Former Church Chancellor Stripped of Pay

By Mindy Aguon
Guam Daily Post
July 11, 2019

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/former-church-chancellor-stripped-of-pay/article_ac89d890-a480-11e9-834e-0fd979a36ae1.html

Adrian Cristobal

A former chancellor of the Archdiocese of Agana who has been accused in multiple child sex abuse lawsuits still holds the title of a priest of the archdiocese but no longer receives a salary nor an honorarium.

Father Adrian Cristobal remains away from Guam with restrictions the archdiocese placed on him last year. He's prohibited from performing the role of a priest in public, including the wearing of clerical garb.

Tony Diaz, the archdiocese's director of communications, confirmed the archdiocese is proceeding with an administrative penal process – based on canon law – on the allegations of child sexual abuse against Cristobal.

Diaz said the archdiocese could not comment any further on the matter because it involves lawsuits.

Last year, Archbishop Michael Byrnes placed restrictions on Cristobal after having repeatedly called for the priest to return to Guam.

Cristobal had left Guam for an unspecified role in the Catholic diocese in Phoenix, Arizona, but has subsequently left the jurisdiction of that diocese, Post files state.

Cristobal has been accused in four lawsuits filed on Guam of sexually assaulting altar boys in the parishes he worked at while on Guam decades ago.

Cristobal was part of the leadership of the Guam Catholic Church before then-Archbishop Anthony Apuron left Guam in the wake of sex abuse allegations against him. In March 2018, a Vatican tribunal found Apuron guilty of certain crimes of sex abuse involving children. His appeal was recently denied.