GUAM
The Tablet (UK)
07 July 2017 | by Catholic News Service
Three men have publicly accused the archbishop of sexually abusing them when they were altar boys in the 1970s
No matter the outcome of a Vatican trial against Guam’s archbishop, Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agana should not return to lead the archdiocese, the archdiocese’s coadjutor has said.
“I think it would be a disaster if Archbishop Apuron were to return as the bishop of record,” said Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes, because of the extent of the loss of trust among the faithful and the “widespread disarray” left behind in church operations.
Coadjutor Archbishop Byrnes, a former auxiliary bishop of Detroit, spoke to the press in Agana on 6 July, offering an update of the canonical investigation and trial of Archbishop Apuron and his own personal thoughts about what would be best for the archdiocese moving forward.
US Cardinal Raymond Burke, a church law expert and former head of the Vatican’s highest court, led a Vatican team to Guam in February to investigate allegations of sexual abuse leveled against Archbishop Apuron.
Three men have publicly accused the archbishop of sexually abusing them when they were altar boys in the 1970s. The mother of a fourth man, now deceased, also accused the archbishop of abusing her son.
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