Pacific Island Times Vol 3 No. 3 March 2018 | Page 5

Brief Chat
Tim Rohr
T
he Catholic Church plays a strong role in
Guam’s culture, so when a young boy be-
comes an altar server, he brings great joy
to his family. To a family, their altar boy is sup-
posed to pray for their troubles and bring them
closer to God. But what happens if something
sick and sinful in the Church hurts that young al-
tar boy? What happens if the main person who’s
supposed to guide him through the faith abuses
the altar boy? How can a young boy admit some-
thing dark and disgusting about a man of the
community, a man of God?
Roaring in a culture of silence
By Johanna Salinas
“Even though people’s own children
were being raped and molested,
they preferred to stay quiet about
it because they didn’t want to bring
shame upon the family.”
an older man may be considered homosexual.
America is still learning to accept homosexuality
and that sexual abuse does not create homosex-
uals.
Tim Rohr, a realtor by trade and author of the
blog called “Jungle Watch” that tackles Church
issues, has taken it upon himself to bring light
to the abuses and coverups of Guam’s Catholic
Church. Jungle Watch has shared horror stories
from a number of Guam’s former altar boys. By
providing the victims with a platform to vent and
seek closure, he has created a local and online
community of support.
While many may credit the Times Up and
Me-Too for encouraging sexual abuse victims to
speak out, Rohr’s Jungle Watch preceded the big
tabloid stories. Jungle Watch has been up online
since 2010. The honest and open blog was pow-
erful enough to inspire the abused to protest at
the diocese. These protests involved the victims
and their families. Older Catholic women were
also there, representing their sons and grand-
sons, because they were tired of letting powerful
men get away with hurting the youth.
Why did they wait many decades before break-
ing their silence? Rohr believes there’s a culture
of silence on Guam that prevents abuse victims
from sharing their traumas. Rohr, who has been
a resident of Guam for more than two decades,
says is he is unsure if Guam can change this
culture of silence.
“Basically, it shows that we are not afraid of
the Catholic Church; we’re more afraid of our
family,” Rohr says. “People didn’t want it because
it would bring shame upon the family; they
weren’t afraid of the Catholic Church or the bish-
op. It was about embarrassing the family or their
grandmother or whoever it was. So that’s the
real problem. This problem of culture silence,
actually, is a family issue not a Church issue.
They blame the Church but we’ve already shown
we’re not afraid to stand up against the Church,
but standing up against your family and bringing
shame, this is why so many people won’t talk.”
“From my experience, even up until now, ex-
cept to a very few people that were willing to go
forward, everything would be the same as it was.
Even though people’s own children were being
raped and molested, they preferred to stay quiet
about it because th ey didn’t want to bring shame
upon the family even though that has led to
horrible repercussions for their own children,”
Rohr says.
Preference for silence at the expense of justice
baffles Rohr. “Even to this day,” he observes,
“there are so few people willing to stand up and
speak out against that abuse. I don’t know if it
can be changed, but I hope it can.”
One can argue that all abuse victims all over
the world are reluctant to talk about their expe-
rience. The recent emergence of TimesUp and
Me-Too movement in Hollywood had famous
actresses recounting sex abuses from decades
ago. Each account reveals the fear and shame
Tim Rohr
Photo by Johanna Salinas
that prevented them from sharing their abuse.
And the shame feels more unbearable for a
male victim. That shame is tied to masculinity
and admitting to being molested and raped by
One’s faith shouldn’t be in the Church, Rohr
says. “Your faith should be in Jesus Christ and
what He commanded us to do was to worship
in memory of Him,” he says. “I go to the Catholic
mass not because of a priest or a bishop or a
good sermon or any other reason, but it’s the
only place to receive the body and blood of Jesus
Christ and He died to give me that. That’s the
only reason to stay Catholic.”
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