Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The Code of Canon Law is a summary of the laws and precepts that govern the Church throughout the world. The Code goes into great detail on the responsibilities of a bishop toward the pastoral care of the people of his Diocese. These responsibilities include providing for the faith formation of all the people of the Diocese, providing access to the sacraments, spiritual enrichment activities, promoting the moral development of the people, promoting social justice, encouraging people to acts of charity and providing for public worship. These are only a few of the duties for which the bishop is responsible.
All of this is beyond the scope of what one person can do. The bishop must call upon all the faithful to exercise the apostolate in proportion to each person’s condition and ability, as this duty to exercise the apostolate flows from their Baptism. In addition to coordinating the apostolate of all the faithful, the bishop must be a good steward of resources, both material and human.
Since being ordained as your bishop, I have striven to meet these responsibilities to the best of my ability. It has never been easy. A troubled economy has limited the availability of material resources. Typhoons have made matters worse by ripping apart our infrastructure and damaging our homes and businesses. This has impacted the church as well, with major damage to several churches. However, the greatest challenge has been with the dearth of human resources. There are 13 parishes in the Diocese. The Faithful of this Diocese have not raised up one of their own to the priesthood in many years. This lack of indigenous vocations and the aging of the local priests who have been in ministry for many years means that the human resources necessary to minister to the people of this Diocese and to pastor the 13 parishes are lacking.
This was a tremendous challenge to the late Bishop Tomas A. Camacho, and it continues to be one of my greatest challenges as the successor to Bishop Camacho. We have attempted to obtain a sufficient number of priests by requesting assistance from Dioceses in the Philippines and Korea, as well as from various religious communities. One of the difficulties though is that there is frequent turn over as a result of visa restrictions and the other ministerial needs of the home diocese or religious community of these priests. While our new deacon community is a big help, they are not priests. Their ministry is important but different from that of a priest. The only sure way to remedy the problem of not enough priests in this Diocese is to raise up vocations to the priesthood from within this Diocese. Toward this goal, I urge you to pray the vocation prayer daily and to encourage your sons to consider the priesthood.
In the meantime, I am faced with the practical reality of providing pastoral care to thousands of the faithful without the resources necessary to achieve this task. One of the ways to make better use of the resources we have available is through sharing these resources. As well as making the best use of the talents that the People of God bring to ministry. A very common model for doing this is called “clustering”. This approach groups several neighboring parishes and missions into a cluster. A cluster may have one priest assigned as a single pastor for all the parishes. Other priests or deacons may be assigned to the cluster as well. They work together as a team, serving all of the parishes in the cluster. Each person brings unique talents to their ministry and all of the parishes in the cluster benefit. Each parish maintains its separate identity, separate bank accounts, separate finance councils while all the parishes in the cluster share the services of their pastoral team.
Given the practical reality of meeting the pastoral needs of the People of God in the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa, I have prayerfully considered alternatives to the approach to ministry that we take at present. The pastoral planning process has been a big help with this discernment. The option of clustering seems the most appropriate path to take at this time. I have discussed this approach with the clergy of the Diocese and with the heads of the parishes’ finance and pastoral councils. The response has been positive. So, as recently announced over the next few weeks and months we will be implementing a series of parish clusters in the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa.
The clusters will include: San Roque, Santa Remedios, Kristo Rai, and San Jose, Tinian grouped into one cluster. Fr. Albert Pellazar, OAR is assigned the team leader of this cluster and Pastor of Kristo Rai with Fr. Neil Bullos, OAR as Parish Administrator of San Roque and Interim Parish Administrator of Santa Remedios until the new OAR priest arrives on the island. Fr. Anthony Aguason as Pastor of San Jose, Tinian. Deacon Jeffrey Camacho is assigned as deacon assistant in Kristo Rai and Deacon Tom Schweiger as Deacon assistant in San Roque.
San Jose (Oleai), Our Lady of Mount Carmel Cathedral, and the Korean Catholic Church are grouped as another cluster. Fr. Jason Granado is the team leader in this cluster. He is the Rector of the Cathedral and Pastor of San Jose (Oleia) while Fr. Isidro Ogumoro is Parochial Vicar to both parishes. Fr. Andrew Jang remains the Parish Administrator of the Korean Catholic Church. Deacon Rosiky Camacho is Deacon assistant at the Cathedral.
San Antonio and San Jude parishes are one cluster with Fr. Harold Funa as Pastor of both parishes and Fr. Noli Lim as priest-in-residence of San Antonio. Deacon Stan Benavente is Deacon assistant of San Antonio, and Deacon Tony Yarobwemal is Deacon assistant of San Jude.
San Vicente and Santa Soledad parishes form another cluster. Fr. Jesse Reyes is Pastor of San Vicente and Fr. Charlie Borja is Pastor of Santa Soledad. Fr. Charlie is the cluster’s team leader.
San Francisco de Borja and San Isidro Parishes form one cluster on the island of Rota. Fr. Rey Rosal is the Pastor of both parishes and team leader and Fr. Isaac Ayuyu is the Parochial Vicar of both parishes.
I ask your support and patience as we implement the clustering of our parishes. Please work with your brothers and sisters in Christ who live in the other parishes of your cluster, that working together we can build up the church in this Diocese and meet the pastoral needs of everyone. I ask your prayers for me as well, that I have the wisdom and grace to serve as your bishop effectively. I also ask you to pray for priestly vocations from among the people of this Diocese, as well as encouraging your young people to consider the priesthood.
Your brother in Christ,
Most Rev. Ryan P. Jimenez, DD
Bishop of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa
