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CANADA
*** BRITISH COLUMBIA ***
B.C. PRIEST CONVICTED OF BUGGERY.
Priest Kevin Michael Rolston, whose testimony was characterized as "glib",
"insincere" and "crafted to suit his convenience" by the judge, was
convicted of gross indecency and buggery of 3 young boys in Kelowna, B.C.
Source:
Canadian Press/Spectator
2/12/92.
INDIANS ASK POPE TO DEFROCK RAPIST
BISHOP. A British Columbia judge stayed charges against Bishop Hubert
O’Connor, 63, ending a trial for legal technicalities. He was accused of
raping 2 workers & indecently assaulting 2 female students while
principal of a Native residential school near Williams Lake in the 1960s.
Eight Native women testified at a preliminary hearing about being taken
from their homes, forced to go to the church school and being sexually
abused. O’Connor resigned as Bishop of Prince George although the Pope
hasn’t accepted it yet. "In the name of justice, we call upon the Pope to
defrock & excommunicate Bishop O’Connor for his admitted violations of
canon law & church doctrine," said Terry Saul, president of the Union
of B.C. Indian Chiefs. "The case against Bishop O’Connor is not over.
Nobody is off the hook." Source:
Canadian Press_/_Regina Leader-Post_
12/12/92.
The Roman Catholic Church in
Canada,
admitting about 60 priests have been charged with sexual abuse, has been
urged to help pay for counseling & therapy for victims of priests by
the Canadian Conference of Catholic Bishops. The Archdiocese of Vancouver
says 10 victims are now receiving subsidized counseling, even when
criminal charges have not been brought. "We look at this way: If a person
is alleging abuse by a priest & it happened, they need help. And if
they are alleging abuse & it didn’t happen, they also need help," said
Father Gregory Smith. What Smith didn’t mention is that such minor
financial help may buy the silence of victims, & discourage costly
civil suits.
SourceSpectator 1/7/93,
*** NEWFOUNDLAND ***
NEWFOUNDLAND BROTHER GETS 4 YEARS.
Mount Cashel Christian brother Alan Ralph was sentenced to 4 years after
pleading guilty to 11 counts of sexually abusing 10 boys at Mount Cashel
orphanage. Victims told the sentencing judge of continual problems since
leaving the orphanage more than 15 years ago, including flashbacks of
abuse, difficulty forming relationships with women and lack of trust.
Ralph is the 7th of 8 Christian Brothers convicted on charges
reopened in 1989, after a 1975
investigation into rampant abuse was stifled
Source: Spectator
2/8/92.
MT. CASHEL SUPERINTENDENT GETS 5
YEARS. The last of 9 men charged with sex crimes at the Mount Cashel
orphanage, Douglas Kenney, was ordered to serve 5 years in prison for 7
counts of indecent assault against 7 boys. He insisted he was innocent of
all charges, including molesting a boy the day he arrived at the
orphanage. "Kenny’s self_ indulgent search for sexual gratification has
left the wreckage of seven lives in his wake," said Justice Leo Barry of
Newfoundland Supreme Court. "If anything is the epitome of evil, it is
this. Public abhorrence must be great." The 8 other members of the
Christian Brothers lay order have received prison terms ranging from 6
months to 13 years. The orphanage closed 2 years ago and will be
demolished. The land will be sold to fund programs for victims. Source:
Spectator 2/11/92, Ottawa Citizen 4/14/92.
MOUNT CASHEL REPORT ISSUED. A
1,029-page report of the official inquiry into Mount Cashel concludes
sexual abuse at the orphanage in the 1970’s was covered up by a deputy
justice minister and the police chief. Retired Ontario judge Samuel Hughes
cited collusion and disdain for sex offenders, advising that public funds
not be wasted in treating "people animated by evil". The Justice
Department interfered when an inquiry was made into abuse in 1975,
although ample evidence was found to charge Christian Brothers. Abuse was
occurring long before then. Hughes advised creating a solicitor general’s
office to oversee police, a government compensation fund for victims, an
independent police complaints commission, training on sexual abuse with a
special child abuse unit in each police department, and charges against
any citizen who fails to report their knowledge of abuse.
PRIEST ACCUSED OF ASSAULTING GIRL.
Catholic priest Hillary Maher, 42, was charged with 6 counts of sexual
assault on a girl between the ages of 14-16 in the early 1980s while he
was a parish priest in Stephenville.
Source: Ottawa Citizen
8/11/92.
*** ONTARIO ***
PRIEST ADMITS MOLESTING GIRLS.
Priest Paul Blancard pleaded guilty to molesting 5 girls, ages 6 to 10,
including an 8 year old whom he said would "feel like the mother of God"
if she went to bed with him. Church officials knew of his pedophilia by at
least 1967, when he was told to stay with the Jesuits and pray. In 1988 he
went to Southdown Institute in Ontario for problem clergy.
Source: Spokesman Review.
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