Mother of Deceased Man Accuses Apuron of Molesting Son

By Haidee V Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
May 30, 2016

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2016/05/30/mother-deceased-man-accuses-apuron-molesting-son/84888594/

[with video]

Joseph A. Quinata, as a child in Guam.

An Agat youth who served as an altar boy in the village church was molested in the late 1970s by Father Anthony Apuron, according to his mother, Doris Concepcion, who said her son, Joseph A. Quinata, revealed his secret shortly before he died 11 years ago.

Concepcion is the latest person to accuse Apuron, who is now the island’s archbishop, of sexually assaulting a child under his care. Concepcion said she decided to come forward after another former Agat altar boy, Roy Quintanilla, on May 17 said Apuron molested him during a sleepover at Apuron’s home in the 1970s.

Apuron has denied Quintanilla’s allegation. The Archdiocese of Agana has also denied the allegation by Concepcion.

When asked about the newest accusation, the archdiocese provided the following written response.

“In the past days, malicious and calumnious accusations against the Archbishop have surfaced, even from a deceased person,” Father Adrian L.F. Cristobal, Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Agana, said in a statement. “The Archbishop strongly denies this accusation as he had done so before.”

Cristobal added that “Archbishop Anthony urges the faithful not to be afraid, to stand for the truth and he asks for continued prayers.”

Concepcion, who now lives in Prescott, Arizona, said she saw Quintanilla accuse Apuron on the Pacific Daily News’ website.

“There was Roy, and it’s like, I have to do something. I have to step up and let them know what’s going on here,” Concepcion said.

Her family has been and still is devoutly Catholic, Concepcion said, but her son started to act out, sometimes violently, when he was an altar boy in Agat.

“My son tried to stab (Apuron), attack him, and tried to burn the priest’s house down, and I would punish my son,” Concepcion said. “(My son) would just say, ‘Am I the devil’s son, mom? Am I that bad?’ And he kept repeating that to me.”

She said her son, whose nicknames were “Sonny” and “Chico,” often talked about committing suicide and started to tell people he was Jewish. As an adult, he became addicted to drugs and would disappear for long periods of time, she said.

Concepcion said she is very close to Roy Quintanilla’s family, and they used to live down the street from each other in Agat. Her son, who died at the age of 38, was several years younger than Quintanilla, she said.

Driver's license photo of Joseph A. Quinata as an adult. (Photo: Courtesy of Doris Concepcion)

“I didn’t know (about the molestation) until my son was 38 years old when he passed away, and that’s when I found out,” Concepcion said. “And he was molested and I was giving the priest, giving him permission to do it to my son. He was so afraid to tell me.”

Concepcion said she trusted Apuron at the time and believed in his every word.

“(Apuron) would ask me if he can have Sonny, because Sonny would do this and that, and he needs help around the rectory,” Concepcion said. “And then he wants Sonny to spend the night with him so they can go and do something for the church, and he needed help. Sonny would retaliate, and say, ‘No, mama, I don’t wanna go,’ and I would punish him. No, you have to go, because Father Apuron needs help.”

Concepcion said her son told her about being molested just as he was being taken into surgery in May 2005. He did not survive the procedure.

“He said, ‘Mom, I know I’m not the devil’s son.’ I said, ‘No, you’re not’. And he said, ‘Come closer to me Mama, give me a hug.’ And I did,” Concepcion said. “And he said, ‘Mom, I was molested by Father Apuron.’ And I said, ‘Who?’ He said, ‘Remember the priest in Agat? He molested me when I was an altar boy.’ And my heart just dropped, because he was dying. I didn’t even know.”

She never spoke to her son again. She said she tried to ask him if he had been raped by Apuron, but her son only gestured as he was being taken into surgery.

“I have no reason to not to believe my son,” she said. “He didn’t want to take it to his grave.”

Concepcion said she kept her son’s words to herself for 11 years, and said, “It was destroying me.”

Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church, Agat, as photographed in 1975. (Photo: PDN file photo)

“I want the people in Guam to know that it is happening in our backyard. Please listen to your children. Don’t sweep it under the carpet, because that’s what’s been going on. We were not allowed back then to say anything derogatory about the priest. We took the priest’s word for everything, and little did I know that they were doing this to our children. That’s the message I want to be heard,” Concepcion said.

Concepcion said she’s not asking Apuron to step down or stay in his position.

“That’s his decision,” she said. “All I want is for him, if he has a conscience, to admit the truth and do what’s best for the people. That’s what I want him to do, but I don’t think he ever will. But that is my message for him.”

“I’m not putting our church down,” Concepcion said, “No, we the people are the church. That’s what makes the church — us — and (Apuron is) using the church.”