BishopAccountability.org

Seventh victim names priest as abuser

By Mindy Aguon
Guam Daily Post
June 24, 2017

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/seventh-victim-names-priest-as-abuser/article_139c43f0-57d1-11e7-a5e5-8ff7c1bdc766.html

ABUSE: The Nuestra Señora de la Paz Y Buen Viaje, or Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church. A former altar boy has come forward with claims of child sexual abuse, naming the late priest Antonio C. Cruz as the perpetrator.

A 71-year-old Guam resident has come forward with allegations that he was sexually abused and raped when he served as an altar boy at Our Lady of Peace and Safe Journey Catholic Church in Chalan Pago.

S.N.J.V., whose initials were used to protect his identity, filed a civil complaint against the Archdiocese of Agana on Friday in the District Court of Guam, naming deceased priest Antonio C. Cruz as his alleged perpetrator.

The lawsuit alleges that S.N.J.V. was repeatedly sexually molested and abused by Cruz during the two years he was an altar boy at the Chalan Pago parish where Cruz served as a priest.

'Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you'

The complaint states the sexual abuse started in 1960 after Sunday Mass one day, when Cruz instructed the boy to stay back and meet him at the rectory where he resided.

Upon entering the rectory, S.N.J.V. saw the priest naked and playing with himself, the lawsuit states.

Cruz allegedly sexually abused the boy and told him, "Don't be afraid, I won't hurt you."

When he was done, Cruz told the boy "it" was "mange" — which means "good" in Chamorro — and then raped the boy, the lawsuit states.

The complaint alleges the sexual abuse and rape continued for the next two years

Cruz died in November 1986.

S.N.J.V.'s lawyer, David Lujan, said the ritual of altar boy service as a component of the Catholic Mass and other religious services within the Catholic Church, ultimately became a "tool" by which sexually predatory priests would gain access to young boys.

Seventh to accuse Cruz

This is the seventh child sex abuse lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Agana that specifically names Cruz as an abuser.

William Payne, Paul Joseph Borja, Ramon Afaisen de Plata, Tomas Afaisen de Plata and Richard Scroggs are the other accusers who are seeking a minimum of $5 million in damages each. Another individual, using the initials D.C., filed a lawsuit naming Cruz but asked that the amount of damages be proven at trial.




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