Former Catholic School Teacher Accused of Sexual Abuse

By Mindy Aguon
Guam Daily Post
November 9, 2018

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/former-catholic-school-teacher-accused-of-sexual-abuse/article_dca8bed6-e3fd-11e8-b57a-3ba1cd84e7ac.html

ACCUSATIONS: Saint Anthony Catholic School is pictured in October 2017. A former student at the Tamuning school has filed a civil lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Agana and the Sisters of Mercy, alleging sexual abuse at the hands of her teacher. David Castro/The Guam Daily Post

A former Catholic school teacher has been accused of sexually abusing a student in late 2012 to 2013, according to a civil lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese of Agana and the Sisters of Mercy on Friday in the Superior Court of Guam.

Attorney David Lujan represents E.F.G., who alleges she was sexually molested and abused by a female teacher at Saint Anthony Catholic School in Tamuning. The teacher is identified only through her initials, H.J., in court documents.

Students at the school were taught to honor and respect not only the priests and nuns, but all the teachers and staff at the school, and students were told they had to do whatever they were instructed to do, the complaint states.

The plaintiff was 13 when the alleged abuse began, and it continued until she was 14. E.F.G was repeatedly sexually molested and penetrated by H.J. during the student's eighth-grade year, according to the complaint.

E.F.G. and her family looked up to H.J. as a trusted mentor and friend, based principally on the woman's elevated status in the community and school, court documents state. When the alleged abuse began, H.J. had been teaching at Saint Anthony for several years.

Attorney Lujan believes H.J. no longer resides on Guam and may now live in Hawaii, court documents state.

The parochial school was supervised by the archdiocese and the Sisters of Mercy. The Sisters of our Lady of Mercy of North Carolina regularly assigned missionaries to Guam and administered or supervised several Catholic Schools on Guam. On or about July 1, 2008, SMNC merged into Sisters of Mercy of the Americas South Central Community Inc., the complaint states.

E.F.G.'s lawsuit blames the archdiocese for "sexually predatory norms" and negligence and seeks $5 million in damages.

This latest case is the most recent account of sexual abuse lodged against the Archdiocese of Agana.

Earlier this week the archdiocese announced its intention to file for bankruptcy as it hopes to settle more than 180 sex abuse cases filed in the last two years against the Catholic Church on Guam, the Boy Scouts of America, the Sisters of Mercy, the Capuchin Franciscans and specific clergy members.