GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Haidee V Eugenio, heugenio@guampdn.com
April 24, 2018
Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes on Tuesday said it takes time to win back peoples’ trust in the Catholic Church after the clergy sex abuse scandal broke, but he said the Archdiocese of Agana has been making headway in trying to bring a measure of justice to more than 160 victims and in preventing more abuse from happening.
Byrnes, who was appointed coadjutor archbishop in October 2016, was the guest speaker at the Rotary Club of Tumon Bay’s weekly meeting Tuesday at the Pacific Star Resort & Spa.
His predecessor, former Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron, is one of dozens of Guam clergy members who have been accused of sexually abusing minors decades ago, in more than 160 lawsuits filed in local and federal courts. A Vatican tribunal in March found Apuron guilty of some accusations in a case that includes child sex abuse allegations.
Easy to lose, hard to win back trust
Byrnes said the sex abuse scandal shook peoples’ trust in the institution. Some 85 percent of Guam’s population is Catholic.
“It’s easy to lose trust. It’s hard to win it back. We’re doing our best to try to win it back but it just takes a lot of time,” Byrnes said during a question-and-answer with club members
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