How was your arrival in Guam?
After completing my initial training, I was assigned to the Philippines. I took some courses at the University of Santo Tomas in Manila and then worked for six years in Cebu. After completing my studies at Villanova University, run by the Augustinians in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, I returned to the Philippines, to Cavite, until Guam opened.
It was not a new place for the Augustinian Recollects. After 130 years (1769-1899) we had been expelled by the new American authorities. And 75 years later (1974) we were returning to a place already evangelized by our brothers.
Five Augustinian Recollects reopened the mission, and the welcome was overwhelming, with the bishop, clergy, nuns, and authorities at the airport. We were young and eager to get started. The local clergy, like David Kituva, were a great help to us in the beginning.
From the very first moment, I was struck by the immense kindness of the people. For the first few days, I worked at the only hospital there, replacing an elderly and ailing Capuchin friar who passed away shortly after. It was hard and demanding work, to which I dedicated myself entirely.
Then I was put in charge of the Parish of Our Lady of the Waters for ten years (1974-84). It was near the capital and many people came, with many activities and a high demand for the priest.
One defining characteristic of Guam is the omnipresence of the United States military. In addition to the five parishes, we served as chaplains at the Air Force and Navy bases. With their 7,000 personnel, they are the primary source of employment on the islands and exert a significant influence on virtually all aspects of social life.
We Augustinian Recollects worked in parishes, hospitals, military bases, and prisons; we even taught at a Catholic school. At one point, we were eight friars. Initially, we lived together; later, for pastoral reasons, each of us lived in our own parish. The island could be crossed in an hour; we were only half an hour apart. We would get together on Sundays, birthdays, days off, and holidays, and we felt like one community.
How do you remember church life in Guam?
Eighty percent of the inhabitants were practicing Catholics, and a significant percentage were also among the transient population at the military bases. The celebrations were very well attended, some quite moving, as the reenacted Stations of the Cross procession that began at Mount Land and ended at the parish church, traversing the island from end to end in two hours.
I think we did a good job in Guam. We went wherever and whenever necessary. The contact with the faithful was very enriching, and as a religious man and priest, I felt fulfilled; it was very rewarding. Even today, I keep in touch with people from there or people I met there.
The biggest challenge was the language, since none of us spoke Chamorro, the native language. Although we celebrated part of the liturgy in that language, most of our communication and celebrations were in English.
It was a place with a lot of crime and widespread gun ownership, although I must say we never felt unsafe. Incidentally, there were many reptiles; one of our religious men even found a snake in his room once…
What did Guam leave for the Augustinian Recollects?
I believe that we Augustinian Recollects maintain the missionary spirit, for example, now on another island with very special characteristics, Cuba. We must give our lives for the people, continuing in the missions now that other apostolates, such as education or parish ministry, are going through difficulties.
in Guam wasn’t particularly difficult materially, but we were very far from our loved ones, isolated; we worked alone, and among the ministries we had, several were frontier-based, such as our dedication to the sick and prisoners. We felt a certain claustrophobia, some called it “island sickness,” with the need to occasionally go out to visit the Recollect communities in other places.
Wherever we Augustinian Recollects are, we will find the Lord Jesus; and, since the Lord is everywhere, there is work to be done, we must attend to everyone. That was, and continues to be, the essence of the mission.
Everyday life, a source of experiences and curiosities
Bishop Felixberto Camacho Flores (1921-1985) was the first Chamorro bishop of Guam. In 1970, at his episcopal ordination, he offered the Augustinian Recollects the opportunity to return to the island, and the talks materialized four years later.
During the first mission, the Recollects missionaries built the churches and the Cathedral; in the second, parish halls and another church. On Ash Wednesday, the church in Toto burned to the ground. “There are enough ashes for the whole island,” the friars joked. And in that way, they left a new church on the island.
It was quite striking that in one parish, the Salve Regina and the Joseph Hymns were traditionally sung on Saturdays —pure Recollect tradition. And all that remained was a plaque in one of the rural villages bearing the name of Saint Rita, which had been destroyed by an earthquake.
Regarding prison ministry, there was even a choir of prisoners called “Freedom.” They sang in the parishes, a novelty that made their guards nervous, but it never caused any problems.
Regarding foreigners in Guam, there was a large Japanese tourism sector and many Koreans engaged in fishing and construction. The Recollect parishes held services in Korean until they acquired their own church.
