Guam archbishop to join talks on settling island's priest sexual abuse cases

By Haidee V Eugenio
USA TODAY Network / Pacific Daily News
October 17, 2017

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation-now/2017/10/17/guam-archbishop-priest-sexual-abuse-settlement-talks/773066001/

Archbishop Anthony Apuron speaks at the 2016 Academy of Our Lady of Guam Commencement Ceremony at the Phoenix Center on May 18, 2016.

HAGÅTÑA, Guam — U.S. District Court Chief Judge Frances Tydingco-Gatewood on Tuesday ordered Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, or his attorney, to participate in premediation talks to try to settle 134 Guam clergy sex abuse cases.

Apuron's attorney, Jacqueline Terlaje, who participated at a status hearing Tuesday afternoon via phone, confirmed they will take part in the talks. Judge Alex Munson will be the discovery monitor and California-based Antonio Piazza has been recommended to serve as a mediator.

Apuron has a pending motion to dismiss four clergy sex abuse cases filed against him, saying they are time-barred and infringe upon his constitutional rights. He also earlier asked the civil court to wait for the results of his Vatican canonical trial before seeking to include him in mediation.

Earlier in October, Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes, who currently is in charge of the Catholic Church on Guam, said he was told by a Vatican official that a decision has been made in Apuron's trial. Byrnes, however, said he has yet to receive information on the specific charges and the specific verdict, as well as the punishment, because the judges have yet to sign off on the decision.

Attorney Delia Lujan Wolff, co-counsel for 93 plaintiffs in clergy sex abuse cases filed in federal court as of Oct. 17, told the judge their proposal is having the payments within 30 days after the end of mediation.

The parties — including the Archdiocese of Agana, represented by attorneys John Terlaje and Michael Patterson — are looking at a March 2018 mediation. 

The latest lawsuit, in which a ,male plaintiff known as P.P. accuses Father Raymond Cepeda of abuses from 1992 to 1999, was filed Tuesday. In it, Apuron is said to have told a teenage P.P. "to pray about these types of evil in the world" in order to get over what was happening to him, the lawsuit said.

Tydingco-Gatewood also ordered plaintiffs who used only their initials to reveal their identities, under seal, to the defendants, following a request from Boy Scouts of America counsel Patrick Civille.

The chief judge said, based on files, there are 92 clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed in federal court, and 41 in local court. 

Tydingco-Gatewood has been working with Superior Court Judge Michael Bordallo for the disposition of the cases in both local and federal courts. Both judges asked the parties to also consider global settlement, but the plaintiffs' attorneys want individual settlements.

The chief judge said based on documents she has, there are still 24 defendants, individuals or entities that are still alive, while 10 are now deceased.

She also heard from the parties that former priest Louis Brouillard, now 96, will have his deposition by end of October or early November in Minnesota. More than half of the lawsuits accuse Brouillard of sexual abuse, molestation or rape.