
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, January 31, 1995                   TAG: 9501310132
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH                                LENGTH: Medium

HISPANIC CATHOLICS DIVIDED OVER LOSS OF RECRUITED PRIEST

A handful of Hispanic Roman Catholics have staged a protest calling on their bishop to support a priest the church recruited into the community and who remains there even though he lost his job.

Bishop Walter F. Sullivan ``is experimenting with the Hispanic community, with its traditions and with the people who are members of the apostolate,'' said Beatrice Amberman, one of about 15 demonstrators Sunday outside a church where Sullivan prepared to celebrate Mass. ``We don't want to be guinea pigs.''

But Sullivan, who is based in Richmond, said the priest, the Rev. Fernando Guillen, a native of Costa Rica, was a guest of the diocese and served at the bishop's pleasure.

``I don't want to publicly criticize Fernando, but I told the archbishop for Costa Rica that he was not obedient; and he was called back to Costa Rica, but he didn't go,'' Sullivan said.

Guillen was recruited by a member of the Apostolate Cristo Rey several years ago after the reassignment of the apostolate's previous priest.

Sullivan agreed to allow Guillen to serve as a sacramental priest but gave the duties of parish priest to a pastoral coordinator, Sister Barbara Gerwe.

The decision upset some members of the apostolate, which has about 260 families.

``In the Hispanic Catholic tradition, the priest is the head of the community,'' said Jose Sosa, a community spokesman. ``Bishop Sullivan has made it clear that the head of the community is a nun and not a priest. We don't have anything personally against the sister, but she's not a priest. She is playing a role that we do not think should be her role.''

After Guillen arrived, problems created tension between him and the nun. Guillen also refused the bishop's request to visit Spanish-speaking prisoners in the region and once failed to show up for a meeting to discuss problems within the apostolate, Sullivan said.

Sullivan removed Guillen from his job in September.

Sosa said Hispanics considered Guillen a unifying force. ``The people in the community will tell you he was a blessing,'' he said.

But Iris Young, the head of the apostolate's choir and a Sullivan supporter, said the dispute has divided friends and families. She said Guillen tried to organize his supporters ``when he saw he was not going to get what he wanted.''

Guillen, who did not attend Sunday's protest, has refused to comment on the situation.

Sister Gerwe said the furor has caused a lot of pain in the community.

``Some in the community felt that because this priest initially had been contacted by a member of the community, that it then had an option on how the priest would operate,'' she said.

``Our church does not work that way. It is the bishop who decides where a priest will minister.''

by CNB