GUAM
Jungle Watch
[with documents]
Submitted by Tim Rohr
timrohr.guam@gmail.com
December 28, 2014, Hagatna, Guam
A PDF copy is available here.
July 16, 2013. Fr. Paul Gofigan is called to a meeting with Archbishop Anthony Apuron and Msgr. David C. Quitugua, the Vicar General. At the meeting he is read a letter 1 :
* accusing him of disobeying an order from the Vicar General to terminate an employee two years previously
* accusing him of causing “grave harm to the parish…especially the youth” and creating “a lasting and potential threat to the safety and well-being” of his parishioners and staff
* demanding his immediate resignation as pastor of Santa Barbara parish or face a more “arduous and painful closure to your assignment”
* telling him to go “look for a benevolent bishop willing to accept you.”
According to Fr. Gofigan, upon returning to his office, Fr. Gofigan finds himself locked out of his office – the archbishop having ordered the locks changed while he was at the meeting with the archbishop.
July 17, 2013. The very next day Fr. Paul Gofigan is officially removed as pastor of his parish by an Aviso 2 appointing Rev. Father Dan Bien as the Parochial Administrator of Santa Barbara Church, upon which Fr. Gofigan is then:
* removed from the schedule of presiders, effectively censuring him without due process
* told to vacate the rectory with no alternative residence provided
July 22, 2013. Fr. Gofigan writes to Archbishop Apuron stating his rejection of the archbishop’s demand that he resign and asserts his canonical rights for “basic due process”, all of which had been heretofore violated by the archbishop. 3
July 22, 2013. The chancery releases a public statement to the media 4 :
accusing Fr. Gofigan of disobeying “ a directive from the Archbishop”
implying that the subject employee was and is a danger to children: “A school full of children is in very close proximity to the parish.”
July 28, 2013. Fr. Gofigan writes Archbishop Apuron and requests a copy of his decree of removal and states his intention to seek “recourse to the author of the decree in accordance with C. 1734.1 and names his advocate: Father Adolfo N. Dacanay, S.J. 5
August 2, 2013. The Vicar General writes Father Gofigan saying that there is no decree of removal because he was never removed and that the letter of July 16, 2013 demanding his resignation was only an attempt to “persuade the pastor to resign.” 6
August 20, 2014. Archbishop Apuron writes Father Gofigan:
* again accusing him of disobeying his 2011 instruction to terminate the employee
* again accusing the employee of being a danger to parishioners
* again accusing the employee of specifically being a danger to children
* claiming that there is no guarantee that the employee, who went to prison in 1981 for sexual assault, * will never commit sexual assault again, thus justifying his accusation that the man is still a danger.
* again demands Fr. Gofigan’s resignation as pastor (even though he was already officially replaced with an administrator, effectively removing Fr. Gofigan as pastor and making a letter of resignation unnecessary.) 7
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.