As the deadline arrives for the filing of claims against Guam’s Catholic Church, one of the original whistleblowers who first brought attention to corruption and sexual abuse in the church says that there is still no closure.

“There’s a feeling that it’s ok already … But it hasn’t really started yet. The real drama will be in the Apuron civil case,” Tim Rohr of the JungleWatch blog told the Patti Arroyo show on NewsTalk K57.

Rohr did acknowledge the historical significance of the protest which began a few years ago against Guam’s Catholic Church.

He said nowhere else in the world did lay people stand up to the church. Usually, he said it would be officials who lead protests against the Church but on Guam, it was the ordinary church-goers.

Rohr said Guam’s experience of reform initiatives led by the laypeople is a good example of what the rest of the Catholic Church needs to do.

He added that Guam is the first archdiocese in the world that was able to replace its own archbishop and that what happened on Guam, caused dominoes to fall around the world.

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