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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.
(Page 17)
Pope's hypocrisy_cbc.ca
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