Former Mangilao altar boy says priest abused him in early '70s

By Haidee Eugenio Gilbert
Guam Daily Post
June 15, 2020

https://www.postguam.com/news/local/former-mangilao-altar-boy-says-priest-abused-him-in-early-70s/article_f066f3b4-aec4-11ea-889c-37b7d87b83a6.html

Another man has filed a claim of sexual abuse that allegedly took place at the Santa Teresita Church. The Mangilao church is shown in this photograph.

Some 50 years ago, a priest frequently told a Mangilao altar boy to trust him and not to be scared, according to documents filed in federal court.

Attorney Michael Berman, on behalf of a clergy sex abuse survivor, on Friday filed a sexual abuse proof of claim in the Archdiocese of Agana's ongoing bankruptcy case.

The latest claimant alleged that Father Louis Brouillard, now deceased, sexually abused him on the grounds of the Santa Teresita Catholic Church in Mangilao and at Lonfit River during Boy Scouts of America outings, in or around 1971 to 1973.

The incidents occurred once or twice a month, over a two- to three-year period, while the boy was around 10 to 12 years old. 

Brouillard would sometimes meet privately with the boy in a back room, the claims stated. 

The boy was also a Boy Scout. Brouillard was serving as a scout master. At the river, Brouillard required the boy to swim naked and would stroke the boy's back in a suggestive manner – in return the boy would get free food at McDonald's, the claim stated.

"At both the Church and at the Lonfit River, Brouillard frequently told him that he could trust Brouillard because he was a priest, and that he shouldn't be scared, and that he was a father, and that he should listen to father," court documents stated.

There are nearly 300 clergy sex abuse claims filed against the archdiocese, which filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in January 2019 to try to settle the claims totaling more than $1 billion.