Category: Priest Abuse

More Sexual Abuse Charges against another Yarmouth Priest: Father Albert LeBlanc

by John McKiggan

Yarmouth RCMP have charged former Roman Catholic priest, Father Albert LeBlanc with 40 criminal charges of sexual abuse including 11 charges of indecent assault and 29 charges of gross indecency. The alleged assaults involve 3 male victims who were between seven and 11 years of age when the assaults are alleged to have occurred.

The Yarmouth Diocese is already facing compensation claims by victims of three other priests, Father Raoul Deveau, Father Adolphe LeBlanc and Father Edouard (Eddie) Theriault.

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Posted in: Child Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Police Charge Archbishop Seraphim Storheim with Sexual Assault: Update

by John McKiggan

Last month a criminal investigation into allegations of sxual abuse lead to the resignation of Archbishop Seraphim Storheim, the Canadian leader of the Othodox Church in America.

Canadian Archbishop resigns Over Sexual Abuse Allegations

Today Winnipeg police confirmed that they arrested and charged Kenneth William “Seraphim” Storheim with two charges of sexual assault. The charges stem from allegations made by two men who say they were sexually abused by Storheim when they were teenagers.

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Posted in: Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Seraphim Storheim, Uncategorized

Update on Criminal Charges Against William Hodgson (Hod) Marshall

by John McKiggan

I saw an interesting article in the Toronto Star last weekend.

Reverend William Hodgson (Hod) Marshall is facing 2 dozen criminal charges of sexual assault and indecent assault involving 16 boys (now men) who say they were sexually abused by Marshall while he was teaching in Catholic schools in Windsor, Toronto and Sudbury.

The current Roman Catholic Bishop of London Ontario is Ronald Fabbro. The article traces the relationship between Fabbro and Marshall.

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Posted in: Child Abuse, Clergy Abuse, Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Rev. William Hodgson Marshall, Uncategorized

Supreme Court of Canada Sends Time Limits Case Back to Court

by John McKiggan

The Supreme Court of Canada ruled today on Christensen v. Roman Catholic Archbishop of Québec, an important case out of the province of Quebec that addresses the rights of sexual abuse survivors in that province to pursue compensation for their injuries.

Quebec has the shortest statute of limitation (time limit) in Canada for filing sexual abuse compensation claims. In Quebec, if sexual abuse survivors wish to pursue a compensation claim, they must sue their abuser (or the abuser’s employer) within three years of the sexual assault!!

In other words, if a child is sexually abused when they are 7 years old, they must file a claim before they turn 11 years of age. Does that sound crazy?

Takes Time to Discover Effects of Abuse

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Posted in: Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Statute of Limitations, Time Limits, Uncategorized

Convicted Sex Abuser Donald Grecco Arrrested for Violating Parole

by John McKiggan

Convicted sexual abuser and former catholic priest, Donald Grecco has been arrested again. But this time it’s not for sexual abuse. It’s for violating the terms of his parole.

One of Grecco’s victims has filed a sexual abuse compensation claim against Grecco and former Bishop James Wingle. But when lawyers tried to serve notice of the lawsuit on Grecco, the former priest wasn’t living where he was supposed to be under the terms of a court order.

Grecco was charged with sexual abuse in September 2008. He pleaded guilty in April 2010 and heis scheduled to be sentenced this month.

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Posted in: Clergy Abuse, Father Donald Grecco, Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

Canadian Archbishop resigns Over Sexual Abuse Allegations

by John McKiggan

Seraphim Storheim the Canadian Archbishop of the Orthodox Church in America, has resigned from his duties and requested a leave of absence after police began investigating Storeim for allegations of sexual abuse involving pre-teen boys.

The Orthodox Church in America (OCA), has released a public statement saying Archbishop Seraphim Storheim is on a leave of absence while police investigate the sexual abuse claims.

The Church has indicated it is cooperating with the police investigation and that the Church is conducting it’s own internal investigation.

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Posted in: Clergy Abuse, Priest Abuse, Seraphim Storheim, Uncategorized

The Vatican and Sovereign Immunity

by John McKiggan

From time to time sexual abuse survivors have named the Vatican as a defendant in priest sexual abuse lawsuits.

So far as I am aware, none of these claims have been successful.

I read an interesting post recently on the SLAW blog about the basis of the Vatican’s claims for sovereign immunity (the right of the head of a foreign state to be immune from arrest and prosecution).

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Posted in: Clergy Abuse, Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized

What the Pope Knew: CNN Investigative Report

by John McKiggan

Terry Kohut has kept a dark secret for nearly 50 years. Now he is breaking his silence, becoming a key figure in the sex-abuse crisis in the Catholic Church and the growing controversy over what Pope Benedict XVI did about it.

When Terry Kohut was barely a teen, he says he was sexually molested and assaulted by Father Lawrence C. Murphy, the headmaster and priest of the school where he lived, St. John’s School for the Deaf, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

According to court and church documents Murphy raped and molested as many as 200 deaf boys who lived at the school between 1950 to 1974.

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Posted in: Clergy Abuse, Priest Abuse, Priest Sexual Abuse, Sexual Abuse, Uncategorized
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