Sunday, December 25, 2016

PDN: CHRISTMAS HEADLINES! SMH

Archdiocese to expand child protection training to parishes

The Archdiocese of Agana, which is now facing 14 lawsuits over allegations that some of its current and former priests sexually abused altar boys, is expanding to different parishes to strengthen its protection of minors. CONTINUED

17 comments:

  1. ARE YOU SERIOUS???...They expect...wait,,let me rephrase that..They want the victims to call their 'HOT LINES??"..What for??..so they can talk them out of the lawsuits..To make them feel guilty and feel that everything is their fault..or to tell them to say 3 Our Fathers,3 Hail Mary and forget it ever happened..,,I DON'T THINK SO.!!.Victims had reached out before but were ignored...Now that they have been EXPOSED and REALITY is kicking their ASSES, they want to reach out to the victims..I think EVERYONE agrees with me on this....They had plenty of Time and chances to correct this Issue but Chose Not too...These Victims have suffered enough..It is time for them to start Healing ..Time to get ApuRun and his Evil Followers Out and Give the Victims what they deserve after decades of Pain and suffering.

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  2. Really Ridiculous. The Archdiocese is absoloutely unfit to offer any care to victims. And for this horrible situation of allowing Sister Angela to run around doing what she does is a rather bad joke.
    Victims need to contact Tim Rohr David Lujan or SNAP. Only way to real healing. Until such a time we see men women respected in positions of Trust. It really is still a bad joke. No respect for victims on behalf of the Archdiocese. Total Disaster of leadership continues. Civil courts only way forward.

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  3. i would strongly suggest that all employees of the archdiocese undergo what in the mainland they call Virtus training. This should also be geared to every employee who is in contact with a child.

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    1. virtus training is ok but it still depends on the honesty of those conducting the program. for example you can bring in virtus but if you put old lurch as organizer the program instant death. remember pretending to prevent abuse today were ones coveting up Apuron. so anyone associated with the Kiss of death should be shouted down Trump style.

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  4. Too little, too late.

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  5. The Archdiocese would be better served if their ads recommend that victims of clergy sex abuse see a lawyer of their choice while at the same time promising full cooperation with any investigation. Asking the victims to contact the archdiocese is like the spider inviting its prospective victims to enter its web.

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    1. Why doesn't the Archdiocese just post Apurun's phone number.

      I'm sure he'll be glad to tell them they are luring, but offer them prayers/cds from when he almost had a voice/and an autographed picture.

      That should take care of all the problems so he could make a swift return to his throne.

      NOT!!!

      Apurun is gone. Only his assets will ever be reached. I hope Atty Lujan is good at finding hidden riches because you can be sure Apurun is hiding his cash like never before. Good bet that Genarrini is helping in this area.

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    2. last year someone posted Apuron has millions of cash ill gotten wealth.

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  6. It's never too little and too late. Thus archdiocese is cleaning itself up under new leadership including an archbishop and members of the Curia. It's totally different now. Let's not forget that the new leadership cannot undo, repair, and rebuilt what Apuron's reign of terror and destruction have done for over 30 years. The learning curve is steep and long, but learn they will. Tim knows all this. I told him.

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  7. Rose de los Reyes (Seattle, WA)December 27, 2016 at 4:11 AM

    I agree with Anon 9:26. It’s never too little or too late to clean up the mess borne from an estimated thirty year accumulation. Realistically speaking, 30 years of mess can’t be cleaned up in 30 days, 60 days or even 6 months, even and especially the grave crimes committed within the church involving decades of child sexual abuse by clergy. While the clean-up doesn’t happen instantaneously, the alternative --- which is to say it’s too little, too late [therefore, don’t bother] --- is not an alternative. The mess and especially this crime against children will continue if no change is to be effected. I realize that the opinions that express exasperation, disgust, and mistrust in the efforts by the archdiocese to address the abuses are propelled by anger that child sexual abuse was allowed to happen in the Church in the first place, and that prior reporting to the local Church of these crimes were met with brush-offs and threats. For that alone, I can see why there is this disgust against the local Church. But the Faithful, while addressing the past, also has the duty to look forward, to clean out the mess or everyone will continue to live in it. To not do anything, therefore, is not an alternative.

    It appears to me from comments in this and many other writings in JungleWatch that the issue of mistrust prevails. And rightly so! Specifically, in the string of comments above, there is mistrust in those who lead and/or are assigned to the archdiocese’s (1) clergy sexual abuse Hotline and (2) the team that conducts child sexual safety abuse workshops. To help wipe out the mistrust, I suggest these departments get staffed with folks who are not remotely associated with any of the working of Abp Apuron, which is the crux of the mistrust. For the Hotline, for example, instead of contacting Deacon Leonard Stohr, can there be a group of three folks that comprises this Hotline --- a professional with experience in child abuse; a professional from a law enforcement agency; and a representative of the Church. Let all three comprise the Hotline and have equal powers. As to the team that conducts the child sexual abuse safety trainings, the comments reflect a mistrust, specifically, toward Sr. Angela Perez who heads that program because of her decades long friendship with and professional collaborations with Abp Apuron. I suggest, for now, that the archdiocese fly in an off-island professional knowledgeable in conducting these safety workshops. Prepare a schedule for this professional(s) to conduct a workshop for the leaders (parish and school staff, school teachers, parish council, youth ministers, volunteers that work with the youth) in each parish (or a combination of parishes in one workshop) until all the parishes have gone through the training. I know this may be expensive. I also know this may insult the locals because there is a well-intended protectionist attitude for local talent to effect a program or a plan on Guam. But the issue here is not a slight on the local talent, but it is to address the mistrust. Because of Abp Apuron’s long history as native son, clergy and archbishop, his influence is wide and potential local talent without ties to Apuron may be difficult to find. Local professionals who may be disgusted with his crimes, may still be influenced by either their history, friendship, relational ties, or loyalty to him. Bring a professional from the outside with not ties to Abp Apuron and this may address the mistrust issue. Lastly, official training for awareness and handling of child sexual abuse (the program headed by Sr. Angela) is necessary, obviously, to promote awareness and response to child sexual abuse, but also, as a matter of business, the archdiocese has to have such a program in place in order to maintain its qualification for liability insurance coverage and hopefully, coverage with not-so-expensive premiums.

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    1. Your words of wisdom would be enhanced by more paragraph breaks. (!)

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    2. Rose de los Reyes (Seattle, WA)December 28, 2016 at 4:19 AM

      I am chuckling because you are correct! You may be the same Anon who corrected me about paragraphs sometime last August or September. My mind moves quickly with lots of thoughts and my fingers barely keep up in the keyboard. The thought of paragraphs don't come to mind in the process.

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  8. Rose de los Reyes (Seattle, WA)December 27, 2016 at 4:11 AM

    One more thing about the Hotline, to encourage more reports, the Hotline should also instruct callers to SIMULTANESOULY make the same report to law enforcement (no matter how long ago this crime took place) and to their personal attorney, if they have one. Giving this advice to the Hotline will give the Hotline a bit more of the credibility it wishes to establish.

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    1. Thst is actually in the works. Thank you for your wise counsel.

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  9. Or, to be safe, sex abuse victims of the clergy should, by all means, contact the hotline set up by the Archdiocese of Agana, but WITH their lawyer!

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    1. Rose de los Reyes (Seattle, WA)December 27, 2016 at 1:17 PM

      Yes, that's better. But if you can't afford a lawyer and wish to contact the Hotline, still definitely report to law enforcement and get a report number. That way the incident(s) is/are in the law enforcement records even though it happened decades ago.

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    2. that's good advice, Rose. thanks.

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