GUAM
KUAM
Updated: Sep 17, 2016
By Krystal Paco
Guam’s Apostolic Administrator Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai is hoping to put the brakes on Substitute Bill 326. Recently passed on session floor, the legislation would lift the civil statute of limitations for child sex abuse cases. In a message read to churchgoers over the weekend, entitled Putting the house in order without burning it down, Archbishop Hon says the bill is retroactive therefore could have “very damaging unintended consequences, so much so that the Bill threatens vital parts of the Church mission here on Guam.”
Specifically, the Archbishop says the legislation exposes the Archdiocese to unlimited financial liability, and notes other dioceses who were forced into bankruptcy as a result of similar laws in the states.
Church goers are asked to sign a petition at the end of mass in hopes of swaying Governor Eddie Calvo to veto the bill, but introduce legislation that would only hold abusers accountable, not institutions.
Archbishop Hon is currently in Rome and assures he is urging the Holy See to remove Archbishop Anthony Apuron as Archbishop of Agana and to appoint a successor. According to Hon, he and the Presbyteral Council of the Archdiocese of Agana presented a letter to Apuron asking him to resign. That was unsuccessful and has forced Hon to call on the Holy See to remove Apuron.
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