Bishop Camacho celebrates milestone

There are two events Bishop Emeritus Tomas A. Camacho remembers happening on this day exactly 50 years ago: he was being ordained as a priest while his sick father was receiving the sacrament of penance.

“I was ordained on June 14, 1961, a Wednesday, at 10am in Hagatna, Guam. I felt mixed emotions because at the same time, my father was dying here on Saipan and receiving the sacrament of penance,” recalls Camacho in an interview in his old office at the Mount Carmel Cathedral in Susupe.

Filled with vivid recollections of that day, Camacho said it was Bishop William Baumgartner, the bishop for the entire Marianas, who ordained him and another man from Guam, Brigido Arroyo.

“I was happy because I finally reached my goal to become a priest,” he told Saipan Tribune.

Camacho noted, however, that to be delighted for something so blessed was neither easy for him nor his family because Vidal Camacho, his father who was suffering from lung cancer, was almost set to depart this life.

“My mother, two brothers, and two sisters went to Guam with me to witness my ordination while my two brothers stayed behind for my father,” he said.

Camacho said the bishop was very understanding of his family’s circumstances and allowed him to come back home right after the ordination.

“But transportation wasn’t reliable at that time,” he explained. “The next morning, it was only my mother who was able to get on the plane and immediately returned to Saipan.”

According to Camacho, newly ordained priests at that time have to celebrate their first mass only in a church.

“The bishop, after ordination, told me that I could go directly to the hospital and celebrate my first mass for my father. He gave me special consideration,” he said.

On June 17, 1961, Saturday, Camacho and his siblings flew back to Saipan and went straight to the Maturana hospital where his sick father was staying to celebrate his very first mass.

“The plane where we rode circled above Maturana. My father knew I was on that plane. He was so happy that he almost passed away at that moment,” he recounted.

The following day, Camacho then celebrated his first church mass at the Mount Carmel Cathedral with the help of many parishioners.

“The bishop was kind enough to tell me that after celebrating the church mass, I can stay with my family until my father passes away,” he added.

But Camacho said it wasn’t until October while he was on Guam when his father passed.

Camacho went to Guam in September 1961 to teach religion at Fr. Duenas High School and the Academy of Our Lady of Guam.

“I had to go for the opening of schools. I was there until October, when my father was on the verge of death,” he said.

Camacho’s first funeral mass was for his father, who was buried on Oct. 21, 1961, his mother Maria Aguon Camacho’s birthday.

“I went through the motions. I had to concentrate on the mass because I was a brand new priest that I temporarily forgot the grieving part in me,” he said.

But past his resilient facade, Camacho wept by himself.

“After all this, I went back to Guam and reported to the bishop who told me, ‘Fr. Tomas, your experience will make you a very caring person.’ Hopefully, it did,” said Camacho.

“All my life, I always wanted to be a priest,” admitted Camacho, adding that he served as an altar server for 14 years at the temporary church located where the current post office was built.

It was Fr. Jose Tardio, a Spanish Jesuit who served as priest before, during, and after the war, whom Camacho considers as the big influence for him to enter priesthood.

“He’s a very lively person. He tells jokes even during homilies. He would make people laugh and then bang! The lesson comes right after the laughter,” Camacho said of Tardio who was also very fluent in Chamorro language.

Camacho, who became a priest at 27, said his first assignment was being the first assistant to the Hagatna Cathedral under Msgr. Felixberto Flores.

“At the same time, I was the priest in charge of the Mongmong Church next to Hagatna from 1961 to 1968,” he said.

Camacho was also assigned in Rota, Tumon, Inarajan, and back to Hagatna as a rector before being assigned in 1976 to Mount Carmel Cathedral which became a separate diocese in 1985.

Camacho officially retired as the highest ranking prelate in April 2009, a few months after being diagnosed with lung cancer.

He had undergone in Honolulu an operation that involved the removal of one-fifth of his lungs.

“I mentioned this in my resignation letter to the pope. I said my endurance has been reduced tremendously,” added Camacho.

These days, Camacho keeps himself busy writing his regular column on the North Star, updating Sunday readings and Chamorro hymns, or finishing the Chamorro translation of the bible which he does with a seven-member team.

Doing these activities, Camacho said, depend on his health condition. “My health is very temperamental. There are days when I just lie down. There are days when I perk up.”

To celebrate the golden jubilee of his ordination, Camacho said he will celebrate the 6am mass today at the cathedral to be followed by breakfast at the parish office.

“There have been too many big celebrations, like when I turned 75 and when the diocese turned 25. This time, we’ll make it very simple,” he said.

Camacho also disclosed that Rev. Arroyo, who was ordained at the same time as him, is flying in from Guam to take part in the celebration.

The bishop emeritus said he continues to pray that more Chamorros will take on the same vocation. “It’s in the hands of God also,” he added.

Camacho said his ordination that fateful day far exceeds the grief he was able to conceal from the people around him.

“All throughout, I’m very blessed with satisfaction. If I were to do it over again, I would do it,” he said.

Camacho is very thankful for all the parishioners who have supported him in his ministry.

“There are very wonderful people I met who support me. Sometimes, I pour my heart out when I’m disappointed but they boost me up. You need that as a priest,” he said.

Camacho expressed confidence that the person who will be selected to take over his post will make sure that the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa will be in good hands.

“God is always there directing and dictating our church,” he added.