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Should Bishop Baumgartner school be renamed since he allegedly knew about sex abuse?
By Janela Carrera
[with video]
The late bishop allegedly turned a blind eye to the institutional sexual abuse that ran rampant during his tenure as bishop.
Guam - Should the name for Bishop Baumgartner Memorial Catholic School be changed in light of the controversy surrounding the individual for whom the namesake was given? The matter was brought up during a press briefing held by Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes yesterday. A school parent reportedly called for the removal of Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner’s name from the catholic school since he has been named in several sex abuse lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese of Agana. Although the late bishop has not been named as an alleged perpetrator, several former altar boys and boy scouts members allege that Baumgartner knew about the institutional abuse but turned a blind eye and refused to take action. Archbishop Byrnes says he’s aware of the parent's complaint. "I’m aware of that particular [complaint] and as far as I know right now it’s a single person. We're taking it seriously but it’s one of those situations that’s gonna have to be, it’s gonna take a while for us to kind of discern the way forward because there’s gonna be at least two sides to the question; there might be several more sides," said Byrnes. Bishop Baumgartner was appointed after World War II to serve on Guam and spearheaded the renovation of many of Guam’s churches destroyed and damaged by the war.
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