Guam’s Catholic Church Abuse Scandal Widens
In 1985, a 15-year-old boy was invited to do yard work at the local church, that soon led to invitations to watch TV, and then to drink seminary wine with the priest.
One day, according to a lawsuit, the priest assaulted him - then dozens of times after that. In another case, a 7-year-old was first abused on his 7th birthday, and then more than 100 times after that. Another claims he was assaulted in the car on his way to his grandmother’s funeral.
These are just some of the allegations detailed in more than 100 lawsuits filed against the Catholic Church on Guam in the past year. New allegations continue to surface, along with signs of a systematic, decades-long cover-up.
So far, 16 priests, two archbishops and a bishop have been implicated in alleged abuse that spans from the mid-1950s to the early 1990s.
“It will continue getting bigger,” said David Lujan, the lawyer representing a majority of the plaintiffs.
“I still have another probably 15 more cases that I have yet to file and I keep getting phone calls from new clients. I suspect it’s going to grow to at least 150, if not more.”
The north Pacific island of 160,000 is one of the most Catholic places in the world - about 85 percent of the population identifies as Catholic. These are just some of the allegations detailed in more than 100 lawsuits filed against the Catholic Church on Guam in the past year.