On June 7th, two people whose initials were F.A.D. and S.P. filed a lawsuit against the Archdiocese accusing Father Louse Brouillard of sexual abuse and rape. In that same day, June 7th another person filed a lawsuit naming Monsignor Louis Antonelli, who passed away in Rota at the age of 100. Monsignor Antonelli served as a priest for 70 years, with 46 of those spent on Rota. He served as a priest on Guam for 10 years, and it is a person in Guam who filed the sex abuse lawsuit, not a person in Rota where he spent most of his life serving as a priest. So, that is three lawsuits filed in one day.
On June 10th (just 3 days later) another lawsuit was filed against the Archdiocese accusing Father Andrew Mannetta of child abuse. Father Mannetta already have current child abuse allegations against him.
Today, June 12th, a woman came forward accusing another dead priest (Monsignor Jose Ada Leon Guerrero) of raping her. According to the Guam Daily Post:
M.J.R., who used initials to protect her identity, alleges the incident happened on the second floor of the Niño Perdido y Sagrada Familia Catholic Church in Asan, where Monsignor Jose Ada Leon Guerrero, the parish priest, resided.
The girl was 13 and attended study club at the parish on Monday afternoons.
The lawsuit states Leon Guerrero asked M.J.R. to help him sort out the limosna, or church offerings, collected from the previous Sunday.M.J.R. agreed and assisted the priest several consecutive Mondays and said Leon Guerrero would often hug her while counting the money. She assumed it was OK since "he was a good and holy man to be trusted," court documents state.
He also rewarded her with $10 or $20 for helping him.
On the sixth Monday, Leon Guerrero allegedly coaxed her into drinking wine, despite her reservations because it made her dizzy and sleepy.
"Monsignor gently berated and convinced her to continue drinking, since it was the blood of Christ," the lawsuit states.
The girl said she fell asleep and remembers seeing Leon Guerrero come out of the bathroom wearing only a shirt and shorts, forcing her into his bed, and forcefully undressing her.There are many odd things about this woman's story. 1) Since when is the Sunday collection supposed to be kept in the priest's place of residence? Should it not be kept in a safe? 2) Since when did the Church allowed children to count the Sunday collection? Is it not the responsibility of adults to count the money from Sunday's collections? 3) why is the priest and a child the only ones counting the Sunday collection? Isn't the parish finance officer supposed to be involved in the counting of the monies? Should there not be at least three adults in counting the money from Sunday's collection? 4) where did the reward of $10 and $20 come from.....the Sunday collection? and 5) after the money was counted, who deposited it into the bank and recorded it into the books? Where is the parish finance officer in all this?
As the August 15th deadline looms forward, we will see more and more lawsuits filed against the Archdiocese. Most of these lawsuits will be against dead priests. A few will file against those who already have a sexual allegation against them. And there will be no investigations into these sexual allegations because the Archdiocese of Agana have decided to take all allegations as the Gospel truth.
That's why there should be an investigation into all these allegations especially money is involved. I'm not saying they're lying, but an investigation can maybe clear up any doubts.
ReplyDeleteIn this matter, the Police won't investigate because of the lapse timing and lack of evidence. It is hard to claim a criminal charge because the evidence is needed. But, that is why it is about money. Its a civil claim and in most cases, whether it is true or not, they only seek money...
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