Apuron's 2014 Accuser "at Peace"
By Jasmine Stole , Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno and Shawn Raymundo
When Archbishop Anthony Apuron was publicly accused in 2014 of having allegedly molested a boy while Apuron was a parish priest almost 30 years ago, accuser John Toves’ calls for an investigation went unheard. After days of failed efforts to seek an audience with Apuron, and after having exhausted media interviews and sending letters to officials of the Catholic church locally and to Pacific representatives of the Vatican, then 50-year-old Toves left Guam and returned to his life in California. The Archdiocese of Agana threatened Toves with a lawsuit if he didn’t stop accusing the archbishop. “They were communicated through all the proper channels, but they weren’t forwarded beyond certain points,” Toves said Thursday. “My documents never reached that far.” At the time, Toves said when he was a 16-year-old altar boy, Toves’ cousin and co-seminarian at a high school seminary in Guam, was allegedly sexually abused. The alleged victim also was an altar boy, in the parish in Agat where Apuron was a priest, according to Toves’ allegation. Toves said his cousin had been so emotionally scarred that the cousin wouldn’t publicly come forward. Toves returned to Guam recently, he said, in part for a family reason and in part because of more recent allegations raised by former altar boys against Apuron when they were under his care as a parish priest in Agat decades ago. The archdiocese’s sexual abuse response coordinator at the time concluded immediately after Toves’ allegation in 2014 that Apuron was innocent “for sure,” and no further investigation was necessary because Toves’ cousin didn’t come forward. Vatican action Unlike Toves’ accusation, the allegations against Apuron in recent weeks, including from three former altar boys at a parish in Agat, have led to Vatican action. Apuron’s administrative duties have been removed, and Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon from Rome has been named apostolic administrator for the Archdiocese of Agana. Apuron is on leave, and he hasn’t been charged with any crime. Toves joined island Catholics Thursday as they listened to Hon address the local community. After the gathering, he said he “felt at peace.” He said Hon’s presence and call for unity have given him hope “that there will be … stringent guidance on the governance of archdiocese from now on.” “And that’s really what a lot of people are asking for,” he said. Contact: sraymundo@guampdn.com
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