Government, politics, education, economics and religion
The origins of the Faith Presbyterian Christian Reformed Church in Guam date back to the 1950s, when military personnel from the Protestant Reformed Church worshiped together at the Navy Chapel. Filipino contract workers assisting with Guam’s postwar reconstruction eventually joined this group.
Faith Presbyterian Christian Reformed Church Read Post »
The Episcopal Church in Micronesia includes three churches in Guam – St. John the Divine in Upper Tumon, St. Andrew By the Philippine Sea in Hågat, and St. Michael and All Angels in Dededo.
To Bishop Apollinaris W. Baumgartner (1899 – 1970) belongs the honor and distinction of taking a church nearly decimated by World War II and rebuilding it out of the ashes of war into a strong and vibrant Diocese. In 1945, when Bishop Baumgartner was appointed Vicar Apostolic of Guam, most of Guam’s churches were damaged beyond repair.
Bishop Apollinaris William Baumgartner Read Post »
The first Protestant missionaries in Guam were two Chamorro brothers, Jose and Luis Custino, who came to the island from` in 1899. The Custino brothers’ surname was actually Castro, of the “Kaban” branch of that family.
Origin of the CHamoru Protestant Congregation in Guam Read Post »
Although their tenure was but a brief one, the Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart have the distinction of being the first community of Catholic religious women sent to Guam as well as being the first Catholic sisters in the Marianas and Micronesia.
Mission Helpers of the Sacred Heart Read Post »
Pioneer promoter of the CHamoru language. Father Roman Maria de Vera (1878 – 1959), a Catholic missionary on Guam from 1915 until 1941, was one of the first important writers in the CHamoru language.
Father Roman de Vera Read Post »
First American spy in Micronesia. Earl Hancock “Pete” Ellis, was a US Marine Corps lieutenant colonel and was the first American spy to penetrate Japanese-held Micronesia in 1923.
Earl Hancock “Pete” Ellis Read Post »
Father Marcian Pellet (1909 – 1996), OFM Cap. was a Capuchin missionary, artist, sculptor, and amateur archaeologist. He spent 57 years dedicated to the Catholic Church in the Mariana Islands, almost four of those years in a civilian Prisoner of War camp in Japan during World War II. His artistic works grace several locations in Guam.
The people of the Mariana Islands archipelago, collectively known as CHamorus, call as their homeland an area in the Pacific comprising 15 islands with a total land area of less than 400 square miles. The history of the CHamoru people dates back 3,000 to 3,500 years, when seafaring peoples migrated from Island Southeast Asia and settled in the Marianas.
CHamorus: A People Divided Read Post »
Father Jesus Baza Duenas (1911 – 1944) was the second CHamoru to be ordained a priest. He led the Catholic Church during the Japanese occupation of Guam during World War II and was later killed by the Japanese in July of 1944.
Father Jesus Baza Duenas Read Post »
