Opinion: Questioning O’Grady’s legacy
O’Grady headed three different residential schools, all of which have
documented physical and verbal abuse.
about 13 hours ago
By: Alyssa Leier
Bishop Fergus O'Grady in 1986.Lisa Murdoch/Prince George Citizen (Exploration Place archives)
After the discovery of 215 unmarked children’s graves in Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc on the site of the former Kamloops Indian Residential School, the question of J. Fergus O’Grady’s legacy has come into question. The University of British Columbia is considering removing his honorary degree after an appalling letter written by O’Grady during his time as principal has resurfaced. Communities have voiced concerns over honouring a man that actively participated in such a destructive and oppressive system.
In the Nov. 18, 1948, letter, he cautions parents that “It will be [their] privilege…to have their children spend Christmas at home with [them].” One which would only be granted if very strict regulations were followed. Regulations that would have made it impossible for many families to take part in this “privilege.”
For many, this exposé has been a long time coming; for others, this is a difficult revelation.
O’Grady was nicknamed the Bulldozer Bishop. This nickname came from his desire to expand the Catholic Church’s school system. A system that forcibly separated children from their families for extended periods of time and forbade them to acknowledge their Indigenous heritage and culture or to speak their own languages. A system that has created intergenerational trauma and that continues to undermine Indigenous communities.
On June 29, 1934, Bishop O’Grady became an ordained priest of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate at the age of 25. The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a religious order of priests and brothers that originated in France, was given responsibility for the mission of the church on the mainland of British Columbia starting in 1861.
After searching through thousands of pages of archival documents, the following information can be confirmed:
After being ordained, O’Grady found his way to St. Mary’s Indian Residential School in Mission, B.C. He served as principal here from 1936-1939.
Six weeks after his appointment, an unfavourable report was made of the school to the Department of Indian Affairs that “found fault in almost everything.” O’Grady stated his annoyance with this as it was “insinuated that the present state…was due to the change of principals,” putting the blame on his management.
It is after his short stretch in Mission that O’Grady was moved to the Kamloops Residential School, where he was the principal from 1939- 1952, during the time when it held Canada’s highest residential school population. Although it has not been determined if any of the children’s remains found on the site were put there during this time, I can confirm there were at least six recorded “pupil deaths” between the years 1945-1950 while he was principal. Records for other years could not be found.
There is a lot to find out about the bodies buried at Kamloops Indian Residential School. 215 is a lot of bodies, however, if they cover the entire period of the school's existence, then it is not an excessive number - only a couple per year. If they include the Spanish Flu of 1919-20, then it may actually be a fairly small number.
In fact, primary documents reveal that there were serious concerns over the fact that the school was overcrowded and over-capacity.
After twelve years in Kamloops, O’Grady became principal of the Cariboo Indian Residential School until 1953. After which, he was named as “Provincial in charge of all English-speaking Oblate priests in Canada” and was ordained Bishop and appointed Vicar Apostolic of Prince Rupert by Pope Pius XII on March 7, 1956, and set about establishing Catholic day schools for an “integrated” student body.
Although O’Grady was no longer principal of any of these schools, as the highest-ranking official in the region, he continued to preside over residential schools that children were forced to attend and where they continued to receive verbal and physical abuse.
An excerpt from the Prince George Diocese states that “With only four Catholic schools in the nearly 347,000 square kilometers of northern BC, it was clear to Bishop O’Grady from the start that Catholic education was a primary need. He began a recruitment drive and hundreds of young people from around the world, inspired by his vision and enthusiasm, began arriving to help. In four years, the number of schools increased to thirteen… Over the next 35 years approximately 4,000 people from five continents became part of this movement known as the Frontier Apostolate.”
In 1960, O’Grady opened the first known integrated school in the region, known as the Prince George College. In the 2001 thesis written by Kevin Beliveau, a former student and a Catholic teacher, it is stated that after reading through O’Grady’s personal files, “what is clear is that the ‘integration’ attempted at Prince George College was not the policy envisioned by government or Indian Brotherhood policy-makers who saw a synthesis of cultures -rather than varieties of tokenism and outright assimilation.”
He also writes, “The school lay on a foundation of a carefully constructed ethos, the sacrifices of hundreds of lay volunteers, and the involuntary financial subsidies provided by Aboriginal students from approximately 1960 to 1989." The school received government subsidies for every Indigenous child enrolled, and after government subsidies for Indigenous students ended, recruitment of these children steadily decreased. The school shut down for good in 2001.
In 1986, O’Grady retired and was awarded the honorary “doctor of laws” degree conferred to him from UBC for his religious work with “Native Indians”. But as Beliveau notes, “His missionary mindset was predicated on the assumption of European spiritual and cultural superiority.”
During his contentious career, O’Grady headed three different residential schools (all of which have documented physical and verbal abuse), and as the Bishop of the Prince George Diocese, O'Grady continued to supervise over residential schools where children continued to receive verbal and physical abuse.
O'Grady was succeeded as Bishop of Prince George by Hubert Patrick O'Connor. O’Connor resigned in 1991 after being charged with sexual assault in the 1960s during his time as Principal of the Cariboo Residential School. He was convicted in 1996 for rape and sexual assault against two victims. As the highest-ranking Catholic official in Canadian History to be charged with sex crimes, “The case attracted widespread attention, as it became a symbol for debate about the role of the justice system in handling cases of aboriginals abused at church-run residential schools.”
After his retirement in 1986, O’Grady remarked that he had relatively few disappointments or regrets during his career. After listing those few disappointments, none of them included the untimely deaths of pupils during his time in Kamloops or the alleged cases of physical and sexual abuse of students he presided over. This includes students who were still under his care during O’Connor’s time at the Cariboo Residential School. Ironically, the “untimely deaths” of three other priests were at the top of his list of regrets.
- Alyssa Leier is the curator at The Exploration Place.
Six-figure damages for Co. Down man abused by
paedophile priest Malachy Finnegan
Alan Erwin
June 21 2021 01:22 PM
The pay-out to Tony Gribben forms part of a settlement reached in his lawsuit over the historic sexual and physical assaults he suffered at the hands of the late Fr Malachy Finnegan.
A personal apology will also be issued on behalf of the leader of the Catholic Church in Ireland under the terms of the agreement.
Sex abuse data from Poland’s Catholic Church is decades too late
These figures detailing allegations of child sexual abuse by clergy do not tell the full story
Victor Sande-Aneiros is a writer and editor at CRIN, the Child Rights International Network.
Al Jazeera
4 Jul 2021
The head of Poland's Catholic Church Archbishop Wojciech Polak, right, addresses the media during a news conference in Warsaw, Poland in March 2019. Archbishop Wojciech Polak apologised to survivors of sexual abuse at the hands of Catholic Church clergy and asked for forgiveness [File: Czarek Sokolowski/AP Photo]
Last Monday, Poland’s Catholic Church released new figures of the number of complaints it has received alleging sexual abuse at the hands of its clergy.
In total, 368 complaints were made to the Church between 2018 and 2020 relating to alleged abuse by more than 290 priests and other religious figures. The cases stretch as far back as 1958 and 173 of them concern children under the age of 15, which is the age of consent in Poland.
Following the release of these figures, the head of the Polish Catholic Church, Archbishop Wojciech Polak, apologised to survivors and asked for forgiveness. While some survivors will appreciate this, it does not excuse the fact that Poland’s church has arrived at the issue decades too late.
This is only the second time that Poland’s Catholic Church has released such figures. It did so first in 2019 when it revealed that 382 members of the clergy had been accused of sexually abusing 625 children between 1990 and 2018. The Church says that 42 priests are named in both lists.
While the move is a positive sign that Poland’s church is finally owning up to the issue, there are several problems with these figures, alongside the fact that it has taken decades for the church to release them in the first place.
On one hand, that Poland’s church made these figures public is useful as it provides some data on the issue, although it is widely accepted that abuse cases that come to light are merely the tip of the iceberg.
On average it takes a survivor 24 years to report the abuse they suffered as children, with reasons including a victim’s sense of shame, not recognising what happened to them as abuse or fear of not being believed.
The only public tally of clergy abuse cases in Poland is a map created by activists, which currently registers more than 580 cases covered by the media or which ended in a court judgement. But even those reaching the courts are a minority of cases, often because survivors do not want to relive the trauma in a formal judicial setting where they might have to face their abuser again.
But, beyond the church’s figures themselves, the latest data is limited. The church did not publicly disclose the names of the 292 members of the clergy who are accused of sexual abuse, even in the cases it deemed “credible”.
This appears to be a policy supported by the pope himself in order to protect the “good name” of priests. Yet many dioceses in other countries have voluntarily released this information.
In most of the Polish cases, the church said it has imposed “interim measures” while complaints are being investigated, including temporarily removing the accused from service and preventing their contact with children. But we know from other countries that such priests are often left unsupervised.
The church also failed to explain how it has dealt with the 42 clergy members who appeared in both the 2019 and this week’s lists, in what appear to be cases of repeat offenders.
Withholding the identities of alleged perpetrators and details of the church’s action against them – which appears to be a global church policy – shows that the Polish church is still protecting suspected abusers by shielding their identity.
In Poland, this lack of transparency also extends to how the church investigates abuse complaints. Thirty-nine of the 368 claims were considered “unreliable” and therefore rejected. But how were these decisions reached?
Of the 173 cases concerning under-15s, the church said 148 of them were reported to the police. Twenty-five others were not reported either because the accused have since died or the claims were deemed unsubstantiated or are still being investigated. But at what stage does the church pass on a complaint to state law enforcement authorities? Should it not do so as soon as it becomes aware of suspected abuse?
Moreover, what happened in the cases of abuse of 15-to-17-year-olds? For reasons unclear, while the church’s 2019 report gave some statistics on this age group, the latest data only splits survivors into two age groups: under-15s and over-15s.
Out of the 174 cases in the latter group, 80 percent were not reported to the police. One factor might have been that the adult survivors did not (yet) want to make a police complaint, as is often the case. But where 15-to 17-year-olds are concerned, the imperative should be to notify the authorities.
And why does the church not encourage abuse survivors to report their cases to civil authorities from the outset? Instead, church-run commissions are being increasingly set up globally to receive survivors’ complaints, despite accusations that they are institutionally biased and lack transparency.
For those survivors who do come forward, making a complaint to the church means entrusting the pursuit of justice to the same institution where their abuse took place and which either failed to prevent it or actively covered it up.
In the case of the Polish church, an institution that continues to divulge only limited information on abuse committed within its walls proves that it cannot be trusted. This is, after all, the same institution that is currently refusing to collaborate with Poland’s state inquiry into child sexual abuse, which has had trouble obtaining information from the Polish church.
The church only started to release statistics in 2019 because it was pressured to do so, following a rise in public awareness of the issue.
This was largely thanks to the 2018 film Clergy (Kler) about the dark side of the church, including child abuse, which broke box office records and became Poland’s top-grossing film in history.
Then came the documentary Tell No One (Tylko nie mów nikomu) in 2019, which contained first-hand accounts of abuse by survivors. It detailed how abusers were transferred from parish to parish and continued to have access to children, as well as how bishops blocked survivors and their families from pursuing their claims. The documentary has so far been viewed more than 24 million times.
After the documentary’s release, an opinion poll revealed that almost 90 percent of respondents agreed that the church’s authority had been diminished, while 67 percent thought the church’s response to the scandal was inadequate.
This lack of genuine initiative on the church’s part only reinforces the view that Poland’s church has arrived at the issue far too late to preserve its legitimacy. Two batches of data do not make amends for an institution whose PR strategy has long been to wait out the scandal until it becomes too big to ignore.
Ex-New Orleans priest accused of molestation surrenders law license
after lying about past
By RAMON ANTONIO VARGAS | Staff writer and DAVID HAMMER | WWL-TV PUBLISHED
JUL 2, 2021 AT 4:55 PM
A former New Orleans-area priest who was removed from the ministry over credible allegations of child sex abuse before becoming a successful personal injury attorney recently surrendered his law license forever because he hid his scandalous past from bar exam administrators.
According to documents filed with the Louisiana Supreme Court, which metes out discipline to attorneys in the state, Patrick Sanders signed up to take the bar exam in 2007 and 2009. Both times, the application asked, in various forms, whether he had ever been forced out of a job, disciplined for misbehavior or simply accused of misconduct.
Sanders answered “no” each time, even though Catholic Church leaders in New Orleans had stripped him of his position as the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help in 2005.
That move resulted from allegations that Sanders had sexually abused two 16-year-old boys on a church trip to Biloxi in 1993, three years after his ordination, while he was the assistant pastor at Resurrection of Our Lord in New Orleans East during a previous assignment.
Sanders’ sacking got little attention at the time. But in November 2018, the Archdiocese of New Orleans included Sanders in a list of dozens of local priests and deacons who had been faced with credible accusations of child molestation. The roster was released as the church sought to manage fallout from its decades-old clergy sex abuse scandal.
Reveal of 57 New Orleans clergy credibly accused of sexual abuse a major step for Catholic officials
The state Supreme Court’s disciplinary office eventually learned about Sanders’ inclusion on the archdiocesan list. An ensuing investigation revealed Sanders’ untrue answers on the bar exam applications he filled out before securing his law license in 2009, and last year disciplinary officials filed several charges of professional misconduct against him as a result.
They also accused him of bouncing a check drawn on a client trust fund, engaging in a conflict of interest and breaching a client’s confidentiality.
The original complaint obtained by WWL-TV shows Sanders’ former client Dennis Perry accused Sanders of a conflict of interest and breaching confidentiality by representing him and Dr. William Alden in a case against a mortgage lender, then turning around and representing Alden against Perry in a property dispute.
In an interview Friday, Perry said Sanders used all the inside information he acquired while representing Perry against him in the case involving Alden.
“He had … knowledge of all my dealings, and now he’s … suing me,” Perry said, scoffing.
Perry said he also notified the Supreme Court’s disciplinary office that Sanders had an undisclosed arrest for heroin possession in Orleans Parish in 2014. Court records show the heroin charges were dropped when Sanders agreed to enter a drug abuse diversion program.
Sanders, 57, likewise avoided discipline over the issues with his law license by offering his “permanent resignation from the practice of law” in Louisiana and all other states in May, according to Supreme Court records obtained by WWL-TV and The Times-Picayune. The court accepted Sanders’ resignation on June 22.
Perry said he was relieved that Sanders will no longer be in a position to avoid his clients’ trust. “I feel great — ecstatic,” Perry remarked. “That’s got to be a big punishment that he can’t practice law in this state or any other state.”
Sanders on Friday didn’t answer a knock on his front door or a message left on his telephone.
His decision to abandon his law career marks a sharp contrast with the battle he waged to fight the allegations that ended his stint as a Catholic cleric.
When New Orleans’ archdiocese in 2004 received the allegations that Sanders had molested two teen boys 11 years earlier, he maintained his innocence.
Law enforcement authorities in Biloxi investigated the claims, but they didn’t file any criminal charges, and no one pursued a civil lawsuit.
For its part, the church used a purely administrative review against Sanders because, in 1993, 16-year-olds were considered adults under church law. Sixteen-year-olds were no longer considered adults by the time the accusations against Sanders were made, but the church went with the definition in effect at the time of his alleged offense.
Three hearing officers said they believed Sanders committed the abuse, and he was removed from ministry in 2005 by then-Archbishop Alfred Hughes. Parishioners at Our Lady of Perpetual Help responded with full-throated support of Sanders, arguing that Hughes was merely trying to deflect attention from his past work at the Archdiocese of Boston, which was reeling from revelations that it had systemically covered up child sex abuse by its priests.
In a statement to The Times-Picayune after his ouster, Sanders described himself as “devastated and heartbroken.” He insisted he was innocent, adding, “I feel an injustice has been done to me and my life’s vocation has been taken away.”
In his second act as an attorney, Sanders became the managing partner of the law firm Sanders & Ford.
Sanders’ specialties included personal injury, child custody, insurance and contract dispute cases.
A WWL-TV reporter went to Sanders’ home on the day the list of credibly accused clerics was released in 2018. He slammed the door as soon as the reporter identified himself.
He left Sanders & Ford after his inclusion on the 2018 list and started a new firm, called “Rise Again.” Online, Sanders now describes himself as a corporate compliance consultant for a trucking company.
Great! 'Cause he's so good at compliance!
Investigation confirms former Fargo bishop abused 2 children;
middle school renamed
Sullivan Middle School, part of the St. John Paul II Catholic Schools network, was named after Bishop James Sullivan. Due to the allegations, Sullivan Middle School has been renamed Sacred Heart Middle School, the Fargo Diocese said.
Written By: April Baumgarten
| 9:33 am, Jul. 2, 2021
Fargo Diocese Bishop James Sullivan is seen in retirement June 2, 2005. Bruce Crummy / The Forum
FARGO — A former Fargo bishop sexually abused two children in the 1960s when he was a priest in Michigan, church leaders said.
The accusations against former Bishop James Sullivan have been deemed credible by Catholic officials, the Fargo Diocese said in a statement issued Friday, July 2. An investigation found that Sullivan sexually groomed and inappropriately touched two boys when he was a priest living at the Church of the Resurrection Parish in Lansing , Michigan, according to a news release issued Friday by the Lansing Diocese.
“I am saddened by the reports concerning Bishop Sullivan, and I am sure the faithful of the Diocese of Fargo share in my disappointment," Fargo Bishop John Folda said. "I ask that we join in prayers for healing and continue in our resolve and efforts to protect those whom we serve.”
Sullivan did not face any credible allegations when he served as a bishop in Fargo from 1985 to 2002.
Still, his name will be added to the Fargo Diocese's list of clergy who have been credibly accused of sexually abusing children. He also was added to the Lansing Diocese list. Sullivan is the 32nd clergy member added to Fargo's list, and the 55th one for North Dakota.
“Bishop Sullivan’s actions were gravely immoral, deeply scandalous and betrayed both the trust of the Catholic community within the Diocese of Lansing and, more significantly, the faith placed in him by the victims and their families to whom we say: ‘This should not have happened to you and we are profoundly sorry that it ever did,’” Lansing Diocese spokesman David Kerr said in a statement.
Sullivan is the only North Dakota bishop who has faced sexual abuse allegations that have been deemed credible.
The Lansing Diocese launched an investigation in July 2020 into Sullivan after the Michigan attorney general's office received a report of abuse against Sullivan. The first boy was 12 years old when Sullivan inappropriately touched the child and had "uninvited sexualized conversations" with the boy over a two-year period, starting in 1964, according to the Lansing Diocese.
He also inappropriately touched a boy in 1966 who was 11 or 12, the Lansing Diocese said.
The Fargo Diocese was made aware of the investigation last year, spokesman Paul Braun said. When asked why the diocese didn't alert the public to the investigation earlier, Braun said: "The accused was deceased and there were no minors to protect, and so there was ample time to provide due process and complete a thorough investigation."
Sullivan served as an auxiliary bishop in Lansing from 1972 to 1985, when he left for the Fargo position. He died June 12, 2006, in Fargo from complications of Alzheimer's disease, according to news archives.
He was ordained as a priest by the Lansing Diocese in 1955. In Michigan, he served as a priest in Flint, Lansing and St. Joseph, and was a private secretary for former Lansing bishops Joseph Albers and Alexander Zaleski.
Sullivan Middle School, seen Friday, July 2, 2021, in south Fargo has been renamed to Sacred Heart Middle School. School officials are working to change signage. Michael Vosburg / Forum Photo Editor
'We can't honor him'
Sullivan Middle School, which is part of the St. John Paul II Catholic Schools network in Fargo, was named after Sullivan. Due to the allegations, Sullivan Middle School has been renamed Sacred Heart Middle School, the Fargo Diocese said Friday.
The new name emphasizes a priority to protect and guide children through "safe environment" protocols and "circle of grace" education and training, according to a newsletter sent to students' parents.
The name change is effective immediately, said Mike Hagstrom, president of St. John Paul II Catholic Schools. Sullivan's portrait has been taken down, and the school is working to change signage. Other changes will include replacing sports jerseys.
"We can't honor him," Hagstrom said.
It's unclear how long the changes could take and how much they will cost, but Hagstrom said he believes the school will be ready by Aug. 24, the first day of class. "It's just going to be one day at a time," he said.
The school at 2720 32nd Ave. S. was dedicated Sept. 2, 1998. It replaced St. Anthony's Middle School, which was at 719 9th St. S. St. Anthony's has since closed.
Bishop James Sullivan
Hagstrom said Sullivan did a lot of good. The bishop oversaw the formation of Fargo's Catholic schools network. He also improved the financial condition of the Fargo Diocese and parishes, according to his obituary.
He started the Walk with Christ for Life in 1992, an annual procession in downtown Fargo where participants pray to end abortion. The tradition of the procession continues, with the last one being held Oct. 4.
Still, the Lansing Diocese investigation was thorough and confirmed the allegations, Hagstrom acknowledged. "I'm really horrified that abuse occurred," he said.
If you or someone you know has been sexually abused by a clergy member, the abuse can be reported to local law enforcement authorities. The Fargo Police Department phone number is 701-235-4493.
The Fargo Diocese also can be contacted at 701-356-7945 or victimassistance@fargodiocese.org. Any report of sexual abuse by a clergy member can be made at ReportBishopAbuse.org or 800-276-1562.
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