AWDNEWS,com
A pedophilic priest who says he “got the impression that kids liked it” when he molested them has evaded any type of punishment. The former Catholic priest worked in Guam for decades, and his fellow priests knew about his behavior, but due to the statute of limitations in the country he has never faced punishment.
Reverend Louis Brouillard, 95, worked in the U.S. territory as a teacher in two different church schools from the 1940s to the 1970s. In an interview with the Associated Press (AP), Brouillard said he had abused “a couple” children, but when pressed, he admitted the number was much higher. “I have no idea. Maybe 20,” he said.
Perhaps most disconcerting is that other priests at the church knew about Brouillard’s abuses. He says they told him to “‘do better’ along with regular penance, such as saying Hail Mary prayers,” AP reported. No one ever attempted to expose his abuses.
“At that time, when I was that age, I got the impression that kids liked it, so I went ahead. But now of course, I know it’s wrong and I’m paying for it,” Brouillard told AP.
But he isn’t paying for it. Rather, he’s getting paid. The priest still enjoys a small pension from the church of Guam. He now lives in Minnesota, and though he was removed from working as a priest in 1985 after he was “credibly accused” of sexual abuse, he was never defrocked. He remains “incardinated” in the Guam church.
Brouillard’s story has come to light as lawmakers in Guam debate passing a law to increase the statute of limitations for child molestation. It is currently limited to two years, meaning his victims from decades ago cannot seek legal remedies.
Leo B. Tudela, 73, testified last week during hearings regarding the proposed law that Brouillard and two other church members abused him in 1956. He is the fifth person since May of this year to come forward with such accusations.
As the local paper, Pacific Daily News, reported:
“Tudela, now director of the U.S. Postal Service’s Asia-Pacific Relations in Hawaii, told Guam senators at Monday’s public hearing that as an altar boy in Guam, he was roused from his sleep one night at the Santa Teresita Church rectory in Mangilao when Brouillard started touching and massaging his private part and told him, ‘It’s OK.’”
Tudela called for an extension of the statute. As he testified:
“All these evil incidents have stuck in my mind for some 60 years, and, to this day, I still have nightmares and continue to relive those events as if they happened only yesterday. Terrible things come to my mind and I really hate Father Louis and Brother Mariano for what they did to me.”
Brouillard says he doesn’t remember Tuleda.
The proposed law was introduced amid similar accusations against former Archbishop Anthony Apuron and the archdiocese of Guam. Three former altar boys and the mother of another filed a $2 million libel suit against them, claiming they were called liars in the 1970s when they accused him of abusing them.
Apuron still denies the accusations against him and has not been charged with any crimes. He returned to Rome in May. Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, who was appointed by the Vatican as a temporary administrator following the allegations regarding Apuron, has attempted to smooth over the controversy.
In a statement issued last week, Hon said:
“[The] archdiocese is reviewing the current policies and procedures to ensure that the church is a safe environment for all and that allegations of sexual misconduct are addressed promptly and appropriately.”
But the Catholic church has long offered empty promises. In an attempt to “punish” pedophilic priests in the United States and Europe, the church allowed them to move to poorer Latin American countries to continue working. The Vatican also has a record of covering up abuses and attempting to silence victims around the world.
Brouillard says he never attempted to silence the children he abused.
“I regret with all my heart that I did anything wrong to them,” he told AP. “I am praying for the boys and hope that they can forgive me and that God can.”
How blessed.
Fortunately, the bill, which is likely to pass, will allow victims to retroactively sue their attackers.
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Guam priest admits guilt amid ongoing abuse scandal
CNA Catholic News Agency
12 August 2016
.- A priest in Guam has admitted to abusing around 20 children, a revelation that comes amid an ongoing investigation into abuse accusations surrounding the local archbishop.
Accusations against Fr. Louis Brouillard, 95, were made during a public hearing last week to lift Guam’s statute of limitations on child abuse. The accusations were raised by a man who lives in Hawaii and said he was sent to a Catholic school in Guam, where he was abused twice, including by Fr. Brouillard in the 1950s.
The priest served in Guam between the 1940s-1970s, during which he taught at San Vicente and Father Duenas Memorial Catholic schools.
According to The Associated Press, after the accusations were made, Fr. Brouillard admitted in an interview to having abused “a couple of boys” while teaching at the schools.
Fr. Brouillard could not come up with an exact number of children he had abused, but said it was “maybe 20.” He said that he had confessed his sins to other priests on the island, and was told to “do better” and perform regular penance, such as praying for the victims.
“At that time, when I was that age, I got the impression that kids liked it, so I went ahead. But now of course, I know it’s wrong and I’m paying for it,” he said, according to The Associated Press.
The hearing in which the accusations were made took place at the Guam Legislature and aims to enact Bill 326, which would strike down the current two-year statute of limitations for civil claims involving the sexual abuse of minors.
If passed, the measure would repeal the entirety of the current law and establish that action against child abusers may be taken at any time in any court of competent jurisdiction.
Brouillard’s admissions come shortly after Pope Francis appointed Archbishop Savio Hon Tai-Fai, secretary of the Congregation for the Evangelization of Peoples, as apostolic administrator “sede plena” of the Archdiocese of Agaña, which serves Catholics in Guam, a U.S. island territory in the northwestern Pacific Ocean.
The appointment was made shortly after Archbishop Anthony Apuron of Agaña was accused of sexual abuse dating from the 1970s, and of failing to implement strong policies on the handling of clerical sex abuse.
As apostolic administrator “sede plena,” Archbishop Hon now governs the archdiocese because its ordinary is incapable of doing so. Though Archbishop Apuron remains archbishop, he is not able to exercise his office while Archbishop Hon remains as apostolic administrator.
Allegations against Archbishop Apuron surfaced in May with accusations from a former altar boy, who said that he was molested at age 12, when he spent the night at a rectory with then-Father Apuron. The alleged incident took place in the mid-1970s in Agat, a town located almost 13 miles southwest of Hagåtña, Guam’s capital, when Archbishop Apuron was a parish priest.
Shortly later, another allegation surfaced, also involving a former altar server who had spent the night at the rectory.
Archbishop Apuron, however, has denied the allegations, calling the most recent a “malicious and calumnious accusation.”
Archbishop Apuron, 70, is a native of Guam. He was ordained a priest of the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin in 1972. He was appointed an auxiliary bishop of Agaña in 1983, its apostolic administrator in 1985, and he has served as archbishop since 1986.
In 2014, a California man had accused Archbishop Apuron of having molested his cousin. However, the cousin did not confirm the accusation, and no charges were filed.
The Pope’s decision to appoint Archbishop Hon as apostolic administrator of Agaña also falls shortly after his release of the motu proprio “As a loving mother,” which provides for the removal of bishops from office in cases where they are negligent in dealing with sex abuse cases.
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Former Guam Priest Says ‘It’s Possible’ He Abused Altar Boys, Part of Larger Unfolding Scandal
Pacific IslandsReport
Submitted by PIR Editor on Thu, 08/04/2016 – 14:28
Guam church still provides funding for priest removed from ministry 31 years ago for sex abuse
By Haidee V Eugenio
HAGÅTÑA, Guam (Pacific Daily News, August 05, 2016) – A former Guam priest who was publicly accused during a Legislature hearing this week as having molested an altar boy in the 1950s said Thursday “it’s possible” he abused altar boys on island and he’s asking for forgiveness from those he may have hurt.
Father Louis Brouillard, now 95, was removed from his position in 1985 while serving in a Minnesota diocese.
Brouillard spoke to Pacific Daily News on Thursday via telephone from his residence in Pine City, Minnesota, about 70 miles north of Minneapolis. Brouillard said he’s sorry about the possible abuses.
Leo Tudela, 73, a former altar boy, told Guam senators on Monday that Brouillard and two other church members sexually abused him around 1956. Tudela, who spoke during a public hearing on a bill that would lift a time limit on filing lawsuits against accused child molesters, is the latest in a growing number of former island altar boys who’ve accused members of the local Catholic church of sexual abuse.
Most of the recent accusations have been directed at Archbishop Anthony Apuron, who was temporarily removed from running the archdiocese’s operations as the Catholic Church investigates the allegations against him.
Brouillard, who said he retired as a priest more than 30 years ago, also said Thursday he’s still receiving checks from the Archdiocese of Agana in Guam.
Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai, who recently took over operations of the island’s church, said Thursday that Brouillard receives a monthly pension payment from the Archdiocese of Agana.
Hon stated in an email that though he is retired and hasn’t lived in Guam for years, Brouillard “remains incardinated in the Archdiocese,” meaning he falls under the jurisdiction of Guam’s church.
“It is the practice and policy of the Catholic Church to care for its incardinated priests who are retired through pensions funds, even if they reside outside the diocese,” Hon said.
Brouillard said the check he received last month was $550.
The archbishop also said in his efforts to learn more about this situation, he has directed the Archdiocese of Agana to write to the bishop of the Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota, where Father Brouillard now resides.
Brouillard was ordained in Guam in 1948 under the Archdiocese of Agana, and moved to Minnesota in 1981.
In 1985, the Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota removed Brouillard from practicing as a priest after he was credibly accused of sexual abuse.
In 2013, the diocese released a list of former priests who had credible accusations against them. Brouillard was on the list.
The list included priests who served in the Diocese of Duluth, as well as clergy from other dioceses or religious orders who at one time worked or resided in the diocese.
On its website, the mainland-based law firm Jeff Anderson & Associates, which specializes in child sexual abuse cases, states that survivors have taken numerous steps to make public secret documents regarding clergy sexual abuse in the Diocese of Duluth. A lawsuit was filed in June 2013 for this purpose.
The website also describes where Brouillard worked during his time in the diocese.
From July 27, 1981 to July 11, 1984, the website states, Brouillard was temporary administrator at St. Joseph in Beroun. He then served as pastor at St. Mary in Keewatin and as pastor at St. Anne in Kelly Lake until his removal from ministry on Nov. 12, 1985.
The Diocese of Duluth in Minnesota filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in December 2015, the law firm’s website states.
Monthly checks
Deacon Steven Martinez, who served as the Archdiocese of Agana’s chief financial officer from 2006 to early 2012, said on Wednesday that Archbishop Apuron was signing the monthly checks sent to Brouillard.
“I remember preparing monthly checks to Fr. Louis Brouillard for Anthony Apuron’s signature,” Martinez said. “These checks were sent to Brouillard every month to Brouillard’s residence in Minnesota.”
Martinez said the checks amounted to $900 a month and was later on reduced to $650 a month.
The former chief financial officer said those checks were for Brouillard’s “monthly stipend” and basically were from the Archdiocese of Agana’s payroll. He said at the time Brouillard left Guam in 1981, the archdiocese still didn’t have a retirement fund.
Martinez said Brouillard was the only priest living off island when the checks were being sent.
David Sablan, president of the Concerned Catholics of Guam, a group that has called for the removal of Apuron as archbishop, asked why the Archdiocese of Agana did not remove Brouillard as a priest or take him off the payroll more than 30 years after he was removed from ministry by the Minnesota diocese.
Sexual abuse
Brouillard, when contacted by Pacific Daily News, was asked about the sexual abuse allegation made by Tudela, and his relationship with the Archdiocese of Agana in Guam.
Tudela, now director of the U.S. Postal Service’s Asia-Pacific Relations in Hawaii, told Guam senators at Monday’s public hearing that as an altar boy in Guam, he was roused from his sleep one night at the Santa Teresita Church rectory in Mangilao when Brouillard started touching and massaging his private part.
Brouillard said he doesn’t remember an altar boy named Leo Tudela.
During the interview with PDN, Brouillard asked the altar boy’s name twice, as well as the spelling of his first and last name.
“Am I sorry for abusing this kid? I don’t know who the kid is but I’m sorry if I in any way hurt him. I didn’t want to do that and see him like that,” Brouillard said.
In the course of the interview, Brouillard was asked several times whether he sexually abused an altar boy or altar boys in Guam.
“It’s possible, yes,” he said.
Later, he said, “Yes I suppose I could, I suppose I did” and “Yes, I guess I can say that.”
Again, he said he didn’t know Leo Tudela and when pressed whether he abused an altar boy in Guam, he said, “I suppose I could say some kids.”
When asked whether he regrets the abuse, he said, “Yes.”
Brouillard said he is hard of hearing. He was born on July 27, 1921. He is 95 years old.
After his ordination in Guam in 1948, Brouillard was assigned to different churches and Catholic schools on island including Saint Jude Thaddeus Catholic School in Sinajana, San Vicente Ferrer in Barrigada, the Santa Teresita Church in Mangilao and St. William Church in Tumon Bay.
Brouillard also was the first pastor at San Isidro Catholic Church of Malojloj in Inarajan when it officially became a parish on July 21, 1973, according to the Archdiocese of Agana’s official newspaper in its July 5, 2013 edition.
There were years when Brouillard was on sick leave, including from 1967 to 1968.
As of press time, PDN was unable to find information about him from 1977 to 1978, before being assigned as associate pastor.
‘Brother Mariano’
Tudela, in his testimony before senators on Monday, said two other members of the Catholic Church in Guam sexually abused him when he was an altar boy in the 1950s.
He said while he was staying at the Capuchin Fathers Monastery in Agana Heights, he was awakened by someone touching and massaging his private part. That person, according to Tudela, introduced himself as “Brother Mariano” and whom he only remembers by that name. The term “brother” refers to a man who is part of a religious community but who’s not ordained.
The Rev. Father Patrick Castro, from the Order of Friars Minor Capuchin, told Pacific Daily News on Wednesday that a Brother Mariano Laniyo was with the friary in the 1950s but “he left the Order.”
Castro said they do not have the specific dates when Laniyo left the Order because old records were damaged by a typhoon. But Castro said based on information gathered from another Capuchin priest, Laniyo “died on Saipan.”
Tudela also spoke about an abuse in the 1950s by a Boy Scouts of America scoutmaster who Tudela said was a “high member of the church” and whom he only remembers by his first name, “Ignacio.” Tudela said “Ignacio” asked him and fellow altar boys to stand in a straight line, take their pants down and masturbate at a Yona Beach.
Tudela said all the boys staying at the Santa Teresita Church rectory were required to join the Boy Scouts. The church, he said, sponsored the Boy Scouts program.
“At that time, when I was that age, I got the impression that kids liked it, so I went ahead. But now of course, I know it’s wrong and I’m paying for it.”
I wonder exactly when this 95-year-old priest realized that sexually abusing children is “wrong”?
And, I can’t help but wonder exactly what he means when he says that now “I’m paying for it.” After all, with help from diocesan officials in both Guam and the Diocese of Duluth Minnesota, Father Brouillard – yes, still very much a priest – definitely managed to avoid public exposure as a clerical molester and probably, depending on the law, criminal prosecution …for decades!
Why oh why was this priest not defrocked?
Why was he protected?
I can’t help but wonder how many innocent and vulnerable children he laid his dirty hands on while he was roaming around Minnesota or wherever masquerading as a respectable ‘retired’ priest?
“But now of course, I know it’s wrong and I’m paying for it.” This was probably a typo. He probably said; and now I’m praying for it.
John