GUAM
KUAM
By Krystal Paco
While the Archdiocese of Agana has provided limited information on how they’re moving forward with investigating allegations against Archbishop Anthony Apuron, one man who is very familiar with the church’s sex abuse policy says the system is flawed. Deacon Steve Martinez was a former sexual abuse response coordinator for the archdiocese. That is, until he was dismissed from his duties back in October 2014 after speaking up about a conflict of interest in church policies.
“The conflict of interest needs to be modified and I requested him to gather together the review board, our legal counsel, and to have a meeting to discuss the changes so we could strengthen and improve the policy and provide for a safer environment for all of our children,” Martinez announced today. Fast forward to today, and it appears the very policies he questioned are protecting Archbishop Apuron in the midst of allegations of molestation.
Martinez continued, “The archbishop has purposely kept his sex abuse policies weak in order to protect himself and those around him.”
Current church policy reads that the archbishop calls the shots, even if he stands as the accused. Instead of stepping down from his position, the archdiocese continues to defend Apuron’s innocence and announced plans to sue those spreading what they call malicious lies against the church.
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