By Tim Rohr
The Luis Camacho affair matters, and here's why. Up until Apuron and his Neocat cronies smuggled Camacho out of Guam almost immediately after his arrest on March 17, 2015, there really wasn't an identifiable offense that reached beyond the boundaries of internal church problems. There was no reason for the broader community to care.
The Gofigan thing, the Benavente thing, even the Wadeson thing, as far as the rest of the community, especially the media, was concerned, was really just infighting, internal church squabbles. The media would make it news from time to time, but usually only upon being prompted by a church media release.
It would be another year (2016) before "Roy, Walter, and Roland" came forward. And while John Toves had made his accusations in late 2014, he was not a victim himself and offered no names of those he said were victims. Also, the CERTIFICATE OF TITLE FIASCO over the RMS property hadn't come out into the open yet either.
So, there wasn't much news for the larger community. Up until March 17, 2015, everything was pretty much an internal spat, much of it sparked by the Neocats, but outsiders couldn't understand who or what the Neocats were. And pretty much, they still can't.
But Camacho was arrested. Regardless of what he was caught doing, the arrest of a Catholic priest was news. You have to hand it to the Neocats, though. No one else could have gotten the real reason Camacho was arrested buried as fast as they did.
And, while we now know what Luis was really arrested for - pursuant to the Vatican verdict - which is what we knew all along, we have always known when and where he was arrested, and who arrested him:
So, even if the reason was "Custodial Interference," what was Camacho doing, alone in a car with a female minor, at APAKA POINT, Agat, on 3/17/2015 at 12:44pm? He certainly wasn't giving the girl a ride home from school.
By the way, having lived in Agat for decades, I know APAKA POINT well. It's perfectly situated for such a rendezvous, a public park, yet hidden behind a swampy, overgrown triangle of land between the back gate to the Naval Base and the entrance into Agat. It's rarely frequented, especially on a Tuesday, and especially at this time of day. Perfect, or so he thought.
Had Apuron not been a Neocat puppet and had he not had access to the worldwide Neocat underground, which was expert at trafficking in priests in trouble, as Camacho was now, Apuron might have been forced to do the right thing and let the chips fall where they should: Camacho had done something very wrong; it would have become known; and he would have had to pay the civil penalty.
But Apuron DID have access to that Neocat underground, so he had options. So, under the cover of night, off Camacho went.
And this was the turning point.
Apuron's clandestine cover of Camacho opened the door for the media and for the larger Guam community to care. This was no longer an internal spat between priests, bishops, and pro- and anti-Neo groups. This was Exhibit A of what bishops across the U.S. had been accused of doing for decades: shuffling around problem priests - a scandalous practice that had already brought down several dioceses through lawsuits and bankruptcy.
Camacho's arrest, Apuron's shuffling him off, and all the lies that followed would lead directly to what became the outing of the largest clergy sex abuse scandal per capita in the Catholic world and the eventual bankruptcy of this archdiocese.
And it all really started on March 17, 2015, coincidentally the feast of St. Patrick, the adopted patron of Guam's Redemptoris Mater Seminary. St. Patrick may have driven all the snakes out of Ireland, but apparently, they found their way to Guam.
So, in case the new archbishop is wondering what all the fuss is about over Camacho's showing up on the altar at a recent Neocat Easter Vigil, this is why.
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