GUAM
KUAM
Sep 19, 2016
By Krystal Paco
While Bill 326 is intended to give justice to survivors of child sex abuse, the Archdiocese of Agana over the weekend asked parishioners to reconsider the legislation’s unintended consequences and to sign a petition to urge Governor Eddie Calvo to veto the measure that’s already passed on session floor. Specifically, the church says they’d be subject to unlimited financial liability as those who’ve been victimized by clergy decades ago would sue the church and potentially force closure of not only vital community service providers, but also Catholic schools.
If passed into law, the Archdiocese of Agana predicts Bill 326 could force the church to go broke, saying, “The church would fundamentally go into bankruptcy, and bankruptcy would put all the assets of the diocese on the table,” Father Jeff San Nicolas said. “Among those are the schools and other institutions in our church.”
The archdiocese is currently circulating petitions to veto the legislation and in its place introduce a measure that holds only the abuser, not their affiliated institutions, accountable for past crimes. Father Jeff, the delegate of the administrator, admits the church was wrong not to speak up at public hearings. He assures parishioners that the church wants justice – but not at the expense of the innocent.
To address this, the church is setting up a trust fund for victims.
He continued, “We understand and we agree with its intent. Unfortunately we feel that the full story of the bill has not been told because there are unintended consequences of the bill. Mainly to curtail and to harm the good work that the church does provide. The church is already setting up a fund. It’s already in the process because we recognize there is a financial responsibility that the church has towards victims. We do not want to escape that, or escape justice for the victims.
Note: This is an Abuse Tracker excerpt. Click the title to view the full text of the original article. If the original article is no longer available, see our News Archive.