THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 4, 1995 TAG: 9502040335
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 78 lines
Faced with a troubled Hispanic community that boycotted his last appearance, Bishop Walter F. Sullivan met on Friday with members of Apostolate Cristo Rey to talk about the community's long-frustrated wish for a Hispanic priest.
If there were expectations of reconciliation, those hopes were cut short as members pointedly criticized Sullivan while the bishop offered a spirited defense of his right to control diocesan priests.
At issue was a move this fall to dismiss the Rev. Fernando Guillen, a Costa Rican native who came to Virginia Beach via Miami.
Soon after Guillen arrived, divisions emerged between him and Sullivan. The community, meanwhile, had begun to warmly embrace Guillen as someone who not only spoke Spanish but also understood the Hispanic culture.
Sullivan dismissed Guillen, saying he had become divisive. The move triggered an angry rebuttal from Hispanics who felt betrayed. Sullivan later said Guillen had disobeyed his instructions.
Friday's meeting at St. Gregory's Catholic Church on Virginia Beach Boulevard appeared to resolve nothing, but it gave community members a chance to speak directly to Sullivan.
Sullivan tried to open the meeting on a conciliatory note, saying he was delighted to meet with the community.
``I am not deaf,'' Sullivan said. ``I do not have a hearing problem. I am here to listen, to understand, and to remind you that this is not a one-way street. You need to understand where I'm coming from.''
Sullivan then announced that he would be interviewing a Spanish-speaking priest on Tuesday - he did not say whom - and that the process of meeting the community's demands was continuing.
From that moment, the meeting took on a confrontational tone as several members rose to challenge Sullivan's dismissal of Guillen, who was not present.
``I don't accept the way (Guillen) was dismissed,'' said Ricardo Escobar, an apostolate member. ``There was anger and hate in the way he was dismissed.''
Sullivan disagreed, saying that as a local priest, Guillen served at Sullivan's pleasure. When he fell short, he was dismissed.
``You have to see this from my perspective,'' Sullivan said. ``I asked him to see me several times, but he refused. I was at a meeting with him and he walked out. All I was doing was questioning his ministry.
``There is no question that he celebrated a good liturgy,'' Sullivan continued. ``But there is more to the priesthood than being there on Sundays.''
Cristo Rey is not a parish, even though it has about 260 families consisting of about 800 people. Parishes are defined by geographic borders and typically have a church as the focal point. Cristo Rey is considered an apostolate - a community bound by common language and purpose - although it functions like a parish. Its members celebrate Mass at St. Gregory's and at the Church of the Holy Family, the site last Sunday of a protest against Sullivan.
Faced with a nationwide shortage of priests, leaders in the Catholic church have tried new arrangements that meet the spiritual needs of Catholics while also attending to the daily functions of parish life. One model is to use nuns or lay people as pastoral coordinators.
This is the way Cristo Rey is set up, and the pastoral coordinator is Sister Barbara Gerwe. Guillen was assigned the job of being a sacramental priest, caring for the spiritual needs of large sections of South Hampton Roads.
But leaders within the community say they don't want a nun as pastoral coordinator; they want a priest, preferably a Hispanic one.
``No matter what you say, it won't put a Band-Aid to the hurt this community felt when Father Guilllen left,'' Jeyleen Toranzo said to Sullivan. ``So what is going to happen?''
``We can spend all evening on Father Guillen,'' Sullivan said, ``but he's not coming back.'' by CNB