Agana Cathedral Placed under Receivership: "We're Bleeding!"

By Janela Carrera
Pacific News Center
March 23, 2017

http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/local/13171

Weekly collections at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica have decreased since the removal of its former rector Msgr. James Benavente, who has since been reassigned to the St. Anthony Catholic Church in Tamuning.

Guam - The Archdiocese of Agana has revealed that their mother church, the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral Basilica, is broke. Because of this, Archbishop Michael Byrnes has decided to place the Cathedral under receivership.

"We are putting the parish of the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral, the Agana cathedral basilica parish under receivership," announced Archdiocesan Finance Council President Richard Untalan at a press conference at the Chancery Office.

It’s a remedy of a last resort, but Untalan emphasizes that it’s a remedy that’s necessary.

"In the last two and half years it incurred a debt of $1.9 million, $800,000 of which is a refinance portion of a loan and the rest are outstanding payables," said Untalan.

This announcement is in stark contrast to another announcement the Archdiocese made about two weeks ago in which they revealed that they have about $132 million in assets. That announcement was made in response to the numerous lawsuits against them from dozens of sex abuse victims suing for $5 million each.

The entire Archdiocese is worth $132 million, but what about just the cathedral alone?

"As a building? Priceless, you would think. From a market standpoint, it’s hard to market, how do you value a church?" noted Untalan.

The timing behind the decline in weekly contributions to the cathedral parish is significant and not just a mere coincidence. About two and half years ago was around the same time that the cathedral’s rector Msgr. James Benavente was fired by ousted Archbishop Anthony Apuron. Popular among the catholic faithful, the removal of Msgr. Benavente was met with huge disappointment and the subsequent loss of parishioners.

"There is no doubt that since the removal of Msgr. James by Archbishop Apuron, the collection has dropped significantly," Untalan said.

Before Msgr. Benavente’s removal, the Agana Cathedral collected about $10,000 in monetary donations every week. After his removal the amount dropped by less than half that amount. Then last September, Father Paul Gofigan, who was another priest that Archbishop Apuron removed from a different parish for other reasons, was appointed to serve as rector of the cathedral.

"When I first arrived there, the total collections was around $4,000 a week," explained Gofigan. "After a few months it has risen to almost double that amount but averaging about $7,000 now. So it’s gone up slightly but definitely not enough to pay our monthly debts."

The Archdiocesan Receivership Committee, which will now oversee the Agana Cathedral, is made up of Chairwoman Tony Sanford, Rick Duenas and Art Ilagan.

"In just two years we’ve increased liability by $1.9 million with absolutely no respect as to where the money’s gonna come from to take care of those financial obligations," Sanford said emphatically. "Today, just in this current fiscal year, Agana cathedral, it has already a $194,000 deficit and it continues to grow unless we stop the hemorrhaging. It’s bleeding!"

The church leadership says their focus now is to grow the church’s base. They hope to bring back the parishioners they lost with the newfound trustworthiness they’ve established over the last few months.

"So our objective here is to win back the trust that we lost with this culture of change. We wanna bring back those families that built the Cathedral Basilica," said Sanford.

PNC: "Why should they trust the new leadership?"

"I think actions speak louder than words so we hope and pray that with now a body like ARC and with the full cooperation of Father Paul, and reinvigorated and reorganized cathedral basilica, people then will see it can trust the people running the cathedral again," said Untalan.