While it is true that Guam has twice the rape rate as the rest of the nation, the vast majority of rape occurred outside the Church. Furthermore, a large majority of the rape and sexual assaults have been reported in a timely manner, allowing the perpetrators to be brought to justice. This is not the case with the Catholic Church where sexual allegations are coming out 30, 40, and 50 years later. Passing a bill to lift the statutes of limitations is not going to bring dead priests to justice. Rather, it allows innocent people to suffer (see the story here).
I have stated before that as long as that law is in existence, more allegations will be coming out accusing mainly dead priests. Father George Maddock is proof of that. When he passed away on September 30, 2018, a lawsuit was filed against him only twenty-three days later. Being deceased, Father George cannot defend himself.
Some people are currently expressing some doubts over these allegations. Even newstalk Patty Arroyo havve expressed some of her doubts in K57. You can listen to her in the weblink below dated November 9, 2018. She expressed some of her doubts over a sexual abuse allegation involving a recently deceased priest who was praised by many students from Father Duenas Memorial School.
Patty Arroyo with David Sablan on K57
In the interview, it was brought out that any investigative process to determine the merit of the allegation was put on hold or placed aside. Thus, the Archdiocese is taking the stand that all allegations are true. The problem with this stand is that it goes against the democratic principle and rights of the accused. Also, by putting aside all investigative process, one then cannot determine whether the allegations are true or not.
After the Church had publicly announced that they are claiming bankruptcy, the allegations are coming in faster. The two new priests who were recently accused of sex abuse were Father George Maddock and Father Michael Lee Friel (See the story here). Both of them are deceased. Some people are now starting to express some doubts over these allegations; therefore, Patty Arroyo is not alone. These were some of the comments that were published in the Pacific Daily News:
Ordelia Pritchard
FATHER LEE TOO!!!! This is whole 'sexual abuse' situation is really getting out of hand, and at this point and time, is completely ABSURD; my God, mercy. The names of deceased priests who cannot defend themselves are being tarnished. Father George, the Carmelite Nuns and now, Father Lee?!! Whose next? Pale' Ramon???
Thomas J Hertslet
This is utterly insane. After the priests have died those two come out with accusations, for which the past away priests cannot defend themselves or even if it has happened to ask for forgiveness.
This "$ 5,000,000. bounty" is creating a terrible damage to a peaceful island. Very sad!!!
This "$ 5,000,000. bounty" is creating a terrible damage to a peaceful island. Very sad!!!
The law lifting the statutes of limitations is an unjust law. It is a mistake for several reason. There is no due process for dead priests. Every accused has a right to due process. Because the alleged crime took place 30, 40, or 50 years ago, it is difficult to substantiate the allegations with hard evidence. Because there are no investigations, one would not know whether the allegations are true or false. The entire Church of Guam will also be the one to bear the cost. In seeking justice for these alleged victims, innocent people (who have nothing to do with the sexual abuse) will bear the punishment and the cost of suffering as they lose their parishes.
Is it possible that some priests are being falsely accused (including dead priests)? Yes. After all, we recently learned that after an investigation from the FBI, even Judge Brett Kavanaugh was falsely accused of sexual abuse. In fact, the second accuser even came out and finally admitted that she lied in order to derail the judge's confirmation to the Supreme Court (See the story here).
Below are also a list of falsely accused priests.
1. Father Joseph Jiang (See his story here).
2. Father Kevin Reynolds (See his story here).
3. Father Roger Jacques (See his story here).
4. Monsignor William McCarthy (See story here).
5. Father Charles Murphy (See story here).
These are only a few examples. There are many more. Moreover, these priests were alive at the time of the accusation and therefore able to fight back. Priests such as Cardinal McCarrick chose not to fight back because he knew he was guilty of sleeping with seminarians and priests. Priests such as Father Joseph Jiang and Father Kevin Reynolds fought their accusers through the justice system and won while others went to the Vatican and were cleared AFTER an investigation was conducted.
There are people who say that children don't lie. The problem, however, is that these are NOT children coming out with these accusations. These are adults coming out with accusations. The law lifting the statutes of limitations is an unjust law.
Below are also a list of falsely accused priests.
1. Father Joseph Jiang (See his story here).
2. Father Kevin Reynolds (See his story here).
3. Father Roger Jacques (See his story here).
4. Monsignor William McCarthy (See story here).
5. Father Charles Murphy (See story here).
These are only a few examples. There are many more. Moreover, these priests were alive at the time of the accusation and therefore able to fight back. Priests such as Cardinal McCarrick chose not to fight back because he knew he was guilty of sleeping with seminarians and priests. Priests such as Father Joseph Jiang and Father Kevin Reynolds fought their accusers through the justice system and won while others went to the Vatican and were cleared AFTER an investigation was conducted.
There are people who say that children don't lie. The problem, however, is that these are NOT children coming out with these accusations. These are adults coming out with accusations. The law lifting the statutes of limitations is an unjust law.
The Catholic Church is always the target. I read a statistics that showed more then 800,000 unreported sexual abuse in American public schools and no one talks about that.
ReplyDeleteThis is a little off topic but despite what Byrnes said over the amount of catholics on island.There really is a need for adult catechesis.Its super easy to slap the catholic label on oneself.Since a lot of people are catholic "by tradition" that goes not just for Guam but other countries where Catholicism has become traditional.In France there's catholics that don't even go to mass."WHAT? Mass?! You don't have to go to mass! We are French.We are already catholic."Being catholic out of tradition is a heresy in itself! Because they start keeping a few things and get used to those few things.That's why when European Catholics started immigrating to America some of them became protestant.Because the protestants told them."It's the same thing!" NO IT'S NOT.The other day I heard some dude say he wasn't worried about losing the parishes because "you can just read tbe bible at home and eat pizza!"Excuse me what? But no,the Neos were the ones attacked and labeled as "heretics".The sheep that destroyed the church on Guam were the ones who attacked the Archbishop,supported a horrible bill,and attacked one of the very groups providing Adult Catechesis! If they really loved their church.They wouldn't have done those three things in the first place.If they really loved their church they wouod APOLOGIZE for this.
ReplyDelete-Fox
What can be done? Should we petition the Legislature to repeal the law? Would that get rid of the 200 lawsuits against our church? There must be something we can do to save our parishes. We can’t rely on Byrnes since he’s of the mind that all allegations are true and dismissed any investigation into the allegations.
ReplyDeleteDear Anonymous at 8:14 pm,
DeleteRepealing the law will not erase all the lawsuits that have already been filed. A repeal will only remove the law so no further lawsuit can be filed after the date the repeal becomes effective. A repeal in the works could also hasten more lawsuits to be filed in court. The only thing that will remove all lawsuits that have already been filed and any future lawsuit is when the court declares the law unconstitutional or inorganic.
The move that issued a call for the church to examine its history and come to a fuller understanding of how we have handled or mishandled cases of sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse through the years. In particular, it is of utmost importance to hear voices both how to atone for the church’s past and shape a more just future. As followers of Jesus of Nazareth, as children of God with all people, we could do no less, and we must do more.
ReplyDeleteIt was hoped that this lifting of the statute of limitations was one way for the church to come to terms with cases of sexual misconduct in its collective past.
Dear Anonymous at 2:04 am,
DeleteThis move that issued the call to lift the statutes of limitation only targeted one Archbishop.....Archbishop Apuron. Simply look at the testimonies in the Guam Legislature when this bill was introduced. Archbishop Apuron's name was mentioned more than 50 times that some in the jungle are even calling it the "Apuron bill."
As followers of Jesus of Nazareth, as children of God with all people, we must seek the truth. In 2011, the Church in Guam had called upon the Catholic faithful to step forward if they had been abused by the clergy. No one came forward in 2011. At that time, the Church was not offering any money.
Today, after the Statutes of limitations was passed allowing people to sue the church for money, Guam suddenly have almost 200 alleged victims, of which most of them are accusing dead priests. And the Church is not interested in knowing the truth about whether these allegations are true or not. In fact, some of the Church leaders have become communist, declaring an accused priest guilty without due process of the law.
There are actually more rapes and sexual assaults of children occurring outside the Church, and the only thing being done is deporting the sexual offenders back to their islands where they are free to rape again. Most of the rapes and sexual assaults are being done by Chuukese and other islanders from Micronesia. And the government solution is to deport these sex offenders back to their island nations where they can rape and sexually assault more children. I don't see anyone in Guam complaining much about that.
As of December 12, 2018, the Governor of Guam have deported a total of 71 sex offenders. Yes, that is almost 100 sex offenders in Guam being deported. These sex offenders have raped and sexually assaulted little girls. Their sentences were shortened so that they can no longer be jailed in Guam and be deported. Once they are deported, they are free to rape and sexually assault other little girls on the other islands. Where is the outrage in that? Well, at least, we can say for certain that these men were found guilty in a court of law, but that is not true with a dead priest. See the news report in the weblink below:
https://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2018/12/12/guam-governor-commutes-3-more-sex-offenders-sentences/2285342002/
Maybe 30 or 40 years in the future, those young girls can sue Eddie Calvo and the government of Guam. They can claim that the government institution knew about the sexual offense, shortened their jail sentence and shipped them off-island.
DeleteDear Anonymous at 11:48 am,
DeleteThere would be a very big difference in their case compared to the Church. In the government's case, there are documented records of the arrest, conviction, and deportation of the individual. In the Church's case, you only have the word of the alleged victims. Accused priests such as Father Jack, Father George, and others who are dead cannot speak.
Anon. 2:04 am, the law didn't help decrease the rapes and sexual abuse on Guam. All it did was go after the church and make the Church pay for the so-called crimes of mostly deceased priests, which we have no idea whether they're guilty or not.
ReplyDelete