GUAM
Church Militant
by Stephen Wynne • ChurchMilitant.com • August 7, 2017
Almost 100 lawsuits filed against clergy, former archbishop
HAGÅTÑA, Guam (ChurchMilitant.com) – The Church in Guam is reeling from a clerical sex abuse scandal.
Since September 2016, the Catholic archdiocese of Agana has been named in 96 sex abuse lawsuits. After lawmakers passed a bill retroactively terminating the statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases, dozens of men came forward, alleging that between 1955 and 1994, as minors, they were raped and subjected to other forms of sexual abuse by priests in the archdiocese.
Some cases involve up to 50 defendants. Among them are 13 priests, a Catholic schoolteacher, a Catholic school janitor and Anthony Apuron, the former archbishop of Agana, who oversaw the Church in Guam for three decades.
As with abuse cases elsewhere, the suits allege that Guam’s Church leaders knew of the abuse but did nothing to stop it. One priest, an admitted molester, confirmed the leadership’s complacency in court testimony.
Apuron has denied accusations of raping altar boys in his care. After the allegations surfaced, he refused to resign forcing Pope Francis’ hand. In June 2016, the Pontiff stepped in, stripping Apuron of his pastoral and administrative authority and appointing Auxiliary Bp. Michael J. Byrnes of Detroit as coadjutor archbishop of Guam.
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