GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Pat Oliva
March 7, 201
Each time I see the Laity Forward Movement and the Concerned Catholics of Guam organizations in the news, they remind me I should feel shame and disgrace for our church. Moreover, they tell everyone (including Protestant church members) that our church has no dignity. They claim membership of the Catholic community, which is easily misconstrued as representation for all Catholics on Guam.
I want to say they do not represent me, a proud Chamorro Catholic.
I understand members of both esteemed organizations want retribution for those who may have done wrong. But do they realize that each time they picket and each time they speak up in the media or are seen out in public as a group, they are nourishing that same division in our church that they themselves are praying to heal? They drag the face of our Catholic Church — the whole church — in the mud in the eyes of everyone, even in front of the Protestant churches and their members.
It says, “Take a look at how bad our church is,” and they say it over and over and over again. Is that really what they are trying to accomplish, and deliberately so? Do they realize this is the image they are conveying, or perhaps they do realize it and just don’t care? Well, whether they realize it or not, it is what it is.
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