Priest Abused Boy While Ordering Him to Stand in Prayer

By Haidee V. Eugenio
Pacific Daily News
March 9, 2018

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2018/03/09/lawsuit-priest-abused-boy-while-ordering-him-stand-prayer/409747002/

A now deceased priest has been accused of sexually abusing a boy who had been ordered to stand in prayer with his eyes closed, according to a lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Agana Friday in federal court.

The plaintiff, identified in court documents only as J.M.R. to protect his privacy, said in his lawsuit that Father Ray Techaira sexually abused him in about 1984 at the Asan parish office after the boy asked a question that upset the priest.

J.M.R., now 49, was around 15 years old at the time and was attending confirmation classes at the Nino Perdido y Sagrada Familia Catholic Church in Asan, the lawsuit says. Techaira was a priest at the parish and was in charge of the confirmation classes.

The lawsuit says the boy asked the priest, "If you (Techaira) have been preaching to us that there is only one God the father, can you please explain to me why is it that we address you (Techaira) as father?"

The priest told the boy he would talk to him at the office after confirmation class.

"Techaira instructed J.M.R. to stand in the prayer position and started to unbutton J.M.R.'s pants and remove J.M.R.'s underwear," the lawsuit says.

The priest said the boy had sinned and that he was not ready to receive the sacrament of confirmation, and the priest again instructed the boy to close his eyes and pray, the lawsuit says.

As the priest molested the boy, he told him, "I need to do this to you, to cleanse you of your sins," the lawsuit states.

J.M.R. threatened to report the priest if he didn't stop, but Techaira said nobody would believe him, the lawsuit states.

The boy did not return to the parish until after Techaira died, the lawsuit states.

J.M.R., represented by attorney David Lujan, is demanding $5 million in minimum damages. The lawsuit named the Archdiocese of Agana as a defendant along with up to 50 other unnamed defendants.

J.M.R. is the 158th person to file a clergy sex abuse lawsuit against the archdiocese.