GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com March 8, 2017
Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes announced Wednesday the establishment of an initial $1 million aid fund for Guam’s clergy sex abuse victims.
“The establishment of this settlement fund to aid victims is just another concrete step in our effort to reach out to victims of child sexual abuse and to do all that we can to help them, to help them heal, to help them find peace, to help them find a sense of closure for what they dealt with for so many years. We know that money alone will not heal (their suffering), but to aid the healing with opportunity for counseling and any other kinds of service of assistance they might require,” Byrnes said.
Byrnes said there will be no requirement that claimants keep the fact or amount of their payment confidential. He said if new abusers are identified during the claims process, they will be reported to law enforcement and to the archdiocese by a third-party fund administrator, as required by law.
Archdiocesan Finance Council President Richard Untalan said the $1 million fund isn’t meant to settle out of court the $115 million in lawsuits against the Archdiocese of Agana.
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