Concerned Catholics start petition

By Malorie Paine
Pacific Daily News
December 30, 2014

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20141230/NEWS01/312300006/Concerned-Catholics-start-petition

David Sablan, Greg Perez, Vangie Lujan and Jon Calvo, members of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, yesterday, talk about their issues with the local archdiocese. They called a press conference at the Shinny's restaurant in Ordot-Chalan Pago. Among other things, the group is circulating a petition to be presented to visiting Vatican officials early next month.

The Concerned Catholics of Guam, a nonprofit organization formed to bring attention to what it believes are financial and leadership problems within the local Catholic Church, is circulating a petition to gather support in "resolving the divisive misunderstandings that currently plague our Catholic parish communities."

The petition is not against the archdiocese, but is intended to show support for the Concerned Catholics, Vangie Lujan, secretary of the nonprofit group, said during a press conference yesterday morning.

The petition will be presented to three Vatican officials, who will be visiting Guam from Jan. 3 to 10, 2015, and to the archdiocese.

The petition addresses three objectives of the Concerned Catholics, including the clergy and laity, parish affairs, and archdiocesan affairs, according to organization's website.

Under the clergy and laity objectives, one of the main areas of focus is to provide grants and scholarships to aspiring local seminarians to attend an established and an accredited Diocesan seminary.

"I think the concerns a lot of people have are that we're not building our own local community of priests," Lujan said. "The effort of the diocese should be to create its own local priests."

The petition also addresses the issue of financial councils for the village parishes.

Greg Perez, Concerned Catholics president, said he received concerns about a parish's Finance Council not being in place, which is a requirement for each parish, he said.

The Concerned Catholics group has a goal of 2,000 signatures by Jan. 3, Perez said.

Archbishop Anthony Apuron sent a letter to Deacon Stephen Martinez, a member of the Archdiocesan clergy and of the Concerned Catholics group, telling Martinez he would be censured unless he denounces his Concerned Catholics membership by Jan. 19.

The CCOG officers were taken aback by allegations in Apuron's letter, which they said accused the group of plotting against the Catholic Church, according to a CCOG press release.

A letter asking Apuron to apologize for implying CCOG was "plotting against the Church" was hand-delivered to the archdiocese's Chancery office on Dec. 24.

"Words cannot adequately express our disappointment in how you view our work and the members of our organizations, who are devout Catholics who love their Faith and Church, and would never plot against Her," Perez wrote in the letter.