Priest assignments to be announced Friday

The man in charge of the Archdiocese of Agana will be announcing the new assignments for its priests this Friday. Fr. Romeo Convocar, the apostolic administrator of the archdiocese, told Kandit in an interview this afternoon that the every-six-year process will take effect July 1, 2024.

“This is part of a tradition of the church that we reassign priests,” he said. “All of us priests have different gifts. Different things to share to our people. And though we are priests assigned in this diocese, we are still missionary.”

The new assignments are opportunities for priests to share their ministry throughout the island, he alluded to as he explained his assignments in the past to San Isidro parish in Malojloj and to the Dulce Nombre de Maria Agana Cathedral Basilica before his Tumon appointment.

Fr. Convocar noted the changes were supposed to happen two years ago, or eight years after the last so-called “grand reshuffling” done by Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai.

“The clergy assignments will end by (the) thirtieth of June,” Fr. Convocar said. “They will either have to be reappointed or reassigned by July first because all of their appointments will expire.” He explained that the reason the archdiocese allowed the additional two years following the expiration of the Hon appointments was because some of the appointments became staggered, when Archbishop Emeritus Michael Byrnes made a shuffle of some of the clergy in the middle of the Hon six-year-term.

Among those was Fr. Convocar himself, who was moved to become the pastor of Blessed Diego Luis de San Vitores Church in Tumon two years ago.

“Many local communities want their pastor to remain, that’s understandable because people kind of develop a bond and friendship, relationship with their pastor,” he said, adding, “and that is very good because as a pastor you should develop a relationship with your flock otherwise you are not doing the job if you’re not developing the relationship of the pastor and your people. But I think that relationship remains. Let’s not forget that other priests have also something to share.”

Because of stability issues (in consideration of his additional duties as apostolic administrator while Guam awaits the appointment of an archbishop), Fr. Convocar will be keeping his post in Tumon, and remaining there for a six-year term. That is, unless Rome selects him to become the archbishop (You’ll have to wait for our release of the second of this three-part series on the interview today for more on news of the archbishop selection process).

He also confirmed that some priests will maintain their current assignments.

The process of shuffling priest assignments is not necessarily democratic, but it is collegial and consultative, according to the process the apostolic administrator described.

“We have the Priest Personnel Board, which recommends to me the assignments and reassignments of the clergy,” he said. “They went through some form of consultation with the individual priests concerned. And then after the consultation with them, the Priest Personnel Board met together to put up a plan where to put who and then after that I brought it out also for consultation with the College of Consultors.”

“It will be out hopefully this Friday,” he confirmed, adding that before the Chancery releases the list to the public, Fr. Convocar will meet privately with the priests to inform them of his decisions. “On Friday morning I will meet with the clergy. They will be informed formally. After that we will inform our community.”

The assignments will be posted on the several social media platforms the archdiocese maintains.

Fr. Convocar was thrust into the administration of the archdiocese when Archbishop Emeritus Byrnes resigned early last year due to health reasons, creating what is known as the sede vacante, or vacant chair in Latin. It refers to the vacancy of the office of a bishop or Pope. The apostolic administrator presided over the closing of the archdiocese’s arguably darkest era, when its bankruptcy stemming from hundreds of lawsuits involving clergy sex abuse finally closed.

He was described by another priest as “a holy man.”