“During the night at the rectory, Ramon witnessed Cruz sexually molest and abuse an altar boy, together with a seminarian named Anthony Sablan Apuron, who would later become an ordained priest on Guam and ultimately serve as the archbishop of the Agana archdiocese,” the complaint states.
De Plata is represented by attorney David Lujan. Lujan filed the lawsuit at 4:56 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 22. It's the 14th clergy sex abuse lawsuit that Lujan and Wolff has filed this year.
Therefore, it is not a surprise that some will complain about the global settlement in which everyone will be paid equally the same amount. Also, the lawyers and many of the alleged victims who are in their 60s and 70s want to be paid as soon as possible. As the Guam Daily Post pointed out (the bold is mine):“If there’s one reason I didn’t hesitate going into the mediation, it’s because it allows for a quick resolution especially with a portion of my clients who want a resolution,” Lujan told The Guam Daily Post.
With many clients in their 60s and 70s and several of them ill, Lujan said he believes his clients would want to get “something” for their families before they pass away.Because mediation has failed, Archbishop Byrnes have decided to file for bankruptcy. After filing for bankruptcy, the bankruptcy judge will set a "bar date period" for additional clergy claims abuse to be filed. After the "bar date period" no lawsuits can be filed against the Archdiocese. Nevertheless, more lawsuits are now coming in faster than before. Archbishop Byrnes made known his plans to file for bankruptcy on November 7th. See the story here.
After the announcement of bankruptcy, two days later TWO lawsuits was filed against the Archdiocese. On November 9th, a lawsuit was filed by M.C.A. against two dead priests: Monsignor Jose Ada Leon Guerrero and Raymond Techaira who both served as priests in the Asan parish. M.C.A. is a client of Attorney David Lujan. See the story here dated November 9, 2018.
On the same day, another news report came out about another lawsuit filed against the Archdiocese. E.F.G. filed a lawsuit against a former teacher of St. Anthony Catholic School and the Archdiocese. Her lawyer is also Attorney David Lujan. The interesting thing about this last lawsuit was that the name of the accused was protected. According to the Pacific Daily News (the bold is mine):
A former student at St. Anthony Catholic School in Tamuning filed on Friday a $5 million lawsuit accusing her former teacher of sexually abusing her for about a year when she was 13 around 2012 to 2013.
The plaintiff is identified in Superior Court of Guam documents only as E.F.G. to protect her privacy. The lawsuit also identified the teacher only by his initials, H.J.
E.F.G., represented by Attorney David Lujan, said in her lawsuit that H.J. was her teacher at the Catholic school between late 2012 through mid-2014.2013 was only five years ago. Why did she not report it to her parents and to the police? Surely, one cannot claim that the parents would not believe her. The Boston sex scandal occurred in 2002 and SNAP was in Guam in 2011. Therefore, after 2011 priests were no longer placed on pedestals, and people were already aware of the sex scandal among the clergy. Another interesting thing is why hide the name of the accused? All the people previously accused of child sexual abuse have been named.
What do the Catholics of Guam expect to see after the filing of bankruptcy? According to news report (the bold is mine):
Perez said just because the archdiocese is filing for bankruptcy does not mean it will go out of business.
“In my discussions with attorneys from my team with extensive experience in these types of bankruptcies, this filing will allow the archdiocese to reorganize and still be operational after the claims are paid and the bankruptcy is closed,” he said.
James said the archdiocese’s bankruptcy filing will automatically stop any further action in the lawsuits that have been filed, and it will create a deadline for all Guam clergy abuse victims to file claims.
“It will be important for those who have not come forward to do so and file their claim,” said James, who, along with Vernon, has extensive experience in Catholic church bankruptcies.
There are important deadlines in a bankruptcy that must be met. All claims against the archdiocese must be filed prior to the “claims bar date,” which will be set by the bankruptcy judge, the attorneys said.
Yes, the filing of bankruptcy will allow the Archdiocese to reorganize and still be operational. How do you think it will be reorganize? Just as we have learned from the Churches in the United States who filed for bankruptcy, parishes were closed down. Guam is a small island with a parish in every village and not every parish is filled to capacity. Any bankruptcy judge can see that parishes can be closed down while members join the other nearby parishes. An example are the parishes of Yona, Chalan Pago, Barrigada, and Mangilao. These parishes are within driving distance of each other. Agana Heights and Sinajana can also be shut down and join the Masses held in the Cathedral.
Once they start closing the parishes and selling it, you can start thanking the JungleWatch Nation for destroying our parishes. . As Archbishop Byrnes stated in the news media (the bold is mine):
Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes is calling on Catholics to embrace the planned bankruptcy filing, which he said is an opportunity to reorganize the Archdiocese of Agana and become a better church amid nearly 200 clergy sex abuse lawsuits filed since 2016........
"This is an opportunity to reorganize ourselves, to become a better church — the best we can be," Byrnes wrote.........
Yes, a better church. Once they start closing down the parishes and selling it, you can start thanking the Junglewatch Nation for destroying our parishes. Remember that it was the Junglewatch Nation, Silent No More, CCOG, and LFM who introduced, supported, and worked for the passage of a bill that lifted the statutes of limitations.....a bill that would eventually take away many Church assets and close down our parishes.....a bill that left no investigative measure of determining who are the real victims of abuse and who are the fake ones. And if you think that people cannot come out, fabricating stories of child sexual abuse, see my last post on More on Judge Kavanaugh.
If E.F.G. was 13 years old in 2012, that makes her about 19 years old today. She's the youngest to file a lawsuit against the church. I'd also like to know why they decided to keep the accused anonymous.
ReplyDeleteThe Church is making the attorneys rich and richer... Sad. Are we asking the real questions : what are we doing to increase church attendance? What are we doing to attract vocations to the priesthood? What are we doing to keep our Sisters from becoming extinct in Guam? Where are the youth un church masses?
ReplyDeleteDear Diana, do you have any news about the 3 seminarians from Philippines/Guam who were sent by Brynes to complete their studies in California after their stint at the Redemptoris Mater in Guam?
DeleteJust watch the Jungle complain when people have to resort to having mass in their homes when there's no parishes.
ReplyDelete----All of this happened because self righteous sheep thought it wss their job to teach or control the shepherd.This island is in need of a sheepdog.And when it arrives here,it will set the island on fire.But until then,we must pray.----
Guys big problem. The Archdiocese is filing for bankruptcy obviously to keep the churches running while still paying victims back.BUT,many people are seeing this as the archdiocese not wanting to help the victims.They are seeing the archdiocese as greedy.Not only are we on the brink of losing our parishes but people are losing faith in the church.Even if the JungleWatch nation realized their mistake and decided to grow a pair and fix their mess.They are no longer able to.The storm has grown too big.Satan used the Junglewatch nation as his puppets to start a storm on Guam.And now that he has enough power.He is raging here.We are truly in a crisis.God help us through this storm.
ReplyDeleteWhile many speak money in our Church, what happened to our seminarians Dereck Delgado, Junee Valencia, Ronald Pangan, and William Mamangun of the former John Paul the Great Seminary in Maloloj? Are they sill studying for the priesthood?
ReplyDeleteJunee, Ronald, and William are from the former John Paul the Great seminary. Derek was accepted this past summer into the seminary for the archdiocese. All four men are studying at the St. Patrick's Seminary in Menlo Park. Out of the four, two seminarians are on track to be ordain deacon by next year. They are products of the blessed diego theological institute on Guam. The same schooling as the RMS seminarians. But, why was the RMS seminarian punished and pushed off to another diocese? Because Archbishop Byrnes did not accept them as seminarian of Guam. This was uncalled for by Archbishop Byrnes.
DeleteWilliam was a teacher at Academy of our Lady of Guam, he has a masters degree in theology from Philippines, but when he went to Menlo Park, he was told that his credits weren't recognized. This pushed him back several years before being ordain a deacon.
Derek, is a new seminarian and he was a capuchin postulant but left the order for personal reasons. Derek is experiencing his first semester at St. Patrick's.
Today, the Church was given notice that it would be filing for bankruptcy. Each seminarian abroad is costing the Archdiocese more than $36,000.00 per year, not including personal necessities. How can we continue to afford to pay for four seminarians off island as opposed to having the RMS on Guam?
Today, we see that many priest have omitted Archbishop Apuron's name in the mass and replaced it with Archbishop Byrnes. Until the final process is over, Archbishop Apuron is still the Archbishop of Agana and Archbishop Byrnes is still the Coadjutor.
I believe that he should be addressed as such but it was Archbishop Byrnes who insisted to be called the Archbishop of Agana.
Dear Guamboy,
DeleteThe cost of one seminarian studying in Guam RMS for the Archdiocese was about $500-800 a year, and the Archdiocese never had to fundraise. Today, the Archdiocese have to fundraise to pay for the seminarians they sent off-island. With the bankruptcy issue, I don't know what will happen to Guam's seminarians if the Archdiocese is unable to pay for them.
Also, 4 RMS seminarians whom Archbishop Byrnes rejected will be ordained a deacon in May 2019.
Diana, it was the lawmakers who passed the bill! The jungle bullied the senators to vote for it. The Final version of the bill was produced to the Senate by Bob Klitzkie at the cheer of Tim Rohr and David Sablan. Frank Blas and Frank Aguon were the champions of the jungle who pushed the text down on the throat of the legislators. It had nothing to do with the original proposal, still the Senate slavishly passed it. Woe on them!
ReplyDeleteThe conspiracy behind the bill is evidenced by the presence of David Lujan at the Legislative Session. He was the guarantor that a smooth money flow from church to politicians will have its channels. The center of command of the plot was the jungle that radiated its influence all around. We don't know what % of the settlement moneys to be paid to victims was earmarked for further redistribution by the center. The conspirators demand unconditional obedience and 100% loyalty from all those who joined their elite club of jungle approved victims on the promise of making them rich.
Archbishop Byrnes should immediately excommunicate all the legislators who acted on jungle orientation, motivation and demand to give legal status to this jungle farce. Governor Calvo should also be excommunicated for signing the bill into law despite overwhelming evidence of its unconstitutionality! The command center of conspirators rightly observed that the Guam Organic Act does not provide the same level of constitutional muster as the mainland Constitution does! On the main land there is no chance a similar bill could ever be created and passed! They took advantage of this crazy loophole in the island's political status to bribe the senators into submission. Most of these senators are not in the Legislature anymore, so they cannot be held accountable. Both Frank Blas and Frank Aguon miserably lost their bid for reelection. The only rightful step the Catholic Church can do at this point is to excommunicate all these failed and corrupt politicians.
Where is your faith? Quit placing blame and place your trust in God. If he can make St. Francis of Assisi rebuild his church, he can surely rebuild his church on Guam. Quit whining and pointing your fingers, roll your sleeves up and start doing God's work instead of crying. Sheeeesh. Are you sure you're in "way" cause you complain too much.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 7:35 pm,
DeleteFrancis of Assisi did not rebuild the Church. He reformed it. Christ built the Church; therefore, no man can rebuild what Christ has already built. This post is not a complaint. I published my post to show the truth.....that the jungle destroyed our parishes, which are the buildings where the faithful gather together to worship.
Have courage brothers and sisters of Guam. Nobody can destroy the church in Guam as long as you have FAITH in our risen LORD. The buildings yes can be sold and there will be more hardship but in the end those who survive this hurricane will be stronger in their faith. Pray for your persecutors to REPENT. Always in my prayers.
ReplyDelete