Another Archdiocese Review Board Member Resigns

Pacific Daily News
May 20, 2016

http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2016/05/20/another-archdiocese-review-board-member-resigns/84642054/

In this file photo, Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron delivers his opening prayer during Palm Sunday Mass at the Dulce Nombre de Maria Cathedral-Basilica.

Neocatechumenal Way

For Benavente, a conflict of interest was also the reason behind her decision to recuse herself. She said she will recuse herself because she is walking in the Neocatechumenal Way, a group within the Catholic Church whose members meet in small community settings to worship.

Apuron is also part of the Way. Other Catholics have taken issue with how the group appears to separate itself. Apuron’s ties to the Way have angered a number of Guam Catholics.

“I indicated to them that if we were called to function as a review board, I would recuse myself. I didn’t resign,” she said.

George Kallingal is a fourth member of the board. He said Friday he will remain on the board. The fifth review board member wasn’t available for comment. Other board members opted not to disclose the person’s name.

Kallingal and Rapadas are licensed clinical psychologists. Pereda is a licensed therapist and clinical social worker and Benavente said she has experience dealing with victims of sexual abuse.

Required to step down

Rapadas said since he began work at the court in 2015, the review board hadn’t held a meeting. He said he had been on the board since the beginning. The last time the board met was about two years ago, before Rapadas worked at the Superior Court of Guam.

Now that he works at the court as a clinical psychologist with the court’s Client Services and Family Counseling Division, Rapadas said he’s required to step down from any group that may pose a conflict of interest in his line of work.

“When this came out and there was some talk about the archbishop filing a case or anyone else filing a case, I had to get out,” Rapadas said.

Pereda resigned after saying the archdiocese’s sexual misconduct policy is flawed. In an email to Deacon Larry Claros, the church’s Sexual Abuse Response coordinator, Pereda said because the archbishop is identified as an alleged offender, the policy can’t involve him in any way. Since the policy involves Apuron making major decisions on how sexual abuse cases are handled, it is faulty, Pereda said. Deacon Claros was unavailable for comment.

Pereda also wrote that he believed, based on Quintanilla’s statements, that “credible, reasonable cause does exists … that the archbishop engaged in sexual misconduct.”

The members of the review board, the investigator who is to look into allegations of sexual misconduct and the Sexual Response Abuse coordinator are appointed by the archbishop. The members of the review board aren’t the persons who investigate accusations.

Benavente said the review board on Wednesday discussed how the policy may be updated. They are also looking at guidelines from the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to help guide the process.