HAGåTñA (GUAM)
Pacific Daily News [Hagåtña, Guam]
April 10, 2023
By Haidee Eugenio Gilbert
The Archdiocese of Agana has committed to publishing on its website the names of priests and other clergies who were identified as child sexual abusers, and to allow survivors of clergy sexual assaults to tell their stories if they so desire.
These are among the archdiocese’s nonmonetary commitments as part of its court-approved bankruptcy exit plan, which also includes multimillion settlement payouts to more than 270 clergy abuse claimants.
Survivors led by Leo Tudela pushed for the inclusion in the bankruptcy exit plan of child protection protocols, which the archdiocese filed in court April 6.
The goal is to help protect minors from clergy abuses, following a deluge of claims by former altar boys, former Catholic school students and others that they were molested, abused or raped when they were minors. The claims, exceeding $1 billion, forced the archdiocese to file for bankruptcy in 2019.
The archdiocese said it will publicly announce and post on its website, www.archagana.org, the full and complete release of all child sexual abuse survivors from any confidentiality requirement in the sex abuse settlements that they previously signed as a condition of settlement with the archdiocese.
But no survivor’s identity may be released or revealed without his or her permission.
Meanwhile, there is a 23-point protocol that survivors worked on, including having the vicar general make a good faith effort to obtain from each clergy a signed and dated written statement affirming that they have not sexually abused any minor at any time.
The same written statement also would affirm they have no knowledge of any abuse of a minor by clergy that has not been reported to law enforcement or the archdiocese.
Any visiting priest given open-ended faculties to minister in the archdiocese will also be asked for this written statement.
But clergy are not supposed to disclose knowledge of sexual abuse of minors obtained during confession or when a person seeks religious or spiritual advice, aid, or comfort, according to the protocols.
Letters of apology
The archdiocese also said it will send letters of apology to all plaintiffs.
“Letters of apology will state that survivors were not at fault for the abuse. The Archbishop of Agana will personally sign the letters of apology,” the archdiocese said.
Any survivor will be given a private conference with the archdiocese upon reasonable notice.
The child protection protocols and the archdiocese’s non-monetary commitments are in addition to the archdiocese’s existing policies and programs meant to protect minors from abuses, including those implemented during the term of former Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes.
The pope recently accepted Byrnes’ resignation after Byrnes went on an extended medical leave over a life-changing illness. The pope appointed Father Romeo Convocar as apostolic administrator, who will remain in this post until a new archbishop is named.
Dozens of former and deceased clergy have been named in sexual abuse cases involving minors, including former Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who was later convicted by a Vatican tribunal for sexual assault of multiple minors. The pope appointed Byrnes in 2016 to replace Apuron.
The archdiocese, under the protocols recently filed, shall remove photos and plaques honoring a clergy individually, from public display for each priest with a substantiated claim of sexual abuse of a minor.
Contact Haidee Eugenio Gilbert at hgilbert@guampdn.com. Follow her on Twitter @haidee_gilbert