Even I was guilty of assuming that Archdiocese of Agaña (Guam) Archbishop Anthony Apuron was charged with child sexual abuse in his current and highly publicized Vatican Tribunal.

But then I learned:

Charges in a Vatican Tribunal are secret.

Apuron’s replacement confirmed it.

From The Tablet (UK):

Asked if [Guam] archbishop [Anthony Apuron] was also being charged for financial mismanagement, not just alleged child abuse, Archbishop Byrnes told reporters he did not know what the charges ended up being, but that they would be published eventually after the Vatican judges deliberated. (emphasis mine)

What about the victim depositions?

Fr. Justin Wachs was hiding out. After getting caught sexually harassing a parishioner in 2014—touching her without permission and leaving her suggestive notes— he quit his job as pastor in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

Church officials thought the “geographic solution” would be best: get him as far away from Sioux Falls as possible. They even had a job for him: investigate allegations of sexual abuse.

Where did he end up? Guam and Hawaii. Locked in rooms with the victims of Archbishop Anthony Apuron … rooms where their attorney, David Lujan, was not allowed.

 

I have been very vocal in my criticism of the Canonical Trial of suspended Guam Archbishop Anthony Apuron.

For those of you just catching up, Apuron has been accused of child sexual abuse by at least four boys. He’s out of the office for now, replaced by Detroit native Coadjutor Archbishop Michael Byrnes.

The trial process, which will take months—if not years—to complete, is not a criminal process like you or I know it. It is not public, there is no jury, there is no prison sentence.

In fact, I believe that in the end, the decision will be to allow Apuron to live a life of “prayer and penance” on the mainland. And I am betting that the decision will be kept secret.

What does that mean? Whatever Apuron wants it to mean.

Remember: this is not a criminal proceeding. No one is going to drag him off in handcuffs. Most likely, he will collect his retirement and frolic around the mainland, untouched.

For Apuron’s Victims, Tribunal is No Joke

But there are a lot of people who take the Vatican process very seriously. Apuron’s victims testified in front of the tribunal—without their attorney present. That took a great deal of trust. A great deal of trust in their church. A great deal of trust in the process.

But what if that trust had been misplaced?

What if one of the men in the room had resigned from his parish for sexual harassment claims just three years ago?

KELO in Sioux Falls just published a three-part series on the case of Fr. Justin Wachs. They published unwarranted and inappropriate letters that the priest sent to an employee. They showed memos from meetings the employee had with diocese officials in the hopes of getting the harassment to stop.

They interviewed the alleged victim, who discussed what happened afterward: the priest’s retaliation that led to his eventual resignation.

And they even mentioned where he has been recently: on Guam, investigating cases of child sexual abuse.

Fortunately, that’s not the only place you’ll see his name.

According to a May 8, 2017 Guam Post article about the Tribunal interviews with Apuron’s victims:

[The victims] spent several hours each with five individuals, including Cardinal Raymond Burke, notary Father Justin Wachs, Father James Conn and two attorneys who represented Apuron …

Father Wachs told Apuron’s accusers the judges could find Apuron guilty, find him innocent or find there is not enough information allowing Apuron to appeal …

[The victims] were told the proceedings would not be shared publically, but the Vatican’s decision on Apuron would. Father Wachs assured them a decision is expected by “early summer.”

Well, we know that the “early summer” statement was not the first of Wachs’s truth-stretching.

And now we know that the Vatican takes the Canonical Trial about as seriously as I do.

This would have been Part Eight, except for one little loophole: 

Guam/the Archdiocese of Agaña is NOT TECHNICALLY a member of the US Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). The Archdiocese of Agaña is a member of the Episcopal Conference of the Pacific (CE-PAC).

Guam’s disgraced Archbishop Anthony Apuron (pictured above with the pope) used to attend USCCB meetings and the like, but I think he used the “buffet” approach when it came to what window-dressing reforms he would adopt and what he wouldn’t.

Now that the Archdiocese of Agaña is headed by Archbishop Michael Byrnes out of Detroit, I think that the bonds to the USCCB are going to become much stronger. 

Onto my story:

The saga of Archbishop Anthony Apuron is long and horrific.

Catholics began protesting his financial mismanagement and mobster tactics, including improper financial dealings with a Catholic sect called the Neo-Catechumenal Way.

 

 

Then, multiple alleged child victims—who risked their reputations, their families’ well-being, and their livelihoods by coming forward and saying that Apuron abused them—came forward. They all said that Apuron sexually abused them.

Apuron is now subject of a Vatican tribunal that will do little more than, I believe, give him a slap on the wrist and allow him to live in hiding on the mainland (with a monthly retirement check) for the rest of his life.

Last year, Guam lawmakers passed a civil window that allows child sex abuse victims to use the civil courts to get accountability. Other victims came forward and exposed a web of child sex abuse and cover-up going back decades. This is the same law that that victims in New York are protesting and begging to have.

 

THEN … in the course of dozens and dozens of lawsuits, documents were exposed showing that the Vatican had been investigating Apuron for abuse as far back as 2008. And, of course, kept it secret.

But none of this is why I am including Guam in my series.

The Hope and Healing Hoax

In April, a mainlander church lawyer came to Archbishop Michael Byrnes and told him he had a plan. A plan get the sex abuse cases out of the courts. They’d disguise it as “Hope and Healing.” They’d focus messaging on rebuilding spiritual bonds with the church, prayer … things like that. And no one would ever learn the truth.

But this we do know is true:

The Archdiocese’s ultimate goal is get these cases out of the court system so that none of the secret sex abuse and cover-up documents would see the light of day.

The church lawyer heading up this “plan” is Michael Caspino, who, according to USA Today:

… served as general counsel to the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange County, and who has dealt with hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse, said experience has shown that court litigation does not necessarily solve abuse cases and can make the victims feel more alienated.

What? For those of you who don’t know, I live in Orange County. I work with hundreds of victims of clergy sex abuse, and not a single one has heard of attorney Michael Caspino. A lot of other people have in the south part of the county, and it’s not for sex abuse cases. It’s for his other work.

And what’s this about “solving” abuse cases? Well, if he’s talking about the church’s point of view, I suppose he’s right. Exposing abuse and wrongdoers and protecting kids can be a bit of a tough pill to swallow.

So, after Guam’s victims of child sex abuse have won an amazing civil right, the church is trying to con them into “pausing” their cases, and accepting a little bit of prayer, a few sessions of counseling (on their terms) and a check. At the same time, the Archdiocese’s lawyers are spending tens of thousands of dollars in court to try to defeat the law that gave the victims power in the first place.

It’s a big, fat con.

 

Here’s the rub: If Archbishop Byrnes simply opened up and made public the archdiocese’s secret sex abuse files and financial records about the NCW, that would cost nothing. Everyone would stop protesting. Victims would feel vindicated. Forgiveness would begin.

But no, they would never do that … They always make it about the money.

 

 

 

Confused about the Canonical Trial of Archbishop Apuron? Wondering about the secrecy or why Apuron is able to hide out in California while Vatican investigators are asking victims on Guam for depositions?

Patrick J. Wall is an advocate and world renowned author/lecturer on the history of child abuse and cover-up in institutional organizations. He began his career as a monk and Roman Catholic priest of the Order of Saint Benedict in Collegeville, Minnesota. From 1986-1998 he worked in four parishes in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis.

Since leaving the ministry in 1998, Patrick has worked with prosecutors and private law firms on behalf of survivors of sexual abuse around the country. In 2002, he co-authored the book “Sex, Priests, and Secret Codes” with Thomas Doyle O.P. and A.W. Richard Sipe.

A prolific and respected blogger, Patrick has also been an expert commentator on ABC, CBC, CNN, NPR and RTE. He holds a Bachelors and Masters of Divinity from Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota, as well as an LLM in Canon law from the University of Cardiff School of Law.

Few people outside of the Vatican know as much about the Canonical Trial process as Patrick does. I asked him to explain everything – he did a great job.

You can read it all here: 

Not-So-Great Expectations for the Canonical Trial of Archbishop Anthony Sablan Apuron OFM Cap.