Peter Onedera's column today was cleverly titled: "Ginen i sengsong na ma abusu i patgon" ("It takes a village to abuse a child") I don't know if he titled it himself or the PDN editors did (which is usually the case) but missing (unless it's in the Chamorro version) from the otherwise excellent piece was any mention of "the village."
A few weeks ago, a woman shared with me an account of when she was a girl and the parish priest wouldn't let go of her hand while he tickled her palm with his middle finger and looked at her with a strange smile. Too young to understand what this meant but old enough to know something was wrong, the girl told her grandmother who then scolded her so severely she did not want to repeat what her grandmother said even though this happened 40 years ago.
Another woman told me of a friend of hers who was raped by her pastor when she was a teen and when the girl ran home crying to her mother, her mother yelled at her saying "I told you never to go to the rectory alone," an indication that the mother knew what happens to young girls who go to the rectory alone.
There is another account of a man who committed suicide after finding that his wife was having an affair with the parish priest, with some accounts even including that she bore his child. The priest is still in active ministry and even appears in public with the woman. One person who knows the intimate details of the relationship has related that the affair is well known, but the priest is popular and the scandal is even clandestinely celebrated amongst the other women in the priest's very visible entourage.
The account reminds me of the many times I overheard young neocat women in my bookstore a few years ago cooing and fawning over which (RMS) seminarians they thought were the cutest, leaving little doubt that flirtation and who knows what else was quietly permitted within the neocat communities where these seminarians were in close contact with the girls.
So yes, it takes a village. It takes a village to look the other way, something Archbishop Hon apparently demands that we still do. MORE LATER.
You've hit the nail on the head here. The whole Neo worldview, their whole theological anthropology, is wrapped up on this Lutheran "man is shit" bad theology whereby redemption is only God covering up this shit with a blanket of snow (Luther's words, not mine). They think we are so fundamentally worthless that once Jesus forgives us and we accept it, then everything is a-ok. Hence their complete willingness to let their bishops, priests, and catechists be as lecherous as they want--it really doesn't matter since we are all sinners anyway.
ReplyDeleteGod help us. It's funny (not ha-ha funny) how they are so quick to dismiss the sufferings of others. They are the most un-Catholic Catholics I've ever seen. What makes it worse, they are so far from the Tradition that they've long since lost their Catholicity.
You are correct in nailing Kiko's theological anthropology as the culprit in their hiding of clergy perverts. However, the crimes noted above happened long before the arrival of Kiko's institutional perversions, and they are still going on amongst clergy (as well as non-clergy) who are not neo. There is something much more evil at the root of it. Kiko's teaching are only the fungus growing on a rotten log. And Satan may well be satisfied with our being diverted to thinking that the problem is only neo.
DeleteIndeed. Point taken.
DeleteKiko's "You are shit" anthropology certainly is germane to the discussion, Anon 9:34 AM, and I thank you for reminding us. Here is a list of posts that discuss various aspects of this topic:
Delete* You're shit, but God loves you
* God makes no demands
* Jesus Christ loves me just the way I am
* Do not resist evil, Part I
* The Doctrine of the Necessary Judas
The account of the husband who committed Suicide happened here on Guam. Priest concerned continues to suck money out of our people . He is not a priest of our Archdiocese.
ReplyDeleteThis remaining silent has been part of our culture as long as I can remember. People talked in their own homes but would never bring it out to the authorities. This is why so many young people suffered. If the person they trusted the most couldn't help them then who would.? If they turned to a priest who they thought would help them they heard "priests live a lonely life".. Where could they go? Who could they trust? Just sweep it under the rug and hopefully it will go away. Well it's not going away again. It's out there let's deal with it.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is not only neo. Important to remember neo only came in flourished becauses Apuron needed to cover up his abuse and others. Problems evolved when neo used their knowledge of the abuses to blackmail Apuron. The four sexual abuses so far only tip of the iceberg to the real state of affairs.
ReplyDeleteWhile Anthony Sablan Apuron's penchant for young boys has been demonstrated with the revelations by personal testimonies from 3 of his victims, the 4th one represented by his mother — and I believe there are still more victims out there unwilling to come forward — it appears that other members of the clergy preferred members of the opposite sex.
ReplyDeleteFrom this post it is clear that there are women with their own accounts of abuse — abuse about which they have remained silent for decades. Whether or not they will reveal their abuse at the hands of clergy — long before the NCW came to Guam — remains to be seen. Since at least one of the priests is "still in active ministry," such revelations would demonstrate that the condoning AND covering up of sexual abuse by clergy is alive and well in the Archdiocese of Agaña.
Truly the time has come when victims can be SILENT NO MORE … even if it means priests "still in active ministry" will have to endure the consequences of their actions. Furthermore I hope the reactions of Anthony Sablan Apuron have taught them what NOT to do should their victim(s) decide to come forward. Do NOT demonize your accusers and threaten to sue them as Apuron did. To do so would be to victimize them anew and would only serve to prove you are just as repulsive as Anthony Sablan Apuron.
We are faced with a choice: 1) Continue to do what we have been doing - sweeping problems under the rug, hoping no one will find out, praying that things will get better or 2) Speak out and expose the truth no matter how painful it is.
ReplyDeleteThe first choice is certainly easier. Unfortunately the problem does not get better and more people suffer as a result. The second choice is very difficult. However the community is very supportive and we want to help in the healing process.
Lord, help all who have suffered abuse. Heal their hearts and minds. Give them the courage to speak the truth and seek justice. Bless our island with true peace.
Note: as you know I don't put names on the blog unless I know I can back it up. I have many horrific accounts, and not just of the sex variety. Money too. If you or you know someone who is willing to put their name in an accusation, I will make sure you are legally covered as I did for the others.
ReplyDeleteMore and more I think of the Jack Nicholson quote from A Few Good Men: "You can't handle the truth!" Maybe that's it. Maybe we can't handle the truth. Maybe we need to close our eyes and repeat over and over, "It isn't happening" or "It didn't happen." If we don't think about it, it doesn't exist. Maybe that is the solution. Maybe.
Delete"Diana, there is an expression in Spanish very used by neocatechumenal catechists, I don't know if it is used as well in English: "tener el colmillo retorcido", translated: "to have a twisted tusk".
DeleteI can not belive while I was reading your post, it seemed you actually were showing true empathy. Finally bubble of illusion broke and for the umpteenth time you did not give even one millimeter. I tell you just what Jesus says: "with the same measure you use, you will be measured". That is the point. No mercy, no compassion...nothing. As well as you claim for Apuron's innocence until proben guilty, you must appeal to the benefit of the doubt with those who say they were sexually abused. People do not use to go through the world inventing sexual abuses as if they were just drinking a coke.
That lack of mercy is incompatible with Jesus' heart. You can pray Liturgy of Hours like a pro, you can assist twice a mass for Sunday precept, you can sing as angels in your community, you can even levitate with your white linen tunic...If you do not love, you are nothing.
Maybe this is the point."
I have just wrote it after reading the top of unmercy attitude. Sorry because I have noticed a mistake: proben is with v, it is, proven.
Today a catholic spanish priest has been comdemned by a civil (not eclesiastical) court for raping an altar girl some decades ago. Of course and sadly, this is not an isolated case.
The very isolated case is that a religious movement like the Way takes part in favour of a person acused by sexual abuses and against those who say they were abused.
If the catholic Church would do the same, as it has happened until our times, it is, to protect the supposedly abuser against the supposedly victims abused, then we did not stay here talking about it.
NCW should make his attitude public in front of mass media, despite gossiping through a lady member of the Way in Guam. If NCW actually belives -as his "unofficial" voicer in Guam claims- Apuron is victim of a conspiracy due he is a neo-member, then the NCW should tell it for the mass media.
It will not happen because then Kiko will be reported. Remember what happened with his open mouth in Italy around the Family Day, he just was silenced by the own Episcopal Conference. Someday somebody will report Kiko to Strasburg Court.
Kiko, please, give a press conference to public and officially clarify what is NCW opinion about those who say Apuron abused them.
There is a name circulating.
ReplyDeleteFor obvious reasons no names can be released on Junglewatch. However information regarding this story is known but not published. Archbishop Hon himself is not aware of the full extent of the damage . However Archbishop Krebs is aware.
ReplyDeleteArchdiocese of Agana needs a complete cleaning of house. Unfortunately the approach Archbishop Hon only deepened a crisis of leadership. Unfortunately he should have first built the trust of people. Peace can only flow from a true respect for others along with a sense of justice. The situation caused by apuron created deep seated emotional hurt anxiety. Healing cannot possibly begin until trust is rebuilt. Archbishop Hon yes you hold the power but your power will not bring healing unless you begin to understand the pain so many lived under.
Yes Andrew. There are more solutions to our church problems on Guam if only we open our eyes to the heavens. The church needs a complete cleansing from the dysfunction of the past. These dysfunctional individuals along with apuron are guilty of leading this Archdiocese to a moral disorder. It is Anthony Apuron his minions who begun this war over two decades ago.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDeletePriest concerned in this post should be advised to leave Guam return to his place of incardination.
When once the sun sinks in the west
ReplyDeleteAnd dewdrops pearl the evening's breast,
Almost as pale as the moonbeams are,
Or its companionable star,
The evening Primrose opes anew
Its delicate blossoms to the dew,
And priest hermit like shunning the light
Wastes its fair bloom upon the night
Who, blindfolded to its fond caresses,
Knows not the beauty it possesses,
Thus it blooms on while night is by
When day looks out with open eye
Bashed at the gaze it cannot shun
It faints and withers and is gone.
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect to Archbishop Hon his ad hoc groups are doomed to fail. Groups fail to include all fractions of the church. Hope they work but very much doubt.
Oh can it be, that evening primrose be
ReplyDeleteThat wrought her beloved's gaze forever smote
and journeyed far at year's interval
to that which they called the holy land
now in the guise as if husband
this priest that pens a weekly tome
yet full of greed which he sends home.
Could it be then, that hope anew
light for a church, long gone askew?
would that your voice, count up also
say what you know, ought justice flow!
The primrose and the primula
ReplyDeleteAre really very simula
But out in Guam
The slugs and the snails
Make both of them look grimula.
ReplyDeleteThese poems being closely studied to observe connections hidden messages in the text.
Who are guam priests who pen a weekly tome? Something going on here?
ReplyDeleteSomething horribly and tragically has been going on for years...that of a deathly nightshade that smote what once has pledged forever in the eyes of God turned her gaze to one who pledged purity of service and now take trips unbeknownst to their companions on yearly pilgrimage. It is sinister, and cries to the heavens for justice. Connect the dots, weep copious tears and utter words of rage!
Delete