A new era – one many Guamanians arguably may find more important than any political or economic movement – is set to begin at 4 p.m. today.
That is when His Excellency, the Most Reverend Ryan Jimenez, will become the Archbishop of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Agana. His assumption of the seat vacated by the resignation of Archbishop Emeritus Michael Byrnes will occur where that chair has rested vacant for two years: the Dulce Nombre de Maria Agana Cathedral Basilica.
Kandit will cover the event live on our Facebook page.
The Solemn Rite of Installation will usher in a new period for Guam; one when a youthful 52-year-old archbishop has both the time – God willing – and the energy to perhaps become Guam’s most powerful voice for change and redemption.
It is a power a previous but now disgraced (former) bishop – Anthony Apron – wielded, though abused for less than holy reasons.
Hundreds of Catholic faithful are expected to attend the Mass and witness history. The crowd will include scores of parishioners from the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa who flew in from Saipan to see the man who became their friend take up new residence in a place that hardly knows him. By the time his homily ends toward the end of the Holy Mass’s first half – the Liturgy of the Word – Guam will get a first glimpse into the type of archbishop, or spiritual leader if you will, he intends to be.
He will become only the fourth archbishop of Guam.
This is a delicate time for the Catholic Church in Guam, but also one of hope and opportunity. The new archbishop has his detractors and doubters; people who are wary of any rumored fondness he developed with a sect of the church – the Neocatechumenal Way – in Saipan. He also has been loyal to the edicts of Pope Francis (Catholics are supposed to adhere to what the Pope says while he is seated in the Chair of Saint Peter – a doctrinal tradition founded upon Christ’s instruction that His church would live on through Peter and his successors), which may annoy conservatives who – some might say heretically – oppose Pope Francis’ methods.
Archbishop-elect Jimenez also must deal with a church community fractured by rapidly increasing secularism and individualism, movements away from Christ’s instructions and for which the clergy sex scandal gave Catholics a greater excuse to stay away.
The Archdiocese since then has led a church in decline in Guam. Fewer people are attending Mass than the faithful who gathered prior to the sex scandal reaching fever pitch. Even fewer are doing the one thing that brings people closest to God and toward redemption: Confessing their sins to Christ through the priest in persona Christi, and receiving absolution.
So, can the new archbishop consolidate the fractured resources – the remnants of the Apuron era – of the church he will shepherd, along with his God-given gifts, skills, and hopefully agenda to do what it is the church is supposed to do? Save souls.
Can he harbor the affections of a people lost through the struggle and pains of life in a poverty-stricken, drug-rampaged, corruption-filled, and violence-plagued Guam? And can he turn that affection and attention into a championship for social justice, strengthening catechism, Confession of sins, and Communion with Christ through the Holy Eucharist found only at the Holy Mass?
Will he do what no archbishop has done before him to the scale needed of the church now? Will he lead the way in feeding and clothing the poor, providing solutions for the homeless, and love for the prisoner? Will he be the voice that coordinates the rehabilitation and redemption of drug abusers, violent criminals, and people who see no worth in their lives and the lives of others? Will he be that courageous beacon above reproach – a kind we’ve never had – who will stand up to the corrupt and maybe even help us to take them down?
Most importantly, will he shepherd us to Christ? After all the work ahead of him along a journey with so many worldly and spiritual pitfalls to avoid, valleys to climb out of, and treacherous terrain to overcome, will he help us to accept Christ’s invitation to His Sacred Heart?
At 4 pm today, we will begin to understand how he views this journey, and perhaps even give us a glimpse into his roadmap.
God bless the Archbishop of Agana. BIba Santa Marian Kamalen!
