Thursday, August 3, 2017

NEWS: GUAM'S NATION LEADING DIVORCE RATE - THE REST OF THE STORY

Posted by Tim

Marriage: Part 1

KUAM: Archdiocese addressing Guam's nation-leading divorce rate
GUAM DAILY POST: Church sets sights on Guam divorce rates



This past June 8, under the post title APURON'S LEGACY, I posted the Economist news item referenced in the above news stories which I'll copy here:



I first want to address the comment by divorce attorney extraordinaire, William Pesch, wherein (KUAM reports) Pesch believes that the "numbers aren't as high as data suggests...because Guam law allows non-residents to divorce on Guam." (Apparently, Fr. Jeff thinks the same: "...San Nicolas said the statistics could be misleading, since non-residents are also allowed to get divorced on island." - Daily Post)

Contradicting both Pesch and Fr. Jeff's attempt to minimize the crisis are Pesch's own words from his Sep 21, 2015 column in the PDN:

http://guamfamilylawoffice.com/sites/default/files/September%2021%2C%202015_%20Guam%207-day%20divorces.pdf

(But of course we are used to Pesch contradicting himself.)

The Post article noted that in 2012 (which appears to be the year upon which the Economist is basing its report), the Guam judiciary reported 869 divorces. Take away the 200 Pesch says are from off-island (100 of which Pesch dispatches himself), and we're left with 669 "local" divorces.

Compared to the above report by the Economist, 669 divorces puts us at 4.1 divorces per 1000 population, or 3rd highest in the world. Meanwhile, Guam ranks 4th in the world for Catholics per capita.

So 3rd highest divorce rate in the world (minus the off-island divorces) in the 4th largest (per capita) Catholic population in the world. So WTH has gone wrong?

Three words:
  1. Anthony
  2. S
  3. Apuron
For thirty years, Archbishop Anthony S. Apuron had only ONE priority: ANTHONY S. APURON. And it was on his watch that Guam, home to one of the most densely Catholic populated places in the world, also became home to:
  • The most liberal abortion laws in the nation 
  • The highest divorce rate in the world 
  • The highest suicide rate in the nation
  • The highest out of wedlock birth rate in the nation
  • Double the teen birthrate compared to the rest of the nation
  • A rape rate triple the national average
AND...
  • A child abuse rate nearly double the national average
The references supporting these statistics can be found here

And all this while, at least for the last 20 years, Apuron bilked us out of millions for his pet seminary and flitted about the world with his entourage of Kiko's castrati.

I'll be back.

Continued at: Marriage: Part 2

1 comment: