In the US, priests raped hundreds of children: no one believed the victims for years.

The pedophile community - unfortunately, more and more often in recent years such a formulation can be applied to representatives of the Catholic Church. The Holy See was forced to pay billions of dollars in compensation; many Catholic parishes closed. Stories of harassment and pedophilia shocked Ireland, Chile, Australia, France, Poland, and especially the United States. Since the 2018 year of the diocese of a number of US states, lists of clergymen accused of sexual abuse of children have been published. We are talking about thousands of crimes, the statute of limitations for which has long passed, and many defendants are completely dead.

Фото: Depositphotos

The overseas territories of the United States were no exception, including Guam, an island in Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean, located much closer to Japan and the Philippines. There existed a whole community of pedophiles. However, it is not possible to compile lists of victims of the church - the previous leadership did not leave a single record about the parishioners. The stories of the victims who decided to tell the world about what happened and the acts of the fathers who ruled the island are in the material “Tapes.ru».

Catholicism since the arrival of the first Christian missionaries in Guam has taken strong roots in the culture of the indigenous population - Chamorro. Children from childhood are taught to see God's pastors as pastors. Many streets here are named after priests and archbishops, including the names of those now accused of violence. Four of the five inhabitants on the island are Catholics, and for many years the actual power on the island was in the hands of the church.

Even after the flagrant cases of violence began to open on the continent, what was happening on the island for a long time remained under a veil of secrecy. The pedophile was covered by the Archbishop of Aghagni (an archdiocese centered in the city of Hagatna on Guam) Anthony Apuron. He became the head of the local church in 1985 after the death of his predecessor, and he was ordained priests in 1972.

According to Walter Denton, he dreamed of becoming a priest and resembling Apuron's father, and therefore felt special when he invited him to spend the night before Mass at his home. After dinner, 13-year-old Denton felt very sleepy. And when he woke up, he could not move and lay on the bed face down with legs apart. He was raped, despite pleas and requests not to do so.

Apuron then simply sent the boy away with the words: "Tell something to someone, no one will believe you." And so it happened: his mother accused him of fabrications, and another priest did nothing in response to complaints. Subsequently, it turns out that he was also a pedophile. When Denton, after 10 years, spoke about what had happened already in the church in Maryland, he was simply advised to pray.

“I knew how powerful he was. He considered himself untouchable that he had more power than the governor, ”says Denton. “I knew that I was not the only one.”

“It has changed my whole life. He took everything from me. (...) It still hurts me. This is something I can never forget, ”says Denton.

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When a man grew up, he had a chance to face his abuser in the face - this happened at a party in Washington, where Apuron was invited. According to Denton, when he saw him, the archbishop changed his face, as if he had seen a ghost. Then he began to apologize, but the man did not notice remorse in his words.

In 2015, Denton was able to achieve his goal: his complaint was accepted by the "authorities" of Apuron - the apostolic nuncio responsible for the Pacific region. Then a letter certified by a notary reached the Vatican, and an investigation began. In the 2016 year - almost 40 years after the rape of Denton - Apuron was removed. Over time, others who suffered from the archbishop began to openly talk about their experiences.

Among the victims of Apuron is his own nephew. From childhood, Mark knew that his uncle occupied an important post, and in his family his dignity was an occasion for pride. Therefore, when in 15 years his parents moved to live in Guam, the young man decided to spend more time with his relative.

Фото: Depositphotos

Once in 1989, there was a party at the archbishop's residence, and a teenager helped mix cocktails for guests. At some point, he took a glass for himself and went to the bathroom to smoke. He sat there and sniffed his uncle's colognes when he suddenly entered the room and flushed with anger. Then Apuron pushed his nephew to the table and pulled off his pants: Mark expected to be spanked, but he felt something completely different. He was able to push the uncle and run away.

According to him, he could not tell his family about what had happened, and also thought that he was the only victim.

Now, thanks to the stories of the victims and court documents, the picture of what is happening is more clear. Already known about the systematic abuse of Apuron for 60 years: from 1950's up to 2013 year.

At the same time, the archbishop used his power for many years and opposed Guam’s lawmakers, who tried to give victims the right to sue the church. The restrictions were lifted only after the removal of Apuron. Since then, more than 220 lawsuits have been filed about abuse and violence against 35 clergy, as well as teachers and leaders of the youthful Scout movement associated with the Catholic Church. The Diocese of Guam even filed for bankruptcy protection in this regard: the possible damage is already estimated at 45 million dollars.

Apuron was charged with sexual acts against seven people. He himself does not admit a single charge against him and insists that the applicants are liars. Despite this, in 2018 during a secret church process in the Vatican, a man was found guilty of corrupting minors, suspended from service, and actually expelled from Guam. At the same time, he is still listed as bishop and receives a monthly payment from the church. Where exactly he is now located is not exactly known.

Cases of sexual violence in Guam, of course, did not begin with Apuron and did not end there: several generations of priests have been accused of pedophilia. Moreover, even before Apuron, all complaints were ignored.

Charges are brought against father Louis Bruillard. A Minnesota native arrived in Guam in 1948 after being expelled from a Catholic seminary for attempting to molest boys. He always had a camera with him, and the locals called him “Louis Leclock” - a word from the Chamorro language meaning masturbation. He seems to have taken the wrong path more often than others - at least 132 people, both men and women, have been charged with sexual crimes.

According to the story of Leo Tudela, who is now 76 years old, Bruillard lived in his house in the Catholic Church of Santa Teresita with about five boys. At the same time, he constantly molested and raped them. 13-year-old Tudela was among his victims. In addition, the priest liked to photograph naked boys swimming in the pond among the jungle during boy scouts.

Bruillard was sent back to Minnesota in 1981 after a complaint to the police. Four years later, he was finally removed from service, although he remained in the care of the church. After the start of the investigation in 2016, he confessed to violence against 20 children and apologized to them. According to him, he believed that the boys liked his actions, and also repeatedly repented of his sins to higher priests: those advised him to pray. Bruillard died in October 2018 of the year: he was 97 years old, he was still in the dignity.

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The father of Antonio S. Cruz, the closest ally of Bruillard, as well as the patron of the young Apuron, is also accused of sexual violence. 15 men filed lawsuits against him, among them the brothers Ramon and Thomas de Plata.

Ramon said that one day he went into the priest’s room looking for a toilet and saw how Cruz and Apuron had fun with the boy from his seminary. He was offered to join, but the young man refused and left in shock. Thomas also said that Bruyard liked to photograph Cruz while he mocked the pupils. He also said that he once burned all the photographs that he found in the priest’s table, after which he did not return to church.

Under the protection of Apuron, the holy fathers of a lower rank also acted. One of them was Raymond Cepeda, a parish priest of the Catholic Church and Santa Barbara School. One of the victims complained about him to the senior pastor, but he was among the accused of pedophilia. The victim then turned for advice even “higher” - to Apuron himself, who advised him to pray, and also to his deputy, father Adrian Cristobal, who simply ignored everything. The latter, as you might guess, was also involved in crimes, up to the 2013 of the year, and he bribed the victims with money from donations. Now Cristobal, like his former boss, has disappeared from sight.

Despite the complaints, Zepeda remained in the dignity for a long time, and after his removal he was still allowed to teach children. Concern about the man’s behavior was expressed by former vice speaker of the Senate of Guam B.J. Cruz. He himself in childhood became a victim of violence by the priest, and then he noticed the strange attitude of the holy father (now deceased) to his godson.

It was Cruz who initiated the bill in 2010, according to which the statute of limitations for filing allegations of sexual violence against children was canceled. However, Apuron actively opposed him, personally persuading the deputies not to give the document a move. The project was eventually accepted, however, with amendments: the plaintiffs were required to undergo an assessment of mental health, and if they lost the case, then they paid all the costs of the church. Their lawyers risked losing their license.

For several years, the victims did not dare to oppose the clergy, until one of the former altar men spoke first. Then statements were submitted including by Walter Dayton and Leo Todela, and an investigation began in the Vatican. All this helped to pass a new law that abolished the burdensome conditions for victims.

Фото: Depositphotos

However, for most of the accused there will be no more reckoning: they, along with others, rest in a quiet corner of the Catholic cemetery, and the statute of limitations has long expired.

One of the still living is father David Kenneth Anderson. In 1982, he invited 11-year-old Robbie Perez to spend the night at his church house. For the boy, then followed five years of violence, about which he did not tell anyone. At the end of this period, he fell in love with the priest and confessed to him, but Anderson immediately broke off his relationship: after all, he should put God first.

Perez was heartbroken; it took him years of therapy to stop blaming himself. “It is part of being a true Catholic — to defend the church. It's like being a member of the mafia. You know about all kinds of unpleasant things, but you don’t oppose the family, ”explained Perez, now 48-year-old elementary school teacher in Louisiana.

Anderson, who had already left Guam, when meeting with a journalist, noted that his current entourage, among whom there were also children, did not need to know about the charges.

“I was young, this man was young. It was all a long time ago, ”said 72-year-old man.

To this day, not a single member of the Catholic clergy in Guam has been held accountable for sexual crimes. The local diocese has yet to repeat the path of other American priests and publish lists of reliably accused of such crimes.

Secret records for the public could help: according to church laws, bishops and archbishops must keep a record of allegations of sexual violence. However, Anthony Apuron for some reason left nothing to his successor, Archbishop Michael Jude Byrnes. So far, the only explanation for this is this: Byrnes heard that before the departure of Apuron, a large fire was burning behind the office.

"It's horrible. The sins of the fathers are left to the children. It is important for the Church of Guam to face the revealed evil and acknowledge it, ”said the new head. In the meantime, investigations are underway and official conclusions are expected, priests on the island are simply forbidden to be alone with their children.

57-year-old Roland Sondia, who suffered from Anthony Apuron for 15 years, has been hiding the incident for a long time. “I still ask myself: why me? He says. “I keep thinking: what could I do, what did he take on me?”

“In those days, Catholic priests and brothers were like God. You did not question their actions, ”recalls Leo Tudela. Even now, 60 years after the experience, memories torment him. He still does not understand how adult men could do this with children. And he does not believe in atonement for the rapist: "We are all people, therefore we are granted forgiveness, but this person, I do not think God will forgive him."

The article is based on material prepared by Associated Press.

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