New Priest Is Accused in Guam Sexual-abuse Cases
By Haidee V. Eugenio
Three new lawsuits have been filed against the Catholic church in two Guam courts in the past two days, and one accuses a priest who previously had not been blamed for molesting a child. The Rev. Louis William Rink, now dead, of Santa Barbara Catholic Church in Dededo is the 16th Guam clergy member to be accused. A former altar boy, now age 43 and identified in documents as R.R.C. to protect his privacy, was 10 at the time in the 1980s. In a lawsuit filed in federal district court Tuesday, Rink is accused of molesting the boy in the sacristy, the room in a church where a priest prepares for a service. He told the boy that one of the 10 Commandments is "Thou shall honor your mother and your father," which also includes the priest, according to the lawsuit. "Rink then told R.R.C., 'No one needs to know,' " the lawsuit states. "Luckily, someone walked into the sacristy and R.R.C. was able to get away before sexual abuse escalated." R.R.C. is the 104th person to file a lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana over alleged sex abuse from clergy or others affiliated with the Catholic church. The lawsuit names the archdiocese, the Congregation of Holy Cross to which Rink belonged and up to 50 others as defendants. Two other suits accuse the Rev. Louis Brouillard, 96, who has been named in 60 lawsuits filed so far in U.S. District Court and the Superior Court of Guam: • V.F., now 65, accuses Brouillard of repeated sexual abuse in 1963 and 1964 when the child was an altar boy at Santa Teresita Catholic Church in Mangilao. Brouillard also took naked photos of the boy. • T.P., now 59, accuses Brouillard of fondling him in 1974 at San Vicente Ferrer & San Roke Catholic Church in Barrigada. The altar boy had stayed after Mass one day to help put things away. V.F.'s lawsuit also accuses former scout leader Edward Pereira, now dead, of abusing the child at the parish rectory around the same time. He now has been accused twice, both times in connection with cases also accusing Brouillard. Boy Scouts and altar boys would meet and hang out at the Mangilao parish. Like others who have accused Brouillard of abuse, V.F. stated Brouillard would walk around naked in front of boys at the rectory and would swim naked and molest them during Boy Scout outings. V.F. is suing the church, the Boys Scouts of America and Brouillard for $10 million and requests a jury trial. T.P.'s lawsuit alleges that the archdiocese knew or should have known that Brouillard posed a danger before T.P. was sexually abused, but officials failed to take any steps to prevent Brouillard from using his position as a priest to abuse T.P. "While continuing to fondle the plaintiff, Brouillard assured him that it was natural and it would make him feel good," T.P.'s complaint said. T.P. wants a jury trial and has not asked for specific monetary damages. After R.R.C.'s incident in the 1980s, the boy told Monsignor Zoilo Camacho, essentially Rink's supervisor, that Rink had sexually abused him, the lawsuit states. Camacho told R.R.C. that he just had to keep praying and asking for forgiveness, the complaint states. Camacho also is accused of sexually abusing a minor in a separate case, filed in federal court in June. Rink first came to Guam in 1985 to serve as chaplain at Father Duenas Memorial School for a year, after spending several years in Congregation of Holy Cross missions to Uganda and Liberia, the lawsuit states. He returned to Guam in 1987 to work for the Archdiocese of Agana and was assigned to many other places after that. He died in 2013, when he was about 89, the lawsuit states. R.R.C. wants a jury trial and at least $5 million in damages. The 104 lawsuits now filed demand at least $660 million in damages, but court action on most of the cases has been put on hold pending mediation scheduled to take place in early October.
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