Byrnes sends 3 Guam seminarians to California

By Haidee V Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
August 11, 2017

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/08/11/byrnes-sends-3-guam-seminarians-california/554989001/

A tour of the Redmemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona on Oct. 13, 2016, reveals hotel-style accommodations and views, combined with facilities for worship and study.

Three former Guam seminarians, including two from the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona, have been sent to St. Patrick's Seminary in California.

A committee of Catholic priests said last year the Yona seminary — which is run by the Neocatechumenal Way — may need to be closed for the good of the Archdiocese of Agana unless the seminary can clarify its purpose, seek formal accreditation to ensure the quality of its priest formation program, and ensure its financial independence.

Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes decided to send the three seminarians to St. Patrick's Seminary, which for decades has had strong ties with the Archdiocese of Agana, the archdiocese said in a statement Thursday afternoon.

"William Mamangun, Ron Pangan, and Junee Valencia are now in California and will soon begin their studies at St. Patrick’s Seminary, which has been forming priests for the Catholic Church since the seminary’s establishment in 1898," the archdiocese said.

The three seminarians were all previously from the St. John Paul the Great Archdiocesan Seminary of Guam in Malojloj under Father Romy Convocar's guidance. Pangan and Valencia studied at the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Catholic Theological Institute for Oceania in the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yoña, the archdiocese said.

The three successfully completed a series of exams and reviews, and have been accepted into St. Patrick's Seminary, the church added.

David Sablan, president of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, on Friday welcomed Byrnes' decision to send the men, "to a real diocesan seminary in California, and not one that was created to form priests according to the 'life and practice of the Neocatechumenal Way', which is what RMS in Yona was established to do." 

"They were not forming priests for our Archdiocese, though we were led to believe that by Archbishop (Anthony) Apuron," Sablan added.

Pope Francis suspended Apuron on June 6, 2016, weeks after former altar boys publicly accused Apuron of raping and sexually abusing boys in the 1970s in Agat. Apuron is part of the Neocatechumenal Way.

Sablan said it is comforting that Byrnes is taking the education of his future priests seriously and has invested in their future as priests for the archdiocese.

"Under Apuron, local vocations desirous of becoming priests for this Archdiocese were forbidden from seeking any option outside the Neocatechumenal formation at RMS," Sablan said. 

Sablan said the Concerned Catholics will pray for the three seminarians and for more vocations to help Brynes strengthen the Catholic faith of the people of Guam.

Father Richard M. Kidd, the archdiocese's director of vocations, is also in California to meet with the seminary rector and formation team, as well as to help the three seminarians with their orientation, the archdiocese said.

Kidd is the last diocesan priest to complete his studies at St. Patrick's Seminary, and was ordained into the priesthood in 2013, the church said.

"The seminary has been accepting seminarians from Guam since the 1950s, before we became a diocese and then an archdiocese. The archdiocese was a suffragan Diocese of the Archdiocese of San Francisco and part of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) until 1984 when we were elevated to the status of archdiocese," the archdiocese wrote.

In addition to the archdiocese, families, friends and supporters are helping to fund the tuition, books, and other school expenses of the three seminarians, the church said.

"The three men ask for your prayers and support as they continue to discern the vocation to the priesthood," the archdiocese added.

Concerned Catholics of Guam earlier this year reminded the archdiocese of a church ad-hoc committee report, recommending the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona's closure unless it meets critical standards.

Concerned Catholics had said seminarians could have been trained at the University of Guam, St. Joseph's Seminary, and St. Patrick's Seminary in California at an estimated cost of $176,000 per seminarian, compared to millions spent operating the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona.