Walter Denton prays as the sun rises in his backyard in Agat, Guam, Saturday, May 11, 2019. Denton is one of over 200 former altar boys, students and Boy Scouts who are now suing Guam's Catholic archdiocese over decades of sexual abuse they say they suffered at the hands of almost three dozen clergy, teachers and scoutmasters. "He took everything from me. From that day forward my demeanor changed. I break down, I hurt everyday and I still hurt," said Denton.
Now, thousands of pages of court documents reviewed by The Associated Press, along with extensive interviews, tell a story of systemic abuse dating from the 1950s to as recently as 2013. They show a pattern of repeated collusion by predator priests, with abuse that spanned generations and reached all the way to the very top of the church hierarchy.
Seven men have accused Apuron in lawsuits of sexual assaults they endured as boys, including his own nephew. The archbishop, now 73, insists all his accusers are liars. But in a secret church trial last year, the Vatican found Apuron guilty of sex crimes against children, removing him from public ministry and effectively exiling him from Guam. He remains a bishop and receives a monthly $1,500 stipend from the church.
“It’s horrific,” Byrnes conceded. “The sins of the fathers are left to the children. ... It’s important for the Church of Guam to confront, in a good way, the evil that we found, and to acknowledge it, and to own it.”Nearly four centuries after the arrival of the first Jesuit missionaries, Catholicism is deeply engrained in the culture of Guam’s indigenous people, known as Chamorros.
A wiry, red-headed Minnesotan, Brouillard came to Guam in 1948 after being expelled from the Catholic seminary on the mainland over accusations of making sexual advances toward boys. Popular for being a lax disciplinarian and easy grader, Brouillard often kept a camera strapped around his neck. Behind his back, some of the boys called him “Louis Leklok” — the Chamorro word for masturbation.
After survivors began coming forward in 2016, Brouillard signed a sworn statement admitting to sexually abusing at least 20 children, including Tudela. The elderly priest said during his decades on Guam, he had repeatedly confessed what he was doing to his superiors, including Guam’s then bishop, and was just advised to pray for God’s guidance and absolution.
The following March, Apuron — then a seminarian in his late teens — was at a sleepover in the rectory, the brothers say. Around midnight, Ramon says, he walked into the priest’s bedroom looking for the bathroom and saw Cruz and Apuron engaged in sex acts with a boy from his school. Ramon says the future archbishop got up from the bed and placed a hand on his shoulder.
what a shock..the celibacy and the idea that the priest is removed from “normal” society in a way that sort of mystifies their role. it’s sick.
I hope the Rapists who are still alive finally face justice. They were not doing the work of God. They will never get into Heaven with thier deeds. They will never be forgiven/
Just like every other nation
Sadly, it went unchecked everywhere. Yet an other reason why I consider myself Agnostic.
Decades of abuse becomes an established social norm over time...? (The breaking of unhealthy social norms is socially painful....?)
Who needs horror fiction when you have reality. It’s horrible that these abusers get to live among us without answering for their crimes. Anthony Apuron can’t be found? Really? He gets $1500 monthly stipend and is untraceable? BS
sarahleah1 Heartbreaking.
At some point...no means no.
Must be nice to be able to “confess” on Sundays and erase all you transgressions! Lots of thoughts and prayers...and rape!
Just let the priests marry and encourage of them to have sex with adults for fucks sake. The little boys don’t deserve this shit.
Everytime I see a priest I initially think he is a pervert. Because I have friends who were abused too. 😫😫😫
boring
Jesus is with you ______
What a shame that mentors are monsters to these boys/men’s life. Smh
Replace Guam with every other country with a catholic hierarchy and the story repeats itself
Glad they are able to tell their truth now. Their words will save others.💔
I’m sensing a theme here....
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