Hundreds of bargain hunters packed the car park and the halls of the former Accion Hotel in Agãna, Guam, hoping to find bargains at its cash-and-carry sale last Saturday.
Deacon Leonard Stohr said there were an estimated 350 people camping outside the hotel’s entrance at 5:00 am.
The hotel had been used to house the Redemptoris Mater Seminary until it was closed down at the end of December in 2017.
Some of the proceeds from the sale of items in the former hotel will go toward a special fund that may be needed to compensate clergy sex abuse victims.
The land and buildings are also listed as one of the 41 non-essential properties that could be sold to help settle sex abuse lawsuits.
The ownership of the hotel has been the subject of controversy.
The money used to buy the property was donated by Carmelite nuns in the United States.
In 2011 Archbishop Anthony Apuron signed a deed restriction that allowed a seminary and theological institute controlled by the Neocatechumenal Way to use the Yona property indefinitely.
At a press conference in November 2016, Mother Superior Dawn Marie of the Carmelite Monastery on Guam said the donors were disappointed that the property was not used for its intended purpose because of the influence of the Neocatechumenal Way.
The Archdiocese of Agãna subsequently regained full control of the property after Archbishop Michael Byrnes used his authority to cancel the deed restriction.
Source
- guampdn.com
- guampdn.com
- guampdn.com
- Image: guampdn.com /Rick Cruz