Newly appointed head of Archdiocese responds to church issues

GUAM
Pacific News Center

Written by Timothy Mchenry

The new co-adjutor says he hopes to be on Guam by the end of November.

Guam – Meanwhile, newly appointed co-adjutor archbishop Michael Byrnes responds to some of the biggest issues and controversies surrounding Guam’s catholic church.

Newly appointed co-adjutor archbishop Michael Byrnes responded to some of the most pressing issues and controversies surrounding the church.

One of the biggest issues is what’s going to happen with Archbishop Anthony Apuron?

Archbishop Byrnes says Archbishop Apuron will remain the archbishop until death or the mandatory age of retirement.

“As far as I know, I mean that’s my understanding. I know the difference here is that the holy father has removed his faculty to exercise pastoral care and assigned them to me for the time being,” said Byrnes.

On Tuesday, attorney David Lujan called a press conference to announce that three of the victims who allege that Archbishop Anthony Apuron molested them while he was a priest at Mt. Carmel church in Agat filed a lawsuit against the archdiocese. Byrne responded to the allegations of molestation against archdiocesan priests.

“My first comment is, uh you know uh, is just uh, one of deep concern for the alleged victims and so that’s the first, the second is to uh you know again I only have hearsay and so ill enlist the best help we can,” said Byrnes. “On their mainland the bishops have taken very strong measures to protect God’s children and so I will bring that concern to see if we can implement some of the steps and measure that we’ve taken here on the mainland.

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.