The pedophile community - unfortunately, more and more often in recent years, this formulation can be applied to representatives of the Catholic Church. The Holy See was forced to pay billions of dollars in compensation, and many Catholic parishes were closed. Ireland, Chile, Australia, France, Poland and especially the United States have been rocked by stories of harassment and pedophilia. Since 2018, dioceses in a number of American states have been publishing lists of clerics who have been accused of child sexual abuse. We are talking about thousands of crimes, the statute of limitations for which has long passed, and many of the defendants are completely dead.
Photo of former Archbishop Anthony Apuron.
Since the arrival of the first Christian missionaries to Guam, Catholicism has taken strong roots in the culture of the indigenous population - the Chamorro. From an early age, children are taught to see the pastors as God's messengers. Many streets here are named after priests and archbishops, including those now accused of sexual assault. Four out of five inhabitants on the island are Roman Catholics, and for many years the actual power on the island was in the hands of the church.
Even after egregious incidents of violence began to unravel on the continent, the island remained under a veil of secrecy for a long time. The archbishop of Agania (archdiocese centered in the city of Hagatna on Guam), Anthony Apuron, covered the pedophiles. He became the head of the local church in 1985 after the death of his predecessor, and he was ordained a priest in 1972.
Walter Denton's neck tattoo.
According to Walter Denton, he dreamed of becoming a priest and being like Father Apuron, and therefore felt special when he invited him to spend the night before mass in his home. After dinner, then 13-year-old Denton felt very sleepy. And when he woke up, he could not move and lay on the bed face down with his legs apart. He was raped despite pleas and pleas not to do so.
Apuron then simply sent the boy away with the words, "If you tell someone, no one will believe you." And so it happened: his mother accused him of fabrications, and the other priest did nothing in response to the complaints. It turns out later that he was also a pedophile. When Denton 10 years later spoke about what had happened in a church in Maryland, he was simply advised to pray.
“I knew how powerful he was. He considered himself untouchable, that he had more power than the governor, says Denton. "I knew I was not the only one."
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55-year-old Walter Denton for a photograph in which he is 12 years old.
“It changed my whole life. He took everything from me. (…) It still hurts me. This is something I can never forget,”says Denton.
When the man grew up, he had the chance to face his rapist - this happened at a party in Washington state, where Apuron was invited. According to Denton, the archbishop's face changed at the sight of him, as if he had seen a ghost. Then he began to apologize, but the man did not notice the remorse in his words.
In 2015, Denton was able to achieve his goal: his complaint was accepted by Apuron's "bosses" - the apostolic nuncio in charge of the Pacific region. Then the letter, certified by a notary, reached the Vatican, an investigation began. In 2016 - almost 40 years after Denton's rape - Apuron was suspended. Over time, others who suffered from the archbishop began to speak openly about their experiences.
45-year-old Mark Apuron with a picture in which he is 15 years old.
Among the victims of Apuron is his own nephew. Mark knew from childhood that his uncle held an important post, and in the family his dignity was a reason for pride. Therefore, when, at the age of 15, his parents moved to live in Guam, the young man decided to spend more time with his relative.
One day in 1989, there was a party at the archbishop's residence, and a teenager helped mix cocktails for guests. At some point, he took a glass for himself and went to the bathroom to have a smoke. He was sitting there, sniffing his uncle's colognes, when he suddenly entered the room and flushed with anger. Then Apuron pushed his nephew to the table and pulled off his pants: Mark expected to be spanked, but felt something completely different. He was able to push his uncle away and escape.
According to him, he was unable to tell his family about what had happened, and also thought that he was the only victim.
Worshipers pray during Mass at the main temple in Guam - Cathedral of the Sweetest Name of Mary.
Now, thanks to the stories of the victims and court documents, the picture of what is happening is becoming clearer. Already known about the systematic abuse of Apuron for 60 years: from the 1950s until 2013.
In doing so, the archbishop used his power for many years to oppose Guam legislators, who tried to give victims the right to sue the church. The restrictions were lifted only after Apuron was removed. Since then, more than 220 lawsuits of abuse and violence have been filed against 35 clerics, teachers and leaders of the youth scout movement associated with the Catholic Church. In this regard, the Diocese of Guam even filed for bankruptcy protection: the possible damage is already estimated at $ 45 million.
Apuron was charged with sexual assault by seven people. He himself does not admit a single accusation against him and insists that those who submitted the applications are liars. Despite this, in 2018, during a secret church trial in the Vatican, a man was found guilty of corrupting minors, removed from the ministry and effectively expelled from Guam. At the same time, he is still listed as a bishop and receives a monthly payment from the church. It is not known exactly where he is now.
A body of water near the Lonfit River where victims were sexually assaulted.
The incidents of sexual violence in Guam, of course, did not begin with Apuron and did not end there: several generations of priests are accused of pedophilia. Moreover, even before Apuron, all complaints were ignored.
Charges are brought against Louis Bruillard's father. The Minnesota native arrived in Guam in 1948 after being expelled from a Catholic seminary for attempting to molest boys. He always had a camera with him, and the locals nicknamed him "Louis Leclok" - a Chamorro word for masturbation. He, it seems, more often than others stepped on the sinful path - at least 132 people, both men and women, accused him of crimes of a sexual nature.
According to Leo Tudela, now 76 years old, Bruillard lived in his home in the Catholic Church of Santa Teresita with about five boys. At the same time, he constantly harassed and raped them. Tudela, 13, was among his victims. In addition, the priest liked to photograph naked boys swimming in a pond in the jungle during Boy Scouts.
Bruyard was sent back to Minnesota in 1981 after a police complaint. After four years, he was finally removed from the ministry, although he remained in the care of the church. After starting an investigation in 2016, he confessed to abusing 20 children and asked for their forgiveness. According to him, he believed that the boys liked his actions, and also repeatedly repented of his sins to higher priests: they advised him to pray. Bruillard died in October 2018: he was 97 years old, he was still in dignity.
Students take a group photo before the Catholic High School Graduation Mass.
The father of Antonio S. Cruz, Bruillard's closest associate and patron of the young Apuron, is also accused of sexual abuse. Fifteen men filed lawsuits against him, among them the brothers Ramon and Thomas de Plata.
Ramon said that one day, in search of a toilet, he went into the priest's room and saw Cruz and Apuron having fun with a boy from his seminary. He was offered to join, but the young man refused and left in shock. Thomas also said that Bruillard loved to photograph Cruise while he mocked the students. He also said that he once burned all the photographs he found in the priest's desk, after which he never returned to the church.
B. J. Cruz in his office overlooking the main temple of Guam.
Under the protection of Apuron, holy fathers of a lower rank also acted. One of them was Raymond Zepeda, the parish priest of the Catholic Church and Santa Barbara School. One of the victims complained about him to the senior pastor, but he was also among those accused of pedophilia. The victim then turned for advice even "higher" - to Apuron himself, who advised him to pray, as well as to his deputy, Father Adrian Cristobal, who simply ignored everything. The latter, as you might guess, was also involved in crimes, and up to 2013, and bribed the victims with money from donations. Now Cristobal, like his former boss, has disappeared from sight.
Zepeda, despite the complaints, remained in dignity for a long time, and after his removal he was still allowed to teach children. Former Vice Speaker of the Guam Senate B. J. Cruz. As a child, he himself became a victim of violence from a priest, and then noticed the strange attitude of the holy father (now deceased) to his godson.
It was Cruz who in 2010 initiated a bill that abolished the statute of limitations for filing child sexual abuse claims. However, Apuron actively opposed him, personally persuading the deputies not to give the document a go. In the end, the project was still accepted, but with amendments: the plaintiffs were obliged to undergo a mental health assessment, and if they lost the case, they paid all the costs of the church. Their lawyers risked losing their licenses.
For several years, the victims did not dare to oppose the clergy, until one of the former altar-holders spoke first. Then applications were filed, including by Walter Dayton and Leo Todela, and an investigation began in the Vatican. All this helped to pass a new law that removed onerous conditions for victims.
Robbie Perez, 48, and his photograph at age 14.
However, for most of the accused, there will be no earthly reckoning: they, together with others, rest in a quiet corner of the Catholic cemetery, and the statute of limitations for the crimes has long expired.
One of those still living is Father David Kenneth Anderson. In 1982, he invited 11-year-old Robbie Perez to spend the night at his church home. For the boy, then five years of violence followed, which he did not tell anyone about. At the end of this period, he fell in love with a priest and confessed to him, but Anderson immediately broke off the relationship: after all, he should put God first.
Perez was heartbroken and it took him years of therapy to stop blaming himself. “It's part of being a devout Catholic to defend the church. It's like being a member of the mafia. You know about all sorts of unpleasant things, but you are not against the family,”- explained Perez, now a 48-year-old elementary school teacher in Louisiana.
Anderson, who had already left Guam, at a meeting with the journalist noted that his current entourage, among whom there are also children, does not need to know about the charges. “I was young, this man was young. It was all a long time ago,”said the 72-year-old man.
Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes arrived in Guam in 2016 after the ouster of Anthony Apuron.
To this day, none of the Catholic clergy in Guam has been prosecuted for sex crimes. The local diocese has yet to follow the path of other American priests and publish lists of those who have been reliably accused of such crimes.
Records classified to the public could help: Church law requires bishops and archbishops to keep records of allegations of sexual assault. However, Anthony Apuron for some reason left nothing to his successor, Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes. So far, the only explanation for this is: Byrnes heard that before Apuron's departure, a large fire was burning behind the office.
It's horrible. The sins of the fathers are left to the children. It is important for the Church of Guam to face the revealed evil and acknowledge it,”said the new chapter. In the meantime, investigations are underway and official conclusions are awaited, priests on the island are simply prohibited from being alone with children.
Roland Sondia and his photo at 15.
57-year-old Roland Sondia with his son and wife at his mother's grave. She died before he told her what had happened.
57-year-old Roland Sondia, who suffered from Anthony Apuron at the age of 15, hid the incident for a long time. “I still ask myself: why me? he says. - I keep thinking: what could I have done that he took over me?
“In those days, Catholic priests and brothers were like God. You have not questioned their actions,”recalls Leo Tudela. Even now, 60 years after the experience, memories torment him. He still does not understand how grown men could do this with children. And he does not believe in atonement for the rapist: "We are all people, therefore forgiveness is granted to us, but this person, I do not think that God will forgive him."
Leo Tudela on the beach, where he was sexually abused by priests.
Author: Ekaterina Pervysheva