austraLasia #2490

Guam Salesian presence given full media treatment

AGAÑA (Guam, North Pacific): 2nd September 2009: With the re-opening of the school year, and new Salesian management at the Fr Duenas Memorial School, media in the US Northern Pacific Micronesian Territory have been eager to offer a glimpse of the new arrangements.  Local TV and the 'Kuam' Daily have both reported on the newcomers.
    Fr Vitaliano Dimaranan sdb (aka Fr Chito) is the principal and heads up a small community of three confreres - two at the moment, the third being due at any moment once visa arrangements are complete.
    Archbishop Tony Apuron sought the help of the Salesians a year ago to run a school named after the second Chamorro priest to be ordained, just prior to the Japanese occupation in 1941.  He was eventually beheaded by the occupying troops in a spot close by the school which opened immediately post-war. Widely regarded as a martyr, his name now lives on in what Fr Chito says a a "development in the 60 year old tradition of the school".  In his various press interviews he has indicated that at this point he has drawn up a draft document, a 'principal's thrust'. "Changes will happen gradually and those changes will definitely not depend on me, on the Salesians but on the people who are on the Board".  The Kuam Daily report indicates that "Fr Chito wants to improve the library, science labs and other facilities that he realizes were hit hard by Typhoon Pongsona, and his dream is to add a second story to the campus".

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Title: australasia 2490
Subject and key words: EAO Provinces FIN Guam school
Date (year): 2009
ID: 2000-2099|2490