{"id":271916,"date":"2018-03-14T06:06:34","date_gmt":"2018-03-13T20:06:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=271916"},"modified":"2018-03-14T06:06:34","modified_gmt":"2018-03-13T20:06:34","slug":"camachos-final-wish-fulfilled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/camachos-final-wish-fulfilled\/","title":{"rendered":"Camacho\u2019s final wish, fulfilled"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id='gallery-1' class='gallery galleryid-271916 gallery-columns-3 gallery-size-thumbnail'><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/camachos-final-wish-fulfilled\/funeral-pix\/'>Funeral-pix<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-271917'>\n\t\t\t\tThe priests of all 13 parishes in the Commonwealth and Bishop Ryan\u2028Jimenez of the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa say their prayers for late bishop emeritus Tomas Aguon Camacho before he is buried inside the Mount Carmel Cathedral yesterday. (Kimberly A. Bautista)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure><figure class='gallery-item'>\n\t\t\t<div class='gallery-icon '>\n\t\t\t\t<a href='https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/camachos-final-wish-fulfilled\/ferdie-camachotribute3-13-18\/'>Ferdie-camachotribute3-13-18<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<figcaption class='wp-caption-text gallery-caption' id='gallery-1-271918'>\n\t\t\t\tDepartment of Fire and Emergency Medical Services firefighters pay special tribute to the late bishop emeritus Tomas Camacho by spraying an arc of water over an arriving funeral procession for Camacho along Beach Road in Susupe yesterday. (Derek Gersonde)\n\t\t\t\t<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<p>As stated in his will as his final wish, all 13 parishes in the Commonwealth and community members from all over the island gathered at the Diocese of Chalan Kanoa yesterday to say goodbye to bishop emeritus Tomas Aguon Camacho. <\/p>\n<p>Hundreds of people from across the CNMI gathered at the Mount Carmel Cathedral yesterday to pay their respects to their former bishop. Also present were priests from Chuuk and Guam. <\/p>\n<p>According to Bishop Ryan Jimenez, it was Camacho\u2019s final wish that, during his funeral, all the 13 parishes would gather at the cathedral as one church and as one people. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn the past nine days before his death, it was bishop Camacho\u2019s wish that all of us would work together, from his family to the different parishes\u2026That was his wish and I think we did that,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Camacho\u2019s burial Mass was kept simple and solemn, with the focus centered on Camacho\u2019s contributions to the Catholic faith in the CNMI. <\/p>\n<p>Because Camacho was the first bishop of the CNMI and also managed the construction of the cathedral, he was able to prepare for himself a burial spot in a crypt beneath the cathedral itself. <\/p>\n<p>Hours before, fire trucks formed an arc of water along Beach Road as the remains of Camacho were brought to the cathedral.  Mount Carmel School students and employees also held a roadside waving along Beach Road to pay tribute.<\/p>\n<p>According to Jimenez, Camacho was very specific about his wishes when it came to his burial. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen this was built, bishop Camacho planned all this. It was Sablan Construction who [built the cathedral] and I only got to know about it when he gave me his last will and testament in February of 2014,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Jimenez said that Camacho\u2019s will was very particular, from exactly where he wanted to be buried and who he wanted to help open the crypt. \u201cHe always talked about his death, he was truly prepared,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>Jimenez saw to it that every particular wish listed in Camacho\u2019s final will was carried out as closely as possible because he is grateful not only for Camacho\u2019s contribution but for blessing him as his successor. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re all very grateful to God for the gift of bishop Tomas as the first bishop in our diocese\u2026and in a personal way if he hadn\u2019t accepted me I wouldn\u2019t be here in this diocese without him\u2026,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n<p>According to Camacho\u2019s niece, Erin Angela Camacho, she and her entire family are appreciative of the burial ceremony that the diocese organized for her uncle and for the community who showed its love and support for their former bishop. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s been a nice show of support from the community he served through the years,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Erin Camacho said that bishop Camacho\u2019s entire immediate family was present for the burial, even those who now live in the U.S. mainland. <\/p>\n<p>When asked about the memory of her uncle that stood out the most as the burial concluded, she said that she will forever remember that he was a spiritual leader, both for the community and in her family, but he was also an outstanding uncle. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThroughout my years, even when I went off to school, every time it was my birthday I would still always get a message\u2026I still have my last text from him from my last birthday that I\u2019m not going to get this year,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p>Camacho died last March 5 at the Commonwealth Health Center following a lingering illness. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As stated in his will as his final wish, all 13 parishes in the Commonwealth&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":271917,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[160,14856,26,67],"class_list":["post-271916","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-headlines","tag-beach-road","tag-bishop-ryan-jimenez","tag-cnmi","tag-people"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271916","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271916"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271916\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271917"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271916"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271916"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271916"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}