Yesterday was my second day working at the news desk.
Oh yeah, in case you didn’t know, I got switched from the lifestyle section to news on Monday.
I came in this morning just around 9 a.m., and before my body made contact with my seat, the assignment editor scurried towards me saying I had to rush over to the Hilton immediately because the Archbishop had called for an emergency meeting with senators to argue against Bill 185—the same-sex domestic partnership bill.
This, just a day after the senator who introduced the bill—Benjamin Cruz— announced that he had been abused by a Catholic priest when he was growing up in California. According to Cruz, similar incidents of abuse have taken place on Guam by members of the Agana Archdiocese as well, although Cruz maintains that he has no proof to back up these claims. Still, Cruz feels it’s inappropriate for the Church to dismiss same-sex domestic partnership as “immoral,” when the Church itself has some “cleaning up,” to do, he says.
But apparently the Archbishop had invited the senators to this meeting even before Sen. Cruz’s allegations of sexual abuse by the Guam’s priests, so naturally, the Archbishop was not ready to comment on that yet. (check about 38 seconds into the KUAM video).
I spent the rest of the day trying to chase down members of the Church to comment over the phone, only to no avail, but the senators were willing to share their views. In fact, Sen. Telo Taitague suggested the bill got through a referendum like in California.
So that’s how it works at the news desk. I could get used to this new lifestyle.
