Former Guam Archbishop Who Raped Kids Still Gets $1,500 a Month from the Church

By Terry Firma
Patheos / Friendly Atheist
May 31, 2020

https://friendlyatheist.patheos.com/2020/05/31/former-guam-archbishop-who-raped-kids-still-gets-1500-a-month-from-the-church/

When Walter Denton, a resident of Guam, was 12 or 13 years old, he was a good Catholic boy, obedient to the church and the men who ran it. So when priest Anthony Apuron asked him to spend the night in the rectory of the church, the flattered boy thought he was was being singled out for special attention.

[Denton] had fallen asleep in the church rectory, where Apuron had asked him to spend the night, and then “woke up screaming,” laying on his stomach with his hands pinned down and Apuron on top of him.

Not that Apuron was a monster about it or anything.

Denton says when the priest finally stopped, he offered to give Denton straight A’s in theology class.

But wait, it gets better worse. Denton eventually told a friend, and together they worked up the courage to confide in a priest called Jack Niland.

“Well boys,” the priest allegedly replied. “Priesthood is a lonely life.” (Niland is now the subject of multiple sexual abuse lawsuits. He died in 2009.)

Five years ago, Denton finally freed himself from his decades-long torment by speaking out publicly against Apuron, who had become the island’s powerful Archbishop.

[H]is allegation would help set off a chain of events that has revealed hundreds of sexual abuse cases across multiple decades on Guam and forced the church there to declare bankruptcy, shaking the foundations of a community deeply rooted in the Catholic religion. …

Nearly 300 sexual abuse lawsuits have been filed against nearly two dozen priests on the island,

… which has a population of just 160,000,

…and while local newspapers still regularly publish stories detailing new accusations they’re now so familiar they no longer make the front page.

But at least one priest after another was arrested and thrown in jail, right?

Dream on. Some had died. Others had moved away. A third group enjoyed protection under Guam’s statute of limitations, at least until a few years ago:

After Denton and others came forward in 2016, Apuron forcefully denied the allegations and left the island. Guam’s legislature removed the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases, just a few years after rejecting similar legislation. No criminal charges have been brought against Apuron,

… but the Vatican stripped him of his Archbishop title.

The Pope’s team(sters) also handed over his file to civil authorities, right? Right?

Sorry to disappoint. In fact, although the Vatican found him guilty of child rape, Apuron still gets a neat $1,500 monthly stipend from his Catholic masters.

Can it get any worse? Funny you should ask. On Guam, Apuron wasn’t even the most prolific rapist. That claim belongs to a priest called Louis Brouillard, a teacher at a boys’ Catholic school and a boy-scouts leader.

He is now the target of more than 150 sexual abuse lawsuits on Guam. After settling several lawsuits related to Brouillard, the Boy Scouts declared bankruptcy last month.

Father Brouillard died two years ago, but he told the Associated Press in 2016

“At that time, when I was that age, I got the impression that kids liked it, so I went ahead.”

He added that

… other members of the church knew about his abuse but did not tell him to stop, instead telling him to pray.

I learned about rage rooms the other day, and I think I’m going to have to book a session now.

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P.S.: For a man who likes to rape other males, as long as they’re severely underage, Apuron sure has a special take on same-sex marriage: He is with the Islamist terrorists who kill gay people. That’s no hyperbole on my part:

Islamic fundamentalists clearly understand the damage that homosexual behavior inflicts on a culture. That is why they repress such behavior by death. Their culture is anything but one of self-absorption. It may be brutal at times, but any culture that is able to produce wave after wave of suicide bombers (women as well as men) is a culture that at least knows how to value self-sacrifice.

(Image via Shutterstock. Thanks to Bob for the link)