GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Robert Klitzki
June 26, 2016
Justice requires broadening the reach of Bill 326-33 to provide relief not only to those who have suffered at the hands of child sexual abusers, but others, to include not only the abusers but also their enablers, aiders or abettors, those acting in concert with them and their religious institutions or corporations sole.
The three C’s are referenced here: condonation, cover-up and conspiracy. Recent history tells us that the three C’s were all too prevalent in the worldwide Catholic church. The institutional hierarchy of the church condoned, covered up and conspired to prevent victims of child sexual abuse from attaining justice.
When allegations of these heinous acts first surfaced on our island, my inclination was that whoever may have committed those acts should be made to pay but that the institution, i.e. the archdiocese or corporation sole, need not be held liable in order that justice be available to victims whose claims had been barred by the running of the statute of limitations. If the statute of limitations on child sexual abuse were eliminated prospectively and reopened retroactively, the hierarchy and processes of the church would be sufficient to “clean up” the church so that child sexual abuse would become no more than a bad memory, I thought.
I was wrong. Very wrong.
Scandal now saturates the church — scandal so egregious that the pope has sent an apostolic administrator, Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, to take over the archdiocese in the stead of Anthony Apuron, who still retains the naked title of archbishop. Hon came here with tremendous potential to do good. Hon came on personal appointment of the pope to clean up the mess that befalls our church.
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