LA Archdiocese Clears Guam Priest

By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News
April 14, 2015

http://www.guampdn.com/article/20150415/NEWS01/304150001/LA-Archdiocese-clears-Guam-priest


A Guam priest who was stripped of his public duties last year, after a decade-old clergy sex abuse allegation surfaced, has been cleared, the Archdiocese of Agana announced yesterday.

Father John Wadeson "has been reinstated fully to public ministry," the Archdiocese of Agana stated.

Wadeson left the Redemptoris Mater Seminary on Guam in July last year.

A decade ago, the Archdiocese of Los Angeles issued a report listing Wadeson among 113 priests who were accused of sexual abuse in a 75-year span in the archdiocese, out of more than 5,000 priests who served there. The Archdiocese of Los Angeles issued a public apology in 2004 over the allegations.

Last year, at the request of Wadeson, the archdiocese of Los Angeles conducted "a reexamination of the matter," the Archdiocese of Agana stated, citing its Los Angeles counterpart.

"Having reviewed the documentation presented by Father Wadeson, and following the 2014 re-examination, the archdiocese has concluded that there is no reason to preclude Father Wadeson from serving in priestly ministry," the Archdiocese of Agana stated, quoting the Los Angeles archdiocese.

"For this reason Father John Wadeson remains, to the knowledge of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, a priest in good standing," the statement from the Los Angeles archdiocese stated.

Before he left Guam on July 22, 2014, Wadeson stated he's been falsely accused, but decided to leave Guam because he didn't want the accusations against him to tarnish Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

The Archdiocese of Agana didn't state whether Wadeson will return to Guam.