Dear Pope Francis,
I don’t know if you’ll ever see this letter, but in the off chance you do, I beg of you to hear my plea. This is about the return of a priest to the archdiocese here in Guam whom police officers in 2015 say they caught in lewd acts with a minor female.
A long time ago I became a survivor of rape by a Catholic school teacher in Guam. The Archdiocese of Agana covered it up. By God’s Grace and the help of His messengers on earth, I returned to the church a few years ago. I have never been more joyful and awakened to the blessings of life.
Last decade the archdiocese was sued by hundreds of survivors of clergy abuse and the cover up that ensued by the archdiocese. The Catholic church in Guam appeared to have lost the confidence of thousands of parishioners. The church and its schools, many felt, used to be a place where they could trust the care of their children and grandchildren. But after hundreds of people – many of whom used to be altar boys – came forward with their stories of how they were raped and molested by priests, nuns, and teachers, the archdiocese entered a dark and tumultuous era, when it had to regain the trust of the people of Guam.
That was happening. There has been so much goodwill built. So much mistrust repaired. So much healing that has happened in the past decade.
And then, last week, the chancery announced that Father Luis Camacho had returned to Guam.
Camacho was caught by police in 2015 allegedly in a sexual act with a minor, just as the archdiocese was denying allegations by brave men who had begun to come forward about the crimes against them over the decades that the archdiocese covered up. As a survivor, I cannot begin to explain how the archdiocese’s continued lies about its role in the worst of crimes against children helped to destroy inside what it had originally assaulted when the rapes and the coverups first happened. Camacho’s arrest fortified in the public mind that the people in charge of the Catholic church in Guam at that time were liars, frauds, and thieves of innocence.
According to Attorney General Douglas Moylan, the prosecutor back then decided not to pursue charging Camacho because the family of the girl did not want to move forward with the case. Rather than dealing with Camacho by moving for his removal from office, church leaders sent him away to other places outside the country, surely to prevent prosecution in case there was a change of heart by the victim and the victim’s family. During that time, the statute of limitations on his alleged crime ran its course, according to the AG’s office. And now Camacho cannot be prosecuted.
He is back in Guam and with rhetoric from the chancery that leaves little assurance that this man of the cloth will not have access to children. The chancery released a statement that tells us your office could not finish a canonical investigation into Camacho because of a “lack of evidence.” Their release says that Camacho is restricted from celebrating the Holy Mass or teaching in Catholic schools, but says nothing about whether the archdiocese has forbidden his proximity to children. They tell us a review is ongoing about his case.
But we’ve seen this before. We’ve heard all this before. These were the lies we were told before the archdiocese was forced by parishioners and public opinion to go kicking and screaming into its day of reckoning … a “day” it delayed for years as it fought against justice in the clergy abuse scandal.
Over the past several years, we parishioners have heard overtures from the archdiocese about the healing it desires, and the protocols and policies it has adopted to prevent the past from reoccurring. Was it just a ruse? Were these mere words to placate the public while the court cases and the bankruptcy was happening? Because it is highly suspicious that only AFTER the statute of limitations ran its course, and AFTER the court cases and bankruptcy were settled that the archdiocese has welcomed this priest back into the island.
I’m not saying that Camacho is a bad man who does not deserve mercy and compassion. What I am saying is that the archdiocese has a duty to protect children and to not make us feel like we’ve been played. This is a scab that has been ripped to reveal a fresh wound; and because of the actions of the church, that wound cannot be dressed by criminal justice because the statute of limits has expired in his case.
So what are we left with? How are we supposed to feel about this, all things considered? Is the archdiocese lying to us again? Will the churches and the Catholic schools be safe places for kids? Is this some signal that you have appointed an archbishop who will help Camacho to have his faculties restored and return us parishioners in Guam to those dark days?
Forgive me please for my mistrust, but I have very good reason to not believe what the archdiocese is saying today. Because it was the archdiocese that also helped my rapist to flee Guam when I filed my police report against him in 1994, when I was only 14 years old. And, just like in this case, my rapist returned to Guam AFTER the statute of limitations ran out. And Holy Father, guess what he did as soon as he returned?
He began applying to teach at schools. I know this because the Catholic high school I had attended at the time – Notre Dame High School – had hired him and its principal was giving him a tour of the school when I saw him in the hallway. I have seen and heard this all before from the archdiocese.
My greatest comfort in life is the sanctuary that church has become for me, knowing that I – a sinner through and through – who kneels before that altar, am welcome by the church, by the invitation to Christ’s love for me no matter what I have done in my past. I would like to think that’s the same comfort Camacho and every other member of the Body of Christ feels and knows when we all are together in the Holy Mass.
There is immeasurable joy in my heart whenever I see someone at Mass who has a criminal record, or a fellow drug addict in recovery. I would like to think that if I saw the man who raped me as a child at Holy Mass, my heart would flow with joy and glory and praise to God. But he should never be around children.
Predators should NEVER be allowed to be around children. There is nothing to review about that.
Yours in Christ,
Troy Torres
2 Comments
Frenchie
05/12/2024 at 4:11 AM
Camacho is a neo priest who fits on a long list of sexual predators given shelter, cover and abetment by the group. His trail after his exfiltration from Guam covers Domus Galilae, Qatar, Malaysia/Singapore where the Neo underground railroad, provided positions, money and cover story, for the brainwashed sect members. Typically he would become a persecuted lamb on the altar of the great Kiko temple, a victim of the anti neo crusade which only exist in the fantasy world of Genarrini and consort. The Neos are testing the Apostolic admistrator resolve, to see how easy their comeback can be on Guam. From the way the archdiocese official communication is being penned, it is sadly obvious that nothing has changed at the chancery since 2015. Not surprising, since the same actors are still in place, bidding their time for a neo return. Luis Camacho is just a trial balloon in the violent struggle the Neos are fighting for the control of the Church by proxy. They don’t give a damn about past and/or potential victims
Alan San Nicolas
05/12/2024 at 7:00 AM
U para mu pale sa esta mancha, chatko, applacha I estao ña. Yanggen otdenario na petsona pues taya guaha. AFAÑELOS GI ENTRE HITA , TAYA MAN TUNAS YAN TODUS HIT MAN GAI SIKRETU. Lao toktok ya en chiko si nana ya un sagani ” MAGOF HA’ÅNEN MAN NANA ” 🌸🌺