Debate Continues over Control of Seminary

By Jolene Toves
KUAM
January 8, 2015

http://www.kuam.com/story/27788721/2015/01/08/debate-continues-over-control-of-seminary


The debate continues over who holds control over the Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona. Wednesday we shared the responses of Archdiocese of Agana chancellor Father Adrian Cristobal in regards to the seminary his responses have left the Concerned Catholics of Guam dumbfounded as they believe his statements are "flat out lies and the proof is in the paper trail".

Dave Sablan, CCOG vice president, said, "You got to look at the connection between deed of restriction and what that property can be used for a seminary and so it can be restricted to that he has assigned it by the decree but you connect it over to then what is this company suppose to do and how are they deciding the issues relating to their work you look at the makeup of the board because the board decides everything the policies of how they are to operate and what it can do with that property and you will find that the archbishop is just one of four individuals". In Father Adrian's response to KUAM News he states that it was the Archdiocese Finance Council who wanted to alienate the seminary and sell it to cover the debt incurred by the catholic cemeteries, however the CCOG contends that this is not the case and alleges that Archbishop Anthony Apuron secretly made the declaration to assign the property over to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary Corporation in November 2011.

"That's not true," he stated. "Mr. Richard Untalan is a member of the Finance Council, Mr. Joe Rivera is a member of the Finance Council - before both have confirmed to us personally that they advised against the alienation of that property they sought legal opinion from the archdiocesan attorney and all opined that alienation assignment the words may be different but they mean the same thing."

And while Father Adrian is adamant that Archbishop Apuron retains control over the seminary and it remains an asset of the Archdiocese of Agana the CCOG says the paper trail shows otherwise. "The property was definitely assigned to the Redemptoris Mater Seminary Corporation if you read articles nine and ten of the articles of incorporation of that company or organization it specifically states that there are four guarantors one of them is the archbishop," he said.

According to items nine and ten it states that the board of guarantors has a veto or approval power for the most important affairs of the corporation. The four members listed as part of this board are Archbishop Anthony Apuron, Giuseppe Gennarini, Claudia Gennarini and Father Angelo Pochetti. He explained, "The other three are from off-island so when a corporation board gets together and they make decisions on what direction the company or organization should go or they make decisions on policy matters it's very clear by the way in those articles just exactly this corporation is all about and what the board of directors or board of guarantors can do and if those three people from off island decides something against what the archbishop recommends then effectively the archbishop doesn't have control."

According to the declaration of deed restriction this was done in perpetuity in other words "forever". He said, "But I believe they formed this corporation in order to accomplish what they just did and that is to transfer control so that the people of the Neocatchumenal Way have full use of that for their purpose and not for the purpose of the people of Guam and that is something that concerns us and we are going to look into this to see if there is a need to file a lawsuit to bring it back to where it should be based on what was promised to us."\

As we reported the CCOG did meet with the delegation from the Vatican on Wednesday afternoon in which they presented their findings and concerns. "We have to give the delegation time to absorb all this, this is rather a large issue and they need to follow that paper trail as we did we came to our conclusion as I just advised you and I would think that they would come to the same conclusion as we did," he shared.

Dave Sablan says that conclusion is that there definitely was an assignment, and a change of control and that the archbishop has given responsibility over to the three outsiders who if so decide can pull their votes to override Apuron in decisions.