A priest recounts his childhood memories of the Nobenan Niñu Jesus. Pacific Daily News



The Catholic church on Guam saw major destruction from the war, but was able to rise from the ashes, Father Francis Hezel, a historian and priest with the archdiocese, said.

Hezel, 80, has been in the Micronesia region for more than 40 years, and visited Guam throughout the years after the war.

He spent decades in Chuuk and in Pohnpei since the 1960s before he came to Guam in 2012.

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He said after the war the island was a mess and the church needed to rebuild.

"After the war there was this enormous destruction and a revival of the church, but the revival of the church didn't take long," Hezel said. 

He said if you look at photos from right after the war there are pictures of processions taking place amid the ruins of the war. And there was a can-do spirit to rebuild right after the war. 

"The church grew out of the ashes of devastation and destruction," he said.

Hezel said the spirit of the church was very much alive after the war.

"I always thought that the church on Guam has been enormously resilient. And I think it's good for people to remember that when there's times of challenge and crisis," he said.

Hezel praises the people of Guam and the people in the church for their resilience.

"For again and again in the course of the history having to rethink, rebuild, reorganize and they've done this extremely well," he said. 

Facing the horrors of war and the American bombardment of the island, the people of Guam continued to have faith and to rebuild, he said.

"The ability to sort of smile at all this stuff and to say, 'This thing was rough for awhile, but it passed and we're still here and on we go,'" Hezel said. 

Starving for religion

During the war, the Catholic church had two local priests to serve the whole island. Pale' Jesus Baza Duenas and Pale' Oscar Lujan Calvo, with Pale' Duenas not surviving the war.

He was beheaded on July 12, 1944. 

Hezel said the people had gone through religious starvation and after the war there was a big push from the church to satisfy this hunger.

The church rebuilt church buildings, built schools, had religious orders come to Guam  like the Sisters of Notre Dame and the Sisters of Mercy who staffed the Catholic schools, he said.

The Sisters of Mercy opened Academy of Our Lady of Guam, an all-girls Catholic high school.

Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Guam in 1945, according to Guampedia.

Hezel said Baumgartner pushed to open a Catholic all-boys high school and seminary in honor of Father Duenas.

"He wanted a place that would help train people who had a vocation," he said. 

The seminary helped grow the priesthood on Guam and created more CHamoru priests for the island.

The Capuchins, a religious order, also helped the church rebuild and also helped grow the local priests for the island, he said.

Baumgartner was a Capuchin, Hezel said.

The order helped stabilize the church and have been a presence that people could trust and rely on, he said. 

Education a key role

After the war the Catholic church built many schools which played a key role in getting people educated, Hezel said.

There weren't as many public schools in the post-war days and the Catholic church provided a place to seek education.

There were parish churches built with schools like Santa Barbara in Dededo and Saint Anthony in Tamuning.

The new Catholic schools and the the religious orders that made Guam their home helped grow vocations so more locals became nuns and priests.

Hezel said there was also an appreciation from families to have a nun or a priest in the family so it was something people pursued.

From having just two local priests during the war, the island post-war saw a growth in local priests, he said. There was also a growth in nuns, he said.

So there was an enormous buildup in Catholic education, reconstruction of churches and the starting of a local clergy right after the war, he said.

Old church was gone

The church as people knew it before the war would never be the same, Hezel said.

"The old church would never be quite the same again," he said.

He said after the war the island population grew and many different ethnic groups started to come in creating a multi-ethnic population.

In the old days, villages were small and most people knew each other in the villages and the parish priests would help in disputes.

"That didn't work quite as well as the population grew," he said.

There wasn't the same cooperation and village harmony that existed before, he said.

There also was the growth of other religions on Guam, Hezel said.

But the church has also helped bring people from various backgrounds together, he said.

"The church is supposed to be a bonder," Hezel said.







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