GUAM
Pacific Daily News
Haidee V Eugenio , heugenio@guampdn.com April 9, 2017
The world’s largest network of priest abuse survivors says Guam’s clergy sex abuse cases could reach into the hundreds over the next couple of years, from 46 at present.
Guam children were allegedly abused by Catholic clergy between 1956 and 1988, based on lawsuits filed in local and federal courts between Nov. 1 and April 6.
“I would not be surprised if you saw 150 to 200 cases over the next couple of years,” said Joelle Casteix, volunteer western regional director for the St. Louis-based Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, or SNAP.
Casteix said her estimate may seem high but Guam children faced a very influential Catholic leadership.
Based on lawsuits, former altar boys said their parents and other adults they knew, were devout Catholics who did not believe them when they tried to tell them about a priest abuse. Others did not attempt to tell adults at all, out of fear they won’t be believed, lawsuits say.
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