Concerned Catholics of Guam Challenging Payments to Accused Priest

By Sabrina Salas Matanane
KUAM
August 4, 2016

http://www.kuam.com/story/32681959/2016/08/04/concerned-catholics-of-guam-challenging-payments-to-accused-priest

The Concerned Catholics of Guam group is questioning why a priest accused of child sex abuse is still getting paid by the Archdiocese of Agana. As a matter of fact, the CCOG has been questioning the alleged actions of this priest since January 2015.

During a recent public hearing on Bill 326, legislation to lift the statute of limitations on child sex abuse cases, Leo Tudela alleged he was abused by members of the clergy when he was 13 years old. He came from Saipan to Guam to attend Catholic school and eventually became an altar boy at the Santa Teresita Church in Mangilao. That's where he encountered Father Louis Brouillard, who he alleges sexually molested him.

"I was shocked and felt very uncomfortable," Tudela said earlier this week. "I was shaking, scared, and started to cry." Since his testimony, apostolic administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai has gone on various media, including KUAM Radio, acknowledging the tremendous pain Tudela is experiencing for coming forward and assures the community the matter has been referred to the archdiocese's sexual abuse response coordinator (SARC).

Ironically, allegations involving Fr. Brouillard have been reported to the former SARC before. Matter of fact, in a report compiled by the CCOG in January 2015 it states that the priest was stripped of his faculties by former Archbishop Felixberto Flores after credible allegations arose against him. Fr. Brouillard then went back to his home state of Minnesota.

It goes on to state that apparently, the diocese in his home town was never notified of his status in Guam, and he was later accused of sex abuse in Minnesota, and stripped of his faculties there. We should point out when this report came out, Archbishop Martin Krebs and Archbishop Hon were in Guam.

CCOG president David Sablan told KUAM News, when asked if the report was presented to the clergymen, "That is correct. It was presented by Greg Perez and Gil Shinohara, who is a member of our board of directors, and they presented it to him and he didn't really say much when the report came back, he did give an indication that it would be addressed but it's been over a year now and he's here now, Archbishop Hon, and nothing's been done."

Matter of fact archdiocese spokesperson Monsignor Bibi Arroyo confirms since 1996, after Fr. Brouillard was removed from the Archdiocese of Duluth, he had been and continues to be on the Archdiocese of Agana's payroll. Monsignor Arroyo says he receives an honorarium check of $550 every month. He adds Fr. Brouillard is 95 years old and still lives in Minnesota.

Said Sablan, "He's still on the payroll here, which means that we're okay with what he did."

Meanwhile, Sablan says Archbishop Hon has been more than aware for over a year now not just about sexual abuse allegations by clergy on Guam, but also about their concerns with the Redemportis Mater Seminary and the formation of priests there. "There are a lot of things in our report that if he had addressed, if he had investigated for himself to get the facts and to corroborate the information that we provided him I think he would have been very well equipped to come here in June and start taking care of cleaning up this mess that we're in," he explained.

We should note that in a December 2015 article by the Wall Street Journal the Diocese of Duluth, where Fr. Brouillard later worked, was one of more than a dozen Catholic dioceses to file for bankruptcy to address claims of past sexual abuse, it was the enactment of the Minnesota Child Victims Act, which opened the door to multiple lawsuits. The law expanded the statute of limitations for sexual abuse cases in the state.

The Archdiocese of Agana issued a press release regarding payments to Fr. Brouillard: "It is the practice and policy of the Catholic Church to care for its incardinated priests who are retired through pension funds, even if they reside outside the diocese. The Archdiocese of Agana confirms Father Brouillard receives a monthly pension. In his efforts to learn more about this situation, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, has directed the Archdiocese to write to the bishop of the Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota, where Father Brouillard now resides."