The Neocatechumenal Way should start paying rent for using the Archdiocese of Hagåtña’s Yona property says David Sablan.
Archdiocesan Finance Council President Richard Untalan and other council members said the Yona property is one of 41 non-essential archdiocese assets that could be sold to help settle clergy sex abuse cases against the archdiocese.
But Sablan says an end-date should be set to the Neocatechumenal Way staying there and until the property is sold, those staying there should be paying rent to the archdiocese.
Sablan is the president of Concerned Catholics of Guam of an organisation formed in 2014 “to address major concerns and issues that have affected the Catholic faithful on Guam, with the objective of resolving the problems affecting the confidence and trust they have in their church leadership.”
The Yona property, which was once an hotel, is being used by the Neocatechumenal Way as a seminary. It has been at the centre of a dispute about who its rightful owners are.
Sablan said it is unfair that Guam’s 14 Catholic schools and their students are being assessed to pay for some $2.64 million in church debts, while the Neocatechumenal Way “gets free rent” from the archdiocese.
Catholic schools will be charged new fees of $25 per student each year to fund the operations of a Catholic education superintendent, and $144 a year per student to help the church weather its financial crisis.
On Aug. 3, Sablan sent a letter to Redemptoris Mater Seminary vice rector Monsignor David C. Quitugua, requesting a list of those living at the Yona property.
“We need to know who are these people staying out there because we know there are others than just these the Neocatechumenal Way priest- presbyters and seminarians. The Chancery officials do not know either,” he said.
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