By Tim Rohr
In a situation where a case is only before one court, an attorney's bridle on the mouth of a client is normal. Attorneys do not want their clients jeopardizing their cases by saying stuff, especially to the wrong people.
However, in the Archdiocese of Agana ("AOA") clergy sex abuse matter, specifically that which involved the accusations from Apuron's "First Four Accusers," there were two courts: a canonical court and a civil court.
And unfortunately, but perhaps for good reason, the civil attorneys saw the canonical court, since it was essentially "The Vatican," as the enemy.
Eventually all Four First Accusers would testify before the canonical court presided over by Cardinal Burke, but it was touch and go for a bit.
I'll leave out names for now, but there was at least one of the original Four who refused to be gagged by his attorney and very much DEMANDED to tell his story to "The Vatican."
There was a cost though.
Said "Apuron accuser's" civil attorney would have had every right to drop this particular "accuser" as a client. And this was against the backdrop of the then-promise of millions of dollars for the victims (since there were only a very few then) should the case go to trial and the accusers win.
But this one accuser didn't care about MILLIONS of DOLLARS. And in truth, neither did the other three of the original Four.
From the beginning "the original Four" had only wanted to confront Apuron for what he had done to them in their youth (and in the case of Doris Concepcion - what he had done to her now dead son).
Having been denied such recourse by Apuron and his henchmen, and later being called liars and threatened with lawsuits by the monkeys who took over the Chancery after Apuron fled after the first accusation, the First Four severely wanted "Rome" to know what Apuron had done and only wanted him removed as Archbishop of Agana...even though they were risking Millions of Dollars in rewards for damages.
That's important.
Unfortunately, this whole thing became all about lawyers and money (surprise!) and not about Apuron and his infernal, tight reign of terror in Agat - at least for the First Four - all Apuron's altar boys in Agat in the 1970's.
So it is IMPORTANT to recall that the very few, the First Four, from the outset, never demanded money damages, and never even dreamt of such a thing. They simply wanted to confront their terrorizer, their 1970's traumatizer... and hear an APOLOGY.
I'll repeat what I have said again and again in this blog.
The WHOLE THING could have ended THERE.
But INSTEAD, Apuron (and the NCW monkeys [literally] who took over the Chancery once Apuron cowardly fled) responded with the most vicious denials, counter-accusations, and threats of canonical and civil lawsuits - NOT just against those who accused Apuron, but also the author of this blog.
And why "the author of this blog?"
That's another long story but the short story is that the accusations against Apuron would have never found a voice, let alone legal traction, had it not been for what happened on this blog. And I don't mean my posts. I mean the more than 60,000 comments that sent the pageviews zooming into the many millions and from every corner of the Earth. (SEE sidebar).
But back to the "gag order."
Cardinal Burke, the lead investigator in the canonical case against Apuron, arrived in Guam in February 2017. His aim of course was to take testimony from Apuron's accusers, but also to take testimony from others who could flesh out the case.
As an aside. Cardinal Burke refused to take testimony from me. I was seen as the trouble maker. I didn't take offense. Anything I could have offered would have been hearsay anyway.
Meanwhile, though, Burke did take testimony from certain members of the AOA finance council, which told me that Burke was not in Guam just to investigate sex abuse allegations but canonical abuses relative to Apuron's other offenses, including alienation of certain properties, specifically the property occupied by RMS.
After Burke's first day in Guam, it became known that none of Apuron's accusers would be testifying, despite their wish to do so.
I'm not blowing my own horn here, and I have no desire to do so. But I knew that I was the only person who - at the time - could help the civil side understand that Burke was on their side, and that Burke was NOT "the enemy."
Before proceeding with this story, it is important to know who Raymond Cardinal Burke was (and still is).
He was/is an American Cardinal who rose, under the pontificate of Benedict XVI, to the highest legal position in the Catholic World when Benedict appointed him Apostolic Signatura.
The Apostolic Signatura is the equivalent of the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, except that the "Signatura" is the Chief Justice of the whole Catholic World - which is many times the population of the United States.
In other words, Burke was no slouch. But there is an interesting caveat.
After Benny 16 resigned (that's another story), one of Pope Francis' first moves was to KICK Burke out of the "high seat." And so he did. Note: Rather than recount the whole fiasco, best just to read more at Wiki.
However, when it came down to investigating Apuron, Francis chose Burke to do the dirty work.
This is no small matter.
At the time, the Vatican had NO protocol for dealing with episcopal sex abuse.
None.
The Vatican's only protocol addressed clergy sex abuse by priests, and over which, the bishop, had control.
But now they had an offending BISHOP on their hands: ANTHONY S. APURON. And no one, at least in Rome, knew what to do with him.
Given that I knew that the canonical case against Apuron would go nowhere unless Burke could take testimony DIRECTLY from at least some of the "FIRST FOUR," I made bold to knock on the door of the FOUR's attorney one day and pled my case.
My case to the accuser's civil attorney was thus:
If you don't let Apuron's accusers testify before the Vatican court, you may ultimately win your civil case and make millions of dollars, but Apuron will still be here because: ONLY THE VATICAN (the Pope) CAN REMOVE APURON as Archbishop of Agana...and YOU Mr. Lawyer, "CAN NOT!"
I think I received an "I'll think about it." But in the end, Cardinal Burke received testimony, not just from the FIRST FOUR, but from many more.
Apuron was removed as Archbishop of Agana on March 17, 2018 (Guam Time)
"On March 16, 2018, Apuron was found guilty on charges of the sexual abuse of minors by the tribunal. Byrnes was given full authority over the archdiocese, but Apuron retained his title as archbishop pending the outcome of further appeals" LINK
The date at the Vatican was March 16. But the date in Guam - when we received the news here in Guam - was March 17.
The date and time is significant because, Apuron's "ace in the hole" had always been his neocat Redemptoris Mater Seminary in Yona, which had been dedicated to St. Patrick of Ireland, whose feastday was March 17.
On the same day, March 17, three years earlier, a certain Fr. Luis Camacho, an Apuron favorite, was arrested. He was with a minor female at the time. I will not fill in the blanks here. Nevertheless, poor Luis was immediately carted off to the Middle East. The whole thing can be read here.
Of course, the neocats cared nothing for St. Patrick or anything traditionally Catholic but this is how they gained their entree into the Vatican hierarchy...and also bilked faithful Guamanian Catholics for MILLIONS for decades.
As an aside. I sympathize with Luis. I met and spoke with him several times when he was was a seminarian. I could sense he had no desire to be a priest, but felt compelled. I recognized this because it so resembled my own story.
I am so sorry for you Luis.
Though, as the primary author of JW, I have to say what I say. I urge you to seek the Lord. NO MATTER WHAT. And the hell with "them."
TO BE CONTINUED...Maybe
