2017

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/07/06/picketers-give-way-vaticans-decision-apuron/450841001/

[with video]

Tim Rohr, advocate and blogger of Catholic church issues, addresses Concerned Catholics of Guam members during a meeting Wednesday night, while Gerald Taitano, left, and Concerned Catholics president David Sablan, right, look on.

Saying they want to give the Vatican space to make a decision, Catholic community groups calling for Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron's permanent removal will hold their last picket in front of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica on Sunday.

Concerned Catholics of Guam president David Sablan and Laity Forward Movement president Lou Klitzkie, along with Catholic issues blogger Tim Rohr, announced their decision Wednesday night.

Sablan said his group has already made its position known to the Vatican; they want "Apuron out."

Rohr said continuing to picket would be counterproductive. Cardinal Raymond Leo Burke, head of the Vatican tribunal holding the Apuron trial, wouldn't want to be seen as being forced to make a decision because of community pressure on Guam, Rohr said.

"There are problems all over the Catholic world right now," Rohr said. "And there are lots of Catholics who would just love to get rid of their bishop, and if it looks like people in Guam are the ones that forced the Vatican’s hands, OK, then they’re going to be full time jobs, canonical trials of the bishops."

"So as much as the church needs cleaned out, they don't want to go there," Rohr said. "Apuron is enough to handle, and so we have to now give them space to do the right thing."

Rohr, however, said the Catholics who have been picketing in front of the cathedral for the last year have sent a strong message to the church and elected officials.

"It’s a message to the other people who govern this island, the politicians and everybody else, because if we can affect this kind of action by the Vatican and get rid of Apuron, what can we do to politicians we don’t like? So anyway, we’re a pretty scary group. We’ve got rosaries and signs, there’s nothing we can’t accomplish, right?" Rohr added.

Klitzkie said those who have showed up at the Sunday pickets have accomplished a lot in drawing the Vatican's attention.

"We are strong Catholics of Guam," she said.

Sablan, Klitzkie and Rohr said despite holding the last Sunday picket, they would continue to watch the church leadership's actions.

In addition to the Vatican trial, Apuron is facing civil lawsuits over allegations of rape and sexual abuse of altar boys in the 1970s.

Reporter Haidee Eugenio covers Guam's Catholic church issues, education and more. Follow her on Twitter @haidee_eugenio. Follow Pacific Daily News on Facebook/GuamPDN and Instagram @guampdn.

Contact: heugenio@guampdn.com