By Tim Rohr
As I write this book (Orchestrated: How a blog and the laity brought down an archbishop and exposed the largest clergy sex abuse scandal in the whole Catholic world), I came across the letter that started it all: Apuron's "resign or 'experience a more arduous and painful closure to your assignment'" letter to Fr. Paul Gofigan of July 16, 2013.
The book will be pretty much about how things grew from this letter, to Apuron's conviction five years later, and the ultimate outing of the "largest sex abuse scandal in the whole Catholic world." So I thought I'd copy the letter here with a few comments later.
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Dear Father Paul:
In virtue of my pastoral obligation to provide for the care of souls, it is my sad duty to ask that you submit immediately your resignation from the office of pastor of Santa Barbara Church in Dededo.
I have good reason to believe that there is a canonical cause for your removal, which can be demonstrated by certain evidence. You have allowed a registered sex offender, Mr. Joseph Lastimoza, to return to work at the parish, even after you were warned by the Vicar General and the Attorney for the Archdiocese to release him. You disobeyed the order given by the Vicar General. By this action, you have in effect caused grave harm to the parish by allowing such an individual with a publicly known sex-offense record to work in the Church, thus exposing him to your parishioners, especially the youth. By allowing him to work in the parish, you have exposed the children of the nearby school to a probable threat. Your decision to allow Mr. Lastimoza to work at the parish created a lasting and potential threat to the safety and well-being of your parishioners and office staff. Such an action is gravely detrimental to the parish community and has rendered your ministry harmful. Therefore, by virtue of canons 1740 and 1741, 1 in which your action brought about a grave, lasting, and proven harm to the parish, I hereby demand your immediate resignation as pastor.
Your removal is necessary to guarantee that the care of souls is not compromised due to the grave harm caused by your decision to allow a registered sex offender to work there. Your removal from this office is a pastoral remedy in that the good of souls must take precedence as the supreme law in the Church. The good of the soul of Mr. Lastimoza needs to be addressed in a proper way. Allowing him to work for the parish is not the right method to address this need.
After my preliminary investigation and consultation with others, by this letter, I as your Archbishop and also as your brother priest, ask that you submit your resignation immediately.
If you do not submit your resignation immediately, you are charged to supply your reasons as soon as possible.
It is to your best interests and the good of the parish that I look in making this request. It is to your advantage to resign immediately, rather than experience a more arduous and painful closure to your assignment at Santa Barbara Church.
In addition to your resignation as pastor, I am also relieving you of your duties as Director of Vocations and Director of the Diaconate Formation Program.
What type of ministry you might take up in the future is open for discussion. And if it is your wish, I hereby release you from the Archdiocese to go and look for a benevolent bishop willing to accept you. This is effective immediately.
Thank you for your respectful consideration.
Servus tuus,
Most Rev. Anthony Sablan Apuron, OFM Cap., D.D.
Archbishop of Agana
Apuron, A. (2013, July 16). [Letter to Fr. Paul Gofigan.] Prot. No. 013-047. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B5IW0Zxhdou0b3p0dmQ0V0o5ZGc/view?usp=sharing&resourcekey=0-FQZUmZh-dfESn3wA2BRs4Q
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