GUAM
Guam Daily Post
John O’Connor | Post News Staff
On the heels of the relocation of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites from Guam to California, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai – the apostolic administrator for the Archdiocese of Agana – has issued a statement expressing gratitude and apologizing to members of the sisterhood. Prior to her leaving, The Mother Superior Dawn Marie called for a press conference to explain the reason for the departure.
According to Marie, the decision to relocate came after a series of events that resulted in what she called a “toxic environment” that made it difficult for the nuns to continue in their way of life. Those events, she said, stemmed from the archdiocese’s acquisition of the former Hotel Accion property in Yona and the subsequent establishment of the Redemptoris Mater Seminary and the formation of the Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Theological Institute (BDTI).
Marie revealed that she was the one who was able to secure about $2 million from another Carmelite monastery to purchase the Yona property, but that Archbishop Anthony Apuron violated her trust by asking the sisterhood to lie about the original purpose of the money.
Marie indicated that it was never her or the donor’s desire that the property be used specifically for RMS, nor was it their wish that it be used for the establishment of BDTI and that, even as the issue grew in its controversy, she remained silent.
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