Apuron not required at Vatican trial

By Neil Pang
Guam Daily Post
February 09, 2017

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/apuron-not-required-at-vatican-trial/article_58e24a22-edf0-11e6-b661-0ffe23f0f6cf.html

Suspended Archbishop Anthony Apuron will never be present in his canonical trial in Rome for sex-abuse allegations, according to canon law expert, Patrick J. Wall.

“Secrecy is king. There will be no public hearing,” Wall said. “The process began in secret, will be conducted in secret, decided in secret and the findings will be kept in secret Vatican archives.”

This insight into the Vatican way of justice was disclosed by Wall as Apuron was found in Fairfield, California recently, thousands of miles away from the Vatican process regarding child sex abuse cases against him and other former members of Guam’s clergy.

16th lawsuit

Meanwhile in the federal court in Guam, a 16th lawsuit accusing Guam clergy of child sexual abuse filed in the District Court of Guam yesterday claims that, in the 1970s, the Guam Police Department was in possession of a police report involving a minor boy and former Guam priest, Louis Brouillard, at the St. Williams Catholic Church in Tumon.

Felix Manglona, now a 58-year-old Inarajan resident, said in his complaint filed yesterday that several years after he was abused by Brouillard in the 1970s, he was assisting the GPD statistician as part of his responsibilities under a cadet program. Court documents state that while performing his daily duties to review police reports and collect data, Manglona reviewed a police report pertaining to Brouillard.

Based on that information, Manglona's complaint stated that an incident occurred at the St. Williams Catholic Church in Tumon involving Brouillard and a minor boy that resulted in a sexual abuse complaint being filed against Brouillard.

According to court documents, Manglona was 12 when he met Brouillard. At the time, Brouillard served as the priest at the San Isidro Catholic Church of Malojloj and as a scout master in the Guam chapter of the Boy Scouts of America.

According to Manglona's complaint, Brouillard would take between three to four boys, including himself and his older brother, on weekly outings to swim and eat. On many of these occasions, Manglona, like the eight others who have previously filed complaints against Brouillard, said the former Guam priest would sexually molest and abuse the boys by forcing them to take off their clothes and touching their private parts.

Manglona's complaint added that when Brouillard would drop the boys home afterward, the priest would grope Manglona as he drove.

Over a two-year period after Mangolna joined the Boy Scouts and became an altar boy at the Malojloj Parish in 1971, Manglona said Brouillard would have him and other altar boys stay, sometimes overnight, at his residence at the Carmelite Monastery Convent in Malojloj. While at the convent, Manglona said Brouillard would walk around naked, routinely showed them pornographic material and, at the direction of Brouillard, some of the minor boys had to take turns masturbating Brouillard.

Regularly abused

According to Manglona's complaint, he and other minor boys were regularly subjected to sexual abuse by Brouillard both at his residence at the Malojloj convent and during camping outings for the Boy Scouts. Manglona said Brouillard also abused his older brother.

Court documents, including a statement penned by Brouillard on Oct. 3, 2016, state that Brouillard told others within the Archdiocese of Agana, including Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner, about the abuse, but that he was only told to "try to do better and say prayers as a penance."

Manglona's complaint joins 15 other suits filed in Guam's federal court that accuse former Guam clergy of child sexual abuse. The lawsuits seek to extend negligence liability to the Archdiocese of Agana for not taking action against abuses reported to them.

Including Manglona's complaint, the Archdiocese of Agana now faces $80 million in potential liability, if the 16 victims of child sexual abuse succeed in their lawsuits.