GUAM
HuffPost
By Antonia Blumberg
The latest sex abuse scandal to rock the Catholic Church shines a spotlight on the small, predominantly Catholic U.S. territory of Guam.
According to an ongoing investigation by the USA TODAY Network’s Pacific Daily News, Guam’s Archdiocese of Agana is listed as a defendant in 96 lawsuits detailing abuses spanning nearly 40 decades.
Two archbishops of Agana, as well as multiple priests, bishops, teachers and even Boy Scouts leaders on the Western Pacific island are implicated in the suits.
The lawsuits alleged that leaders repeatedly preyed on children, some as young as seven years old, and include claims of molestation, rape, and priests exposing themselves and displaying pornography in the company of young altar boys.
Louis Brouillard, who served as a priest and scoutmaster on Guam from 1948 to 1981, is named in 55 lawsuits and has admitted to abusing at least 20 boys on the island. In an interview with the Associated Press last year, Brouillard, now 96, said other priests on the island who he confided in advised him to pray and “do better.”
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