BishopAccountability.org

Apuron church trial breaks new ground

By Eric J. Lyman
Pacific Daily News
May 7, 2017

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2017/05/07/apuron-church-trial-breaks-new-ground/101081830/

Archbishop Anthony Apuron

Pope Francis.

Walter Denton, right, tries to comfort Doris Concepcion, mother of Joseph Quinata, as she recalls the last words from her dying son, which ere to informed her that he was sexually molested by Archbishop Anthony Apuron. The two talked, in Agat on June 9, before a prayer vigil was held just outside the building that formerly served as the priest's residence. Denton claims that he was sexually abused, in the same building, by then-Father Anthony Apuron when he served as an altar boy at the Agat Church.
Photo by Rick Cruz


ROME — Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron isn’t the first high-ranking church official to be accused of sexual abuse, but his ongoing canonical trial at the Vatican is ground-breaking, according to experts.

A new trial process for these types of allegations is in place under Pope Francis, and Apuron would be the first to be investigated and tried since its implementation.

Former Agat altar boys Walter Denton, Roy Quintanilla, Roland Sondia, and the relatives of former altar boy Joseph “Sonny” Quinata have accused Apuron of child molestation and rape when he was parish priest in the late 1970s. Apuron has denied the allegations.

The Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith last October named Cardinal Raymond Burke the presiding judge in Apuron’s trial. Burke’s office did not reply to requests for comment.

According to Iacopo Scaramuzzi, a Vatican expert who has written a book about Pope Francis called “Tango Vaticano,” Francis has completed a reform process started under Pope Benedict XVI that makes it possible for those accused of sexual abuse to face two trials: a canonical trial and a criminal trial. Previously, only the criminal trial was used.

Once the process begins, it will be new territory for the church. The closest parallel is Polish Archbishop Jozef Wesolowski, who was defrocked in 2014, following a canonical trial, for alleged sexual abuse cases in the Dominican Republic between 2008 and 2013.

Wesolowski was set to be tried in a criminal case 2015 but he died before the trial could start.

“An investigation showed that Wesolowski died of natural causes, though of course there has been a lot of speculation that it might have been a suicide or that he could have been poisoned,” said Robert Mickens, a long-time Vatican watcher and managing editor for “La Croix International.”

Vatican officials said, as far as they know, Apuron’s trial is related to sex abuse allegations only. Apuron’s alleged mismanagement of the local church also had been brought to the attention of the Vatican by his critics on Guam.

This will be the first full trial of its kind at the Vatican, as there are no other bishops or archbishops, from the United States or elsewhere, to have been investigated this way.

Vatican representatives already have received testimony during interviews with Denton and Doris Concepcion, Quinata’s mother. Sondia and Quintanilla were scheduled to talk to vatican officials on May 7.

The trial is set to start in early summer, most likely June, according to Vatican officials. There is no word on how long it would take because there are few real precedents.

The most severe result of the canonical trial would result in Apuron being defrocked, according to Vatican officials. A lesser “guilty” result would be that he be suspended, meaning he would still be considered clergy but not allowed to teach or celebrate Mass for the public.

Whether or not Apuron would be allowed to retire and keep retirement benefits if found guilty will likely be determined only after the trials. But a Vatican official noted that the pensions of bishops and archbishops normally come from the diocese they represent, so that decision will likely be made by local officials on Guam.

"The Archdiocese of Agana shouldn’t even be supporting him now, much less in the future," said Laity Forward Movement President Lou Klitzkie. The group pickets Sunday mornings outside the Dulce Nombre ee Maria Cathedral-Basilica, calling for Apuron's removal from the priesthood. "The holy father can defrock Apuron. This is quite important to some of the picketers because, traditionally, bishops of Agana are interred in the cathedral when they die."

"No one can trust him," said Concerned Catholics of Guam President David Sablan. "He has lost the trust and confidence of the people of the Archdiocese of Agana. It seems that he viewed himself above us all with his betrayal of our trust. It would be scandalous to ever bring him back to Guam as the Archbishop of Agana or even publicly administer the holy sacraments to the people."

“Regardless of the outcome, this is a groundbreaking case,” said Father Alistair Sear, a retired church historian based in London. “There was a time when the higher reaches of the church were seen as untouchable (in sex abuse cases). That is no longer true.”

Other church officials at least as high-ranking as Apuron have faced allegations related to sex abuse. Examples include:

  • Scottish Cardinal Keith O’Brien, once the head of the Conference of Bishops, was accused of “inappropriate and predatory sexual conduct” in 2013. As a result of the charges he skipped the 2013 conclave that eventually elected Francis as pope. In 2015, Francis formally allowed O’Brien to keep his title of cardinal, but stripped him of the rights and privileges of the title;
  • Belgian Archbishop Roger Vengheluwe was forced to resign amid sex abuse charges in 2010, but he was never formally investigated;
  • Austria Bishop Kurt Krenn resigned in 2004 in a case involving child pornography trafficking. He was never formally investigated;
  • Boston Cardinal Bernard Law was removed from his position but never investigated for allegedly helping cover up sex abuse cases involving priests in New England;

There also are several cases of bishops allegedly covering up sex abuse by priests, as was the case with Law.




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