Archbishop Hon offers apology to sexually abused man

Tuesday, August 9th, 2016

Archbishop Savio Hon Tai Fai has issued the statement of apology after Father Louis Brouillard, 95, told the media he regrets the abuses and was seeking forgiveness from his the men he abused while serving in Guam.

Last Monday, Leo Tudela 73, told senators that Brouillard and two other church members sexually abused him when he was an altar boy in Guam starting in 1956.

Tudela was speaking in support of Bill 326 at the Guam Legislature in Hagatna on Monday, at a public hearing on a bill that would lift a statute of limitations that prevents lawsuits being filed for historical abuses.

“With the news that Father Louis Brouillard, a priest who served on Guam confessed to having abused altar boys on Guam in the 1950s, I convey my deepest apologies and that of the entire Church to Mr. Leo Tudela and all other persons who were also victimised,” Hon said in the statement.

“We are very sorry for what they experienced then, and the tremendous pain they still carry today.”

Earlier, in video an interview with the Pacific Daily News, Brouillard said he did not remember an altar boy named Leo Tudela, but said, “I’m sorry if I in any way hurt him. I didn’t want to do that and see him like that.”

Brouillard served in Guam from the 1940s through the 1970s, teaching at San Vicente and Father Duenas Memorial schools while he was a priest. He said he molested “a couple of boys” during that time.

Tudela 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 has been temporarily removed from running the archdiocese’s operations as the Church investigates the allegations against him.

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