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Saturday, March 24, 2018

No Threat To Guam's Children

According to the CDF's press release (the bold is mine): 
The Apostolic Tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, composed of five judges, has issued its sentence of first instance, finding the accused guilty of certain of the accusations and imposing upon the accused the penalties of privation of office and prohibition of residence in the Archdiocese of Guam.
When news of the verdict came in, the first one to pounce on it was the jungle. They immediately set out to convince the Catholic faithful and Coadjutor Archbishop Byrnes that Archbishop Apuron was found guilty of child sexual abuse when in truth....the press release never said what he was found guilty of.  The Vatican did not reveal the charges of which Archbishop Apuron was found guilty of. 

It is also the jungle spreading the rumor that Archbishop Apuron was exiled from Guam.  According to Tim Rohr:
[Wow! "an unusually light sanction." Ummm. IT WAS BANISHMENT AND EXILE FOR LIFE, not to mention the first EVER archbishop to be removed from his diocese by a trial!]
Rohr also claimed that Archbishop Apuron cannot touch Guam's children due to this so-called exile.  See the weblink here.

However, as one astute poster pointed out, the sentence never exiled or banished Archbishop Apuron from Guam.  He was banned from residing in Guam:  "prohibition of residence."  According to the Anonymous poster:

AnonymousMarch 24, 2018 at 6:32 AM 
From a literal reading of the CDF release, the sentence doesn't even prohibit him from returning to Guam. He is banned from RESIDING in Guam, but nothing explicitly prohibits him from stepping foot on the island. 
Again, this suggests that the tribunal either a) didn't find him guilty of sex abuse or b) isn't very convinced of his guilt. 
This sentence accomplishes what Apuron's political enemies wanted, but little more than that. 
The sentence banned Archbishop Apuron from returning to his homeland as a resident.  But there is nothing in that sentence saying that he cannot travel to Guam as a visitor.  As I previously said, if he was guilty of child sexual abuse, the sentence did not ban him from contact with children, including Guam's children.  

Everything else that Rohr stated is simply a change in story.  He can claim all he wants that the first mention of a canonical trial was in January 2017 by the Vatican.  We already know the truth.  History shows that the FIRST mention of a canonical trial came from Archbishop Apuron, not the Vatican.  The Archbishop mentioned a canonical trial three times (See the weblink here). 

15 comments:

  1. Tim is good at convincing people cuz he's a salesman. The agenda of a salesman is to sell their product, but people need to know the truth.

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    1. No salesman has business to make the accusation that there are threats to Guam's children! We protect our young children from nursery through elementary, middle and high school. Why would they say there is a threat? There is no threat. This is unheard of.

      The Catholic Church on Guam is us and the communities. We Catholics stand by our Archbishop, no matter what! Why? because sales person should not tell us what to do. A sales person should not tell Byrnes that he is now the Archbishop, because he is co-adjutor as appointed by Rome. It is not the CCOG who appoints Archbishops. It is not their business. It is not a sales matter. They should be silent! Byrnes has never been appointed as Archbishop of Agana! Period.

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  2. Good evening, tell Mr. Tim that the agency article that he linked, contains an error, mgr. Ladaria Ferrer not where to accept the appeal request of Msgr. Apuron. In canon law and in all derivations of Roman law (france, italy, spain, switzerland ... vatican) a similar thing does not exist.

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    1. Msgr. Apuron is still the Archbishop of Agana! We and the brothers in the communities know this. This is how it remains for now. We have to make sure that the Catholic faithful on island knows this, as well.

      Please, Mr Rohr and CCOG, stop your misinformation!

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  3. CCOG hates Archbishop Apuron and Neocatechumenal Way. You read what he post, he dance arounnd everything when he is busted for posting wrong assumption. Sadly his desciples ate and swallow every information he dish out. Like cattles with nose rings.

    Gino-Sinajana.

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    1. Dear Gino, 

      Sadly, one of those who swallow everything Rohr says was the Coadjutor Archbishop. As a Shepherd, he should have stood by the truth. And the truth is that the Vatican never said what Archbishop Apuron was found guilty of. Instead, Byrnes judged and accused Archbishop Apuron guilty of child sexual abuse. The Vatican press release never said that. It only stated that the Archbishop was found guilty of certain accusations but never specified what those certain accusations were.

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    2. Sadly, the nose ring thing goes for Byrnes's closest assistants, as well, including those whom he appointed for position in the archdiocese! It is absolutely outrageous that CCOG would dictate to Catholic people. We are the Catholic people and we would never consent to this kind of business.

      Who is the the Archbishop of Agana? Archbishop Anthony Apuron, OFM Cap. is!

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  4. What about the statement that AAA should never be allowed to come back to the island?

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    1. Dear Anonymous at 10:33 pm,

      Where does it say that in the Vatican press release?

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  5. In USA Today dated March 16, 2018, "VATICAN CITY — A Vatican tribunal found Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron guilty of sexually abusing minors and decreed he should be removed him from his clerical office and exiled from the island."

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    1. Dear Anonymous at 11:34 pm,

      That is not what it says in the press release.

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  6. Point of clarification, not to defend the jungle but just for the information of all the good folks who continue to keep the Faith but here is the publication of the English version of the March 16 Press Release from ROME as featured on Joan's Rome:

    PRESS RELEASE FROM THE APOSTOLIC TRIBUNAL OF THE CONGREGATION FOR THE DOCTRINE OF THE FAITH

    The canonical trial in the matter of accusations, including accusations of sexual abuse of minors, brought against the Most Reverend Anthony Sablan APURON, O.F.M.Cap., Archbishop of Agaña, Guam, has been concluded.

    The Apostolic Tribunal of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, composed of five judges, has issued its sentence of first instance, finding the accused guilty of certain of the accusations and imposing upon the accused the penalties of privation of office and prohibition of residence in the Archdiocese of Guam. The sentence remains subject to possible appeal. In the absence of an appeal, the sentence becomes final and effective. In the case of an appeal, the imposed penalties are suspended until final resolution.

    It can be seen here: https://joansrome.wordpress.com/2018/03/16/press-release-from-the-apostolic-tribunal-of-the-congregation-for-the-doctrine-of-the-faith/

    I found it interesting because this is the English translation released in Rome but we on Guam only saw it later in the week as a "correction" to the original press release. I wasn't convinced by the jungle so I went to look for proof myself and found this. I think maybe there was an honest mistake in the original transcription of the verdict by someone who missed a few of the words. (I know, I have made mistakes in transcribing other people's words and my eyes skip from one line to the next. It was only when it was pointed out to me that I realized my mistake.)

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    1. Dear Anonymous at 10:40 pm,

      "In the matter of accusations, INCLUDING accusations of sexual abuse of minors" implies that there were other accusations. Otherwise, it would have read as "In the matter of accusations of sexual abuse of minors..."

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  7. I would interpet it as he is guilty OF KNOWING THE ABUSE OF CHILDREN IN DIOCES by certain priest and giving a penance of prayer asking for forgiveness and not telling authorities of the crime...
    Not shure if a priest is obligated to break the vow of keeping that confession
    but maybe asking the he turn himself in to authorities? What is the church laws and teaching on this part of a formation for the priest? Just wondering if a priest or formater can answer that?
    Who would the sinner confess to their mortal sins if afraid?


    Leroy Brown

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  8. That is why AAA carries their sins on the cross as Jesus.

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