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Hagatna, Guam, Jun 6, 2016 / 04:00 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- After sex abuse and other allegations were leveled against Guam's archbishop, Pope Francis on Monday appointed a Vatican official to be the local Church's apostolic administrator while an investigation is carried out.

On June 6, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, was appointed apostolic administrator “sede plena” of the Archdiocese of Agaña, which serves Catholics in Guam, a U.S. island territory in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.

The appointment was made shortly after Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agaña was accused of sexual abuse dating from the 1970s, and of failing to implement strong policies on the handling of clerical sex abuse.

As apostolic administrator “sede plena,” Archbishop Hon will govern the archdiocese because its ordinary is incapable of doing so. Though Archbishop Apuron remains archbishop, he will not exercise his office while Archbishop Hon remains as apostolic administrator.

In May, allegations surfaced against Archbishop Apuron. The accusations were raised by a former altar boy, who said that he was molested at age 12, when he spent the night at a rectory with then-Father Apuron. The alleged incident took place in the mid-1970s in Agat, a town located almost 13 miles southwest of Hagåtña, Guam's capital, when Archbishop Apuron was a parish priest.

Shortly later, another allegation surfaced, also involving a former altar server who had spent the night at the rectory.

Archbishop Apuron has denied the allegations, with a statement from the Agaña archdiocese calling the latter claim a “malicious and calumnious accusation.”

On May 18, Vincent Pereda, a member of the archdiocese's review board, wrote that regarding Quintanilla's accusation, “I believe credible, reasonable cause does exist … that the archbishop had engaged in sexual misconduct,” the Pacific Daily News reported.

A May 31 statement from the archdiocese claimed that “fierce attacks against the Archbishop exploded three years ago when he removed the administration of the Cathedral-Basilica, the Museum and the Catholic Cemeteries of Guam for reasons of financial mismanagement.”

Deacon Stephen Martinez is the archdiocese's former sexual abuse response coordinator and its former financial officer. He was dismissed from his duties in October 2014.

Deacon Martinez held a June 1 press conference in which he alleged that the Agaña archdiocese's sexual abuse policy has a conflict of interest and needs to be revised, since Archbishop Apuron has himself been accused of sexual abuse.

“The archbishop has purposely kept his sex abuse policies weak in order to protect himself and those around him,” the deacon stated.

Deacon Martinez presented letters he sent to the archbishop in 2014 stating his concerns with the local Church's policy on investigating clerical sex abuse.

A June 3 statement from the archdiocese called Deacon Martinez' statements calumny, and defended the archbishop's handling of allegations of sexual abuse against clerics in recent years.

“To state, as Stephen Martinez did, that the sexual abuse policy of the archdiocese was kept weak purposefully by the Archbishop to protect himself is a calumny of such magnitude that the only avenue, which we are following, is recourse to the civil and canonical legal processes to address these intentional lies,” the archdiocese stated.

“We are working with one of the most prominent U.S. legal firms to address these issues and with an independent investigator to inquire about this allegation and these rumors.”

The statement also charged that Deacon Martinez was removed from his position as financial officer for the archdiocese because of incompetence, and that he is part of a group “conspiring to topple Archbishop Apuron from his service.”

The archdiocese alleged that the accusations against Archbishop Apuron are part of an attack caused by his refusal to sell a seminary – a move which it says would have concealed financial mismanagement of the archdiocesan cathedral and cemetery.

In 2014, a California man had accused Archbishop Apuron of having molested his cousin. However, the cousin did not confirm the accusation, and no charges were filed.

Archbishop Apuron, 52, is a native of Guam. He was ordained a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1972. He was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Agaña in 1983, its apostolic administrator in 1985, and he has served as archbishop since 1986.

The Pope's decision to appoint Archbishop Hon as apostolic administrator of Agaña shortly follows his release of a motu proprio, “As a loving mother,” providing for the removal of bishops from office in cases where they are negligent in dealing with sex abuse cases.

 

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Denver, Colo., Jun 6, 2016 / 05:09 pm (CNA/EWTN News).- On January 19, 1981, in Los Angeles, Muhammad Ali talked a man down from jumping off a ninth-floor fire escape, an event that made national news.

“Former heavyweight champions slip out of the news as easily as ex-presidents, but Muhammad Ali was never your garden-variety champion of all the world,” Walter Cronkite said on the Jan. 20, 1981, edition of the CBS Evening News. “Yesterday in Los Angeles, he responded like a superhero when a distraught man threatened suicide.”

Ali told the distraught man that he was his brother, that he loved him and wanted to take him home to meet his friends. After half an hour, Ali had his arm around the man’s shoulder and led him to safety.

While boxing legend Muhammad Ali will go down in history as “The Greatest” fighter, some of his greatest fights – for hope, courage, and human dignity – took place outside the ring.

In 1984, at the age of 42 and just a few years into retirement from boxing, Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. Never one to accept defeat and with a keen ability to inspire hope in others, Ali used his diagnosis to raise awareness and funding for research on the progressive neurological disease.

But it was not just his fighting attitude, but his religious belief, that kept him moving forward.

Dawud Walid, Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said Ali’s trust in God helped his perspective after receiving what would be a devastating diagnosis for someone who had been so active.

“He reflected a very strong faith in the face of that debilitating disease,” Walid told CNA.

“I remember him saying that he was humbled by God allowing him to have a disease, to show him who was really the greatest, that God is the greatest,” he said. “(Ali) would say there was a hidden blessing in it.”

By being so public about his diagnosis, Walid said Ali was able to show the world that one can still have courage and hope in the face of suffering.

“I remember him lighting the Olympic flame in Atlanta, and he struggled and he was there shaking but it was really a sign of courage and a sign of hope not just to people who are struggling with Parkinson’s disease, but other diseases, that you still can have dignity in the face of such enormous challenges,” Walid said.

“A diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease or another movement disorder is not a death sentence,” reads a statement on Muhammad Ali Parkinson’s Center website.

The site also posted a tribute video to Ali, who died Friday at the age of 74, after a 32-year battle with Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s patients in the video recall how Ali’s courage and generosity in the face of suffering changed their lives.

“I had no idea how much of a difference Muhammad Ali would make in my life. Now that I have Parkinson's disease, his generosity has been a blessing for me personally,” a man says in the video.

“He never said ‘I can’t do this’, so that has become my motto too,” another patient says.

Besides his fighting record, charisma, and Parkinson’s advocacy, Ali is also remembered for his peaceful, although controversial, protest and resistance of the draft for the Vietnam war. Ali cited his Islamic religious beliefs, as well as racism, as his reasons for being a conscientious objector. He was arrested for draft evasion and unable to fight for four years while his case went through appeals court.
 
His appeal took four years to reach the U.S. Supreme Court, which in June 1971 reversed the conviction in a unanimous decision that found the Department of Justice had improperly told the draft board that Ali's stance wasn't motivated by religious belief.

Ali, who was born Cassius Marcellus Clay, changed his name when, inspired by Malcolm X, he converted to the Nation of Islam, a controversial American Muslim sect that advocated racial separation and rejected the pacifism of most civil rights activism. He later switched to the more mainstream Sunni Islam.

Walid said that Ali openly talked about his belief in God and the virtues contained in all the world’s religions.

“He believed that if people lived by those virtues, especially the Golden Rule, then this earth would be a much better place.”

During his life, Ali met with religious people and leaders throughout the world of various persuasions and denominations, including, in 1982, St. John Paul II.

A sports fan himself, and an eventual Parkinson’s suffer as well, John Paul II exchanged autographs with the famed boxer during a private audience at the Vatican.

Pope John Paul II and Muhammad Ali exchange autographs in papal apartment, June 4, 1982 #TBT @Pontifex #UPIArchive pic.twitter.com/Umko6N8nkP

— UPI.com (@UPI) September 24, 2015 His legend for the Muslim community, Walid said, will be his non-violent protests and his bold but peaceful activism.

“We live in a society now in which people are now provoking violence and meeting those provocations with violence,” Walid said. “Muhammad Ali stood strong for his Islamic belief and against the unjust war in Vietnam, but he was peaceful in that regard.”

“Inside the ring he was a gladiator, and outside of the ring, he appealed to people’s moral consciousness,” he said.

“Given the era that Ali came from and the boldness and the resilience that he exhibited, it is doubtful that the American Muslim community will ever see the likes of an American Muslim like Muhammad Ali in our lifetime.”

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IMAGE: CNS photo/Action Images, MSI via Reuters

By Nancy Wiechec

PHOENIX (CNS) -- Muhammad Ali leaves an indelible mark on the world not only as a fighter and athlete but as a man of faith, courage and generosity.

The three-time heavyweight champion and self-titled "The Greatest" boxer of all time died at a Scottsdale hospital June 3. He was 74.

In Phoenix, where Ali lived his last years, people recalled his kindness and bravery in his struggle with Parkinson's disease.

"I've watched him face the disease with grace and humor, and he has inspired countless patients to do the same," said Dr. Holly Shill in a statement from the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center at Barrow Neurological Institute. "We have lost a great warrior in the battle of Parkinson's, but hope continues."

Founded in 1997 by Ali and his wife, Lonnie (Yolanda), along with philanthropist Jimmy Walker and Dr. Abraham Lieberman, the Muhammad Ali Parkinson Center offers advanced treatments for Parkinson's and other movement disorders as well as therapy and support for patients and caretakers. It is part of St. Joseph's Hospital and Medical Center in the Sisters of Mercy-founded Dignity Health network.

Patient Ida Stanford reflected on the center and its famous namesake in a Dignity Health video.

"I can't imagine having Parkinson's and not having place like the center," she said. "Muhammad Ali stood up for what he believed in. He was one-of-a-kind and still is one-of-a-kind."

Parkinson's disease is a chronic disorder that affects an estimated 1.5 million Americans. Its symptoms -- tremors, slowness of movement, rigidity and impaired balance and coordination -- worsen over time.

According to The Arizona Republic newspaper, the former champ came to the Phoenix area in the mid-1990s seeking medical treatment for his condition. He lived quietly in the valley devoting time to philanthropy and making occasional appearances at charity and sporting events.

Ali made several visits to the Society of St. Vincent de Paul's family dining room in Phoenix, according to the society. He and his wife would serve meals and mingle with the guests. The couple also made several donations to the charity.

"It mattered little that Muhammad lost his ability to speak, for he communicated to our guests through his heart and soul," said executive director Steve Zabiliski in a letter to The Arizona Republic. "At St. Vincent de Paul, we will remember him for his grace, his kindness, his courage and his love. It's what made him so special."

His last public appearance was in early April at Celebrity Fight Night, an annual Phoenix fundraiser that has given millions of dollars to the Ali Parkinson Center and other charities.

A public interfaith funeral service for Ali was to take place June 10 in Louisville, Kentucky.

Born and raised in Louisville, Ali came from a Christian household. His father was Methodist, his mother a Baptist. He was named Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr., a family name traced back to a white slave owner.

He started boxing at age 12.

In 1964, after grasping the heavyweight title from Sonny Liston, Cassius Clay announced that he had joined the Nation of Islam. He took a new name, Muhammad Ali.

In his 2004 memoir "The Soul of a Butterfly: Reflections on Life's Journey," Ali told the story of his "spiritual being."

"It was after I retired from boxing that my true work began," he wrote, observing that his religion and spirituality changed and evolved over years.

As a young man, he had questioned his Christian heritage and its portrayals of a white Jesus and white apostles. He said one thing that attracted him to Islam was that the faith had no images of God, angels or prophets.

"No single race should be able to identify with God through the color of its skin," he wrote.

The Nation of Islam's belief in black self-empowerment struck a chord with the boxer.

"When I became a Muslim, I was on my way to entering what I called 'The Real Fight Ring,'" he said. "The one where freedom and justice for black people in America took place."

In 1967, during the Vietnam War, Ali refused induction into the Army citing religious grounds.

"I didn't agree with the reasons why we were in Vietnam in the first place," he wrote in his memoir. "I couldn't see myself trying to injure or kill people whom I didn't even know, people who had never done any harm to me or my country."

His dissent cost the boxer his heavyweight title. He was convicted of draft evasion. His passport was revoked, and his fighting career came to a halt.

Many Americans looked down on the fighter, and he said the Nation of Islam turned its back on him. He discovered a new "spiritual home" in mainstream Sunni Islam and embraced Sufism, a mystical dimension of the faith.

Ali returned to the ring in 1970 and in 1971 his draft evasion conviction was overturned by the Supreme Court. He took his second and third heavyweight titles in 1974 and 1978. He retired in 1981 with a 56-5 record.

In 1982, Ali met Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. They reportedly exchanged autographs. Little did each know that they would later both suffer from Parkinson's, serving as public faces of the disease.

A 2003 meeting with the Dalai Lama left a marked impression on Ali. He said they both held a deep respect for people of different beliefs and agreed that spirituality should be central to daily life.

Ali and wife Lonnie established the Muhammad Ali Center in his hometown of Louisville to promote the fighter's legacy and his six core values: confidence, conviction, dedication, giving, respect and spirituality.

Although his connections to Catholicism may have been few, the quick-witted Ali once smacked back a question about his prowess in the ring with "Can I dance? Is the pope Catholic?"

In his 2004 book, Ali reflected on the afterlife and how he'd like to be remembered after death.

"What really matters in life is prayer, living right, and good deeds, because this life is just practice for our eternal life," he wrote.

And on how he would like to be remembered: As the three-time heavyweight champion, as humorous, and as someone "who treated everyone right. ... As a man who stood up for his beliefs no matter what. As a man who tried to unite all humankind through faith and love."

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