HAGÅTÑA, Guam — An archbishop that the Vatican appointed earlier this week to temporarily take over Guam's Catholic church arrived Wednesday on the island.
Hong Kong-born Archbishop Savio Tai Fai Hon, second in command of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, has been given temporary authority to govern the Archdiocese of Agaña. But Anthony Apuron, who has been publicly accused three times in recent weeks of molesting altar boys when he was a parish priest 40 years ago, retains the title of archbishop even though the Vatican has placed him on leave.
Hon's goal is to restore unity and harmony in the local church, according to a statement he issued Wednesday. And he's starting out with a prayer meeting Thursday at St. Anthony and St. Victor Catholic Church in Tamuning, Guam.
As accusations have mounted against the Apuron, 70, and lay leaders have voiced their concerns, Guam's archdiocese threatened to take civil and canonical legal action against people for spreading what it has called "intentional lies." Although officials said last week they had appointed a law firm and independent investigator to look into the abuse claims, they would not release the names of those they had contracted.
Vatican policy dictates that only Rome can investigate bishops and archbishops accused of sexual abuse, according to Jennifer Haselberger, a canon-law lawyer who worked for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis until she resigned in April 2013 in protest of that archdiocese's handling of clergy sex-abuse cases.
The stripping of Apuron’s administrative powers came shortly after Pope Francis issued new rules for removing bishops who fail to protect minors and vulnerable adults from sex abuse. He has not been charged with a crime or had any lawsuits filed against him.
"The cause of all the problems is the archbishop,” said David J. Sablan, vice president of the Concerned Catholics of Guam. “We believe he should be removed as archbishop. His victims are coming forward. That warrants his removal."
As one of Apuron's last official acts before the Vatican's appointment of Hon, Apuron issued a decree Sunday declaring the Concerned Catholics of Guam a prohibited society and stating that no Catholic would be allowed to associate with or assist the group. His decree was to take effect June 14, but it is unclear what that will mean now that Apuron is on leave.
Joelle Casteix of Corona Del Mar, Calif., western regional director of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, has urged Hon to engage in a “complete and independent investigation of the allegations against Apuron and act upon the findings swiftly and appropriately.”
In Arizona, the mother of one of the victims said her family used to live down the street from the first man who spoke out, Roy T. Quintanilla, 52, now of Honolulu. When Doris Y. Concepcion, now of Prescott, Ariz., saw Quintanilla's emotional press conference, she knew she had to tell the story of her dead son, Joseph A. Quinata.
Both were altar boys at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Catholic Church in Agat, Guam, where Apuron was parish priest 40 years ago.
“I didn’t know (about the molestation) until my son was 38 years old when he passed away, and that’s when I found out,” Concepcion said.
Concepcion said her son, 38, told her he had been molested just as he was being taken into surgery in May 2005. He did not survive the procedure.
In looking back, she said she should have recognized the signs. But she was and is a devout Catholic, and she trusted her parish priest.
“My son tried to stab (Apuron), attack him, and tried to burn the priest’s house down, and I would punish my son,” Concepcion said. “He would just say, ‘Am I the devil’s son, Mom? Am I that bad?’ And he kept repeating that to me.”
He threatened suicide, started to tell people he was Jewish and as an adult became addicted to drugs, she said.
She said she repeatedly sent her son, whose nicknames were Sonny and Chico, to the rectory because Apuron said he needed help.
“And then he wants Sonny to spend the night with him so they can go and do something for the church, and he needed help. Sonny would retaliate, and say, ‘No, Mama, I don’t wanna go,’ and I would punish him. 'No, you have to go because Father Apuron needs help.' ”
Only right before his surgery did Quinata tell his mother his secret.
“He said, ‘Mom, I know I’m not the devil’s son.’ I said, ‘No, you’re not.’ And he said, ‘Come closer to me, Mama. Give me a hug.’ And I did,” Concepcion said. “And he said, ‘Mom, I was molested by Father Apuron.’ And I said, ‘Who?’ He said, ‘Remember the priest in Agat? He molested me when I was an altar boy.’ And my heart just dropped because he was dying. I didn’t even know.”
She never spoke to her son again. She said she tried to ask him if Apuron had raped him, but her son only gestured as he was being taken into surgery.
“I have no reason not to believe my son,” she said. “He didn’t want to take it to his grave.”
Concepcion said she kept her son’s words to herself for 11 years: “It was destroying me.”
Then on Tuesday, Walter G. Denton, 52, now of Casa Grande, Ariz., came forward — another former altar boy at the Agat church.
In 2002, the Boston Globe's Spotlight investigative team broke news of a widespread problem with child abuse by priests within the Roman Catholic Church. The newspaper's work in uncovering the scandal was the subject of the 2015 Academy Award-winning film, Spotlight.
That work has encouraged others to come forward, said Vickie Jahaske, the Tucson, Ariz., area coordinator for the survivors Network of those Abused by Priests.
"We are still seeing cases, absolutely, and we're still seeing that the abuse continues," she said. "(Victims are) encouraged by other victims coming forward. If anything, what Spotlight showed us was that that was just the tip of the iceberg.
"It's essential to people's healing," Jahaske said. "It doesn't really matter to the victim or the loved ones whether it happened 40 years ago, because they need to heal now."
Contributing: Jasmine Stole, Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, Pacific Daily News; and Amy B. Wang, The Arizona Republic, who reported from Phoenix. Follow the Pacific Daily News on Twitter: @GuamPDN
