Video: Father Paul ...

By Kevin Kerrigan
The Pacific News Center
January 14, 2014

http://www.pacificnewscenter.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=41213:father-paul-weighing-defamation-lawsuit-against-archbishop-apuron&catid=45:guam-news&Itemid=156

[with video]

Guam - Father Paul Gofigan,  already embroiled in a dispute with Archbishop Apuron, is now contemplating a defamation lawsuit against the leader of Guam's Catholic Church.

Tim Rohr, a close observer of the island's Catholic community and the editor of the JungleWatch website says that the contemplated lawsuit stems from remarks reportedly made by the Archbishop about Father Paul at a retreat last fall.

Rohr has obtained letters from Father Paul to the Archbishop in which Father Paul called on the Archbishop to retract his remarks. He gave the Archbishop until noon today to do so. But Father Paul announces in a news release [see below] that so far, there has been no retraction or apology by the Archbishop.

The controversy is an out-growth of a decision made by the Archbishop last year to relieve Father Paul as Pastor of the Santa Barbara Church in Dededo. Father Paul has hired a Cannon lawyer and is appealing that decision to the Vatican. That case remains unresolved.

READ the release from Father Paul below:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

FROM: Father Paul Gofigan

RE: STATEMENT REGARDING REQUEST FROM ARCHBISHOP APURON FOR RETRACTION AND APOLOGY

Tamuning, Guam - January 14, 2014 - At the recent retreat for the clergy of the Archdiocese of Agana this past November, Archbishop Apuron made statements about me and Mr. Joseph Lastimoza that I consider slanderous and defamatory to both to me and Mr. Lastimoza.

On December 6, 2013, I sent a letter to Archbishop Apuron requesting he retract those statements and apologize. He ignored my request.

On Monday, January 13, 2014, I sent another letter to the Archbishop, noting that it had been over a month since my request, that he had not responded in any way, and that I would give him till noon, Tuesday, January 14, to comply with my request for a retraction and an apology in writing, and that a copy be sent to every member of the clergy.

Noon, Tuesday, came and went with not a word from the Archbishop.

It is certainly a sad day for Guam and our beloved Church that her archbishop will slander and malign his priests behind their back and then refuse to retract or apologize when confronted with this fact. He not only damaged my name but the name of the Lastimoza family.

Pope Francis has asked us to reach out to the poor, neglected, and the downtrodden.

He wants our bishops to stop being airport bishops, and to reach out to his priests and flock. He wants his priests to passionately spread the Good News, and to reach out to our parishioners especially those who are hurting, lost, and pushed away. That is what I have tried to do and that is what I am being punished for.


I am now looking at all options including retaining an attorney to file a defamation suit.

I am not happy that it has come to this but the archbishop’s actions and his failure to retract (not even the courtesy of a reply) leaves me no choice but to take this route in order to restore my name.