Court documents show that from the 1950s until 2013, a systemic pattern of sexual abuse by clergy of the Roman Catholic Church took place on the small U.S. territory of Guam.
The Associated Press conducted an extensive investigation that found decades of collusion and cover-ups from priests all the way up to the top of the church’s hierarchy.
Anthony Apuron served as the archbishop of the Archdiocese of Agaña, Guam, from 1986 until he was finally suspended in 2016 after sexual assault allegations, which he denies.
Walter Denton, a former U.S. Army sergeant, spoke out about the abuse in 2016. He said that the Apuron, 73, raped him at the age of 13, warning him after, “If you say anything to anybody, no one will believe you.”
“I knew how powerful this guy was,” said Denton, a former U.S. Army sergeant. “He believed he was untouchable, more powerful than the governor. But it was me against him, and I had nothing to lose. I knew I wasn’t the only one.”
Since Apuron was suspended, there have been at least 223 lawsuits filed accusing 35 clergymen, teachers, and Boy Scout leaders of sexual abuse. The Guam archdiocese filed for bankruptcy protection this year, estimating $45 million in liabilities.
Apuron was named by seven men in lawsuits, including one by his own nephew. The Vatican held a secret church trial in 2018 that found Apuron guilty of sexual abuse. Despite that, Apuron remains a bishop, receiving a monthly stipend from the church. His location is currently unknown.
Documents that could have helped prosecute the abusers are believed to have been destroyed, with Apuron’s successor, Michael Jude Byrnes, mentioning “a big bonfire” before Apuron departed.
“It’s horrific,” Byrnes said. “The sins of the fathers are left to the children.”
“It’s important for the Church of Guam to confront, in a good way, the evil that we found, and to acknowledge it, and to own it,” he added.
Even prior to Apuron’s arrival, there are reports of sexual abuse. When Leo Tudela reported abuse in 1956, they simply moved him to another church and Catholic school. While there, Tudela claims he was abused by Rev. Louis Brouillard at the age of 13.
Brouillard came to Guam after being expelled from the mainland U.S. for making sexual advances toward boys. While in Guam, Brouillard asked Tudela to move in with him at the rectory of his church with a group of other boys. While serving on the island for 30 years, Brouillard is accused of abusing about 132 children, both men and women. He was transferred to Minnesota in 1981 after a complaint against him was lodged with the Guam Police, according to the lawsuits.
In 2016, Brouillard signed a statement admitting to abusing at least 20 children. He said he would confess the abuse to the higher-ups in the church, who only advised him to pray. Brouillard died while still a priest in 2018.
“At that time, I did believe that the boys enjoyed the sexual contact and I also had gratification as well,” Brouillard said in his affidavit. “I pray for all the boys I may have harmed and ask for their forgiveness and for forgiveness from God.”
After taking over the archdiocese in 1986, Apuron protected priests who were sexually abusing children across the island. When one man reported years of abuse to Apuron, he told him to get over it and “pray about these types of evils in the world.”
In 2010, B.J. Cruz, then the vice speaker of the Guam Senate and a survivor of sexual abuse himself, introduced legislation that would have lifted the statute of limitations on child sex abuse lawsuits. Apuron reportedly wielded his influence in an attempt to kill the legislation; although it passed, senators associated with the church filled the bill with amendments making it difficult for accusers to come forward.
Since Apuron’s departure and the subsequent lawsuits, priests in Guam are not permitted to be alone with children, and a committee is reviewing sexual assault claims.
