Guam Priest's House Guest Troubled Church, LED to His Removal
By Haidee V Eugenio
A priest accused of sexual abuse on Guam was sent to Minnesota for "help with personal problems" in 1981, and later barred from serving as a priest after questions arose about a house guest from the island, according to a statement from the Diocese of Duluth. Louis Brouillard, 96, is accused of sexually abusing minors in 87 lawsuits. More than 140 sex abuse lawsuits have been filed against the Archdiocese of Agana, 16 clergy members and three others affiliated with the church since late last year. Brouillard was a pastor, teacher and Boy Scout leader on Guam for 33 years and has admitted to molesting 20 or more boys on the island. In three recent lawsuits, he is accused of paying to bring boys from Guam to Minnesota, where he continued to abuse them. One of the lawsuits alleges he moved a boy into a two-bedroom retirement home apartment where he lived with his elderly parents. Brouillard would have been about 60 at the time. "Father Brouillard was sent to the Diocese of Duluth in 1981 in the hope that he would receive help with personal problems," Kyle Eller, communications director for the Diocese of Duluth, said in an email Wednesday. "While in the diocese, he did assist at several parishes. In 1985, Father Brouillard’s faculties to serve as a priest in the Duluth Diocese were revoked after questions were raised about a guest from Guam staying with him," Eller wrote. Brouillard, who continues to receive a $550 monthly retirement check from the Archdiocese of Agana, was ordained as a priest on Guam in 1948 and served there until 1981. He is being deposed in Minnesota this week in connection with the Guam lawsuits. In 2013, Brouillard's name appeared on a list, released by the Duluth diocese, of priests with credible allegations of child sexual abuse against them. Although the Duluth diocese did not specify the nature of Brouillard's personal problems, he had at least one criminal sexual conduct complaint filed against him shortly before he left the island, according to one of the lawsuits. In 1980, Brouillard was moved to St. Williams Catholic Church, now the Blessed Diego de San Vitores Church, on Guam, one lawsuit states. While at St. Williams, according to another lawsuit, he was named in a criminal sex abuse complaint filed with police. According to one of the lawsuits, former altar boy and Boy Scout Felix Manglona said he was abused by Brouillard when he was 13. Years later, while working as an assistant at the Guam Police Department, he happened to review a police report concerning Brouillard. “Upon information and belief, an incident occurred at the St. Williams Catholic Church in Tumon involving Brouillard and a minor boy, resulting in a sexual abuse complaint being filed against Brouillard,” the lawsuit states. Brouillard is accused in one lawsuit of abusing an altar boy at St. Williams identified in court documents only as F.S.L. to protect his privacy. In 1981, when Brouillard moved to Minnesota, he invited F.S.L. and a friend to spend the summer with him. While there, according to the lawsuit, the boys were sexually abused. Another lawsuit, filed by plaintiff J.T., stated that he was abused by Brouillard on Guam from 1972 to 1976. Around 1981, Brouillard brought him Minnesota, telling his parents he would be able to attend college there. The lawsuit said Brouillard tried to rape him in Minnesota. Brouillard’s sexual activities involving children had been known to church officials in the Archdiocese of Agana for at least a decade before he left the island, according to an affidavit Brouillard signed last year. “My actions were discussed and confessed to area priests as well as Bishop Apollinaris Baumgartner who had approached me to talk about the situation. I was told to try to do better and say prayers as a penance,” he said in the affidavit. Baumgartner died in 1970.
|
.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.