Supporters Defend Benavente

Pacific Daily News
January 26, 2015

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20150127/NEWS01/301270010/Supporters-defend-Benavente

Joseph Rivera, a former member of the Archdiocesan Finance Council, said he's hurt by the continued attempt by the Archdiocese of Agana to publicly accuse Monsignor James Benavente of mismanaging church funds.

Rivera said he asked the archdiocese to meet privately with Benavente for an opportunity to respond to the allegations. Instead, the archdiocese publicly released more allegations, he said.

Archbishop Anthony Apuron last year fired Benavente as head of the Catholic Cemeteries of Guam and removed him from his post as rector of the Dolce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica, alleging financial mismanagement by Benavente.


Last weekend, the archdiocese publicly released a report which states "grave irregularities were discovered involving the administration of the entities which were formerly administered by Monsignor James Benavente."

Among other things, the report states there were $7 million in loans to fund projects for the Cathedral-Basilica and Catholic Cemeteries of Guam under Benavente's watch. It states Benavente gave $380,000 in free cemetery plots to a close friend and family.

It also states Benavente accrued credit card "balances in excess of $60,000" and a credit card in the name of The Catholic Cemeteries "was specifically used by Msgr. Benavente for restaurants, air fare" and accommodations at the Shangri-La Hotel in Manila and other five-star hotels.

"They have not given the full story of why they are bringing up these allegations," said David Sablan, vice president of the Concerned Catholics of Guam.

Formed last year, the nonprofit Concerned Catholics of Guam has been reviewing documents to determine, in part, whether the allegations against Benavente are part of a broader power takeover of the local church, Sablan said.

"I think there is some underlying reason," Sablan said, adding later: "Msgr. James seems to be getting in the way."

Public discussions over the past several months have pitted Apuron's leadership and the Neocatechumenal Way movement against priests and parishioners who don't support the movement.

Businessman Richard Untalan, a former member of the Archdiocesan Finance Council, said the archbishop is barking up the wrong tree.

"He should be barking at himself. He is the only person in this archdiocese who is authorized to sign loan documents and who ultimately approves any loan with the advice of his legal counsel and the vicar general, his canon lawyer," Untalan said.

"If Monsignor James is at fault on anything, then the archbishop has the greater, higher, and ultimate responsibility of assuming these faults as his own," Untalan added.

Accion Hotel

Untalan says he and other members of the Archdiocese Finance Council were fired, "en masse," in late 2011, after they rejected Apuron's decision to sign documents related to one of the church's biggest real estate assets -- the former Accion Hotel.

Department of Land Management documents show that Apuron had signed a deed of restriction giving the Redemptoris Mater Seminary, which is affiliated with the Neocatechumenal Way, "perpetual use" of the oceanfront, former 100-room hotel in Yona.

Rivera said there must be a logical explanation for the expenses being blamed on Benavente, but the allegations became public without giving Benavente a chance to explain.

Benavente has declined to comment.

Tim Rohr, a local blogger on Catholic issues, issued a statement saying "Msgr. James does not understand why the archbishop prefers to publicize these accusations rather than meet with him to work through these matters."

Rohr's blog, Junglewatch, yesterday published an open letter to the Vatican, calling on the Vatican to also raise questions about Apuron's expenses on travel, credit card charges and other expenses paid for by church funds.