By Mar-Vic Cagurangan
His inaugural homily during his installation as the fourth archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agana was tinged with poignant candor, contrition and self-flagellation. “We church leaders disappointed you, we've hurt you, we've betrayed your trust," Archbishop Ryan Jimenez said.
His homily was occasionally spiced up with humor— disclosing his fondness for karaoke that brought chuckles to the hundreds of Catholic faithfuls who witnessed the event at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica in Hagatna on Aug. 15.
But ahead of him are highly demanding tasks that are not funny— such as sweeping up the debris of a church scandal that shocked the Guam community. Jimenez is inheriting the tasks to complete the implementation of the $45 million settlement agreement between the archdiocese and the more than 250 former altar servers who sued, alleging sex abuse by clergy members.
Buckling down to work the day after his installation, Jimenez said, “I had to do some paperwork and I have to spend time learning the things that our archdiocese has been doing especially with the bankruptcy case.”
The archdiocese has been able to sell most of its 41 listed assets to cover the settlement costs. “The only property that is on the market right now is the Chancery. “We're not selling churches or parishes,” Jimenez said.
Last year, the local nonprofit Phoenix Foundation withdrew its offer to acquire the Chancery compound from the Archdiocese of Agana after falling short of the $2.3 million required to seal the transaction.
“We're doing our best to do our part to comply with the court order. Everything now is under the trust, which has been mandated to give what the victims deserve,” Jimenez said.
Before being appointed archbishop of Agana, Jimenez served as the bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa on Saipan. He succeeded Archbishop Michael Byrnes, who resigned last year due to health reasons. Byrnes succeeded Antonio Apuron, who was defrocked by the Vatican after being found guilty of sex charges.
Bringing back to the fold those who have abandoned their faith as a result of the church’s scandalous episode is also a challenge that Jimenez is taking on. The Guam church hid its disgraceful secrets for more than five decades until the sex abuse survivors came out in the open.
“I need to do my best to reach out to these people who lost their trust in us,” he said. “My approach is to be patient. We don't judge. God is patient with us, so I need also to be patient.”
Jimenez vowed to beef up the archdiocese’s child protection initiatives “to ensure that the safe environment standards are implemented.”
He acknowledged that, in general, the church is becoming aloof and is sometimes slacking off in its duties. “We just wait until somebody rings the doorbell. Our task is to go out there and ring doorbells,” the archbishop said.
The church’s basic pastoral care and availability to the people leave much to be desired as well, he said. “Sometimes, we priests tend to look at our vocation as if we’re the CEO. We need to manage the church as an organization, but our responsibility goes far beyond that,” he said.
Treating the church missions as regular work needs to change, Jimenez said. “We're betraying the people. We signed up here to serve. We have days off, but our vocation is to be there whenever we are needed. If there's a sick call, we should abandon everything and go respond to the request.”
While there’s a separation of church and state, staying in one lane requires reconsideration when the common good is at stake, Jimenez said. Church leaders are duty-bound to participate in public discourses, he said.
Abortion, for example, is one of the most divisive and recurring debates on Guam, a predominantly Catholic community. Jimenez stands by the church’s position. “The Catholic teaching is very clear: all life from the moment of conception to death must be upheld, must be respected,” he said. “The archdiocese needs to have a louder voice.”
Jimenez stressed that it is the church's duty to address social issues such as drug abuse, feeding the hungry and homelessness. “We need to address these issues with a holistic approach. It's continuing. It’s long term, and not just like band-aid solutions,” he said.
Jimenez concurrently serves as a consultant to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Subcommittee on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs. Born and raised in the Philippines, Jimenez came as a migrant worker to the Northern Mariana Islands in 1995 and taught at Eskuelan San Francisco de Borja, a Catholic school on Rota.
He began his studies and formation for the priesthood at St. Joseph Seminary College (high school department) in the Diocese of Dumaguete, Philippines. He then transferred to the college program of the Jesuit-run San Jose Seminary in Quezon City, earning an undergraduate degree from the Ateneo de Manila University.
After living in the Northern Marianas for more than 20 years, Jimenez braced for adjustments. “Home is where God put you at the moment at a particular place at a particular time,” he said.
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