16th Priest Abuse Lawsuit Filed in US Court
By Haidee V Eugenio
A 16th former altar boy filed a $5 million clergy sex abuse lawsuit in federal court Wednesday. He alleges that former island priest Louis Brouillard sexually abused him in the early 1970s. Felix T. Manglona, now 58, said Brouillard repeatedly sexually molested and abused him while he was serving as a Boy Scouts of America scout in or about 1970, and when he was an altar boy about a year later at the Malojloj Parish. He said he was about 12 or 13 at the time. “On or about three occasions, Brouillard required Felix to spend the night at the convent in order for Felix to serve as an altar boy during the early Sunday Mass. When Felix slept at the convent, Brouillard sexually molested and abused him,” the complaint states. Manglona said Brouillard would sometimes use weekly outings to recruit young boys to become altar boys or join the Boy Scouts. Brouillard was a scoutmaster in the Guam chapter of the Boy Scouts. Brouillard, now 95 and living in Minnesota, publicly admitted that he abused more than 20 boys when he was a priest on Guam, his home from the late 1940s to 1981. He had said Guam’s Catholic church leadership has known for decades about his sex abuses but he was only asked to say prayers as penance. Brouillard is just one of the former and current clergy facing sex abuse lawsuits file by the law firm of Lujan and Wolff filed on behalf of former altar boys. Each of the 16 lawsuits so far filed in U.S. District Court demands a jury trial and $5 million in minimum damages, for a total of $80 million, plus other fees and costs. The latest lawsuit also names the Archdiocese of Agana as a defendant, along with up to 50 others, including the Vatican, which may have helped, abetted, concealed or covered up Brouillard's sex abuses of minors. Contact: heugenio@guampdn.com
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