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Victims of sexual abuse upset convicted clerics cared for
in Catholic retirement home
Julie Ireton · CBC News ·
Posted: Jun 20, 2022 4:00 AM ET
James Charlie, left, and his brother Tony Charlie attended Kuper Island Residential School in the 1960s. They recently spoke to Kuper Island podcast host, Duncan McCue, about abuse by Oblate Brother Glenn Doughty during their time there. (Duncan McCue/CBC)
WARNING: This story contains distressing details.
When James and Tony Charlie first arrived at Kuper Island Residential School in British Columbia, they were given identification numbers that would be stitched into their clothes and put on lists for chore duties.
"Sometimes it wasn't even our names, it was just the number," Tony said.
The brothers, born just 14 months apart, started attending the school in 1964 when Tony was 13 and James was 12. They're now counted among the many children abused by Catholic clergy at residential schools across Canada.
"I have to live my life today with all those pains and all those memories, all those incidents, forever, every night, every day," said Tony.
Kuper Island was run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, a Catholic order that operated 48 of Canada's residential schools.
Some referred to the isolated island — situated between Vancouver Island and the mainland west coast — as Canada's Alcatraz.
Listen to CBC's new podcast on Kuper Island, which includes documents and testimonies from survivors and witnesses detailing years of abuse against students.
James and Tony can be counted among the many children abused by Catholic clergy at residential schools across Canada. They attended Kuper Island Residential School off the coast of British Columbia. (Submitted)
9 sex offenders have taken refuge in Ottawa
The notorious school, its white cross and bell tower were bulldozed in the early 1980s. Gone, too, is the name Kuper — reclaimed as Penelakut in 2010 — a local First Nation to which the land belongs.
The journey for reconciliation is hardly over. In the effort to track down Glenn Doughty, the Oblate brother who abused young boys on Kuper Island, CBC News uncovered a retirement home in Ottawa where Catholic clergymen convicted of sex crimes are offered a place to live after their release from prison.
CBC has confirmed at least nine convicted sex offenders — men who abused children in residential schools, northern Indigenous communities, and various parishes across the country — have taken refuge at the Springhurst residence, which is owned by the Oblates.
Shelter was also provided there to those awaiting trial, and in the past has included accused Catholic priests from outside the order.
No matter the situation, or the crimes committed, residents at Springhurst have their needs attended to for the rest of their lives. The head of the Oblates says it's part of their post-incarceration care and surveillance.
Former Oblate brother, Glenn Doughty, was convicted of sex crimes against children at two former residential schools in British Columbia and up until recently lived in an Oblate residence in Ottawa. (Glenn Doughty/Facebook)
Coming to terms with abuse
Critics say survivors, including those reduced to being identified as a number in their childhoods, have no such support or security following the crimes committed against them.
The Charlie brothers were forced to live on separate floors at the residential school, but now, decades later, they share horrific memories from the abuse they suffered.
Tony, who walks with a cane, still remembers his introduction to Brother Doughty. Within days of Doughty's arrival at Kuper Island, he took the boy into his room and invited him into his bed.
Sometimes he'd get drunk and we all knew every night he was going to be a sexual predator.- James Charlie
"It was just very shocking to have that happen, because I was just meeting him," he said.
Doughty would go on to seek out other boys.
"Sometimes he'd get drunk and we all knew every night he was going to be a sexual predator," said James Charlie, who still lives on the island.
"The next morning, the poor guy could hardly walk. But nobody said nothing because it could be their turn tonight."
In 2002, Doughty was sentenced to three years in prison for his historical crimes at the Kuper Island school, including indecent assault on a male, gross indecency, and one count of buggery involving 11 different victims. Those were the laws on the books when the crimes occurred in the 1960s and '70s.
James calls Doughty's prison time for crimes at Kuper Island "nothing."
After all, it was Doughty's fourth conviction for crimes against children in different parts of the country.
Series of convictions
Initially convicted in Thunder Bay in the late 1980s, Doughty was later found guilty of sexually abusing young students at a residential school in Williams Lake, B.C.
Dolores Pflanz, who worked at Kuper Island Residential School in 1970, says she witnessed Doughty's inappropriate behaviour with students.
She was in the courtroom when the judge spoke sternly to Doughty and the Oblates in 2002.
"He told the Oblate priest, 'If you want to take care of him, there must be someone in his presence at all times. You must take the door off of his sleeping room. He cannot even go to the bathroom alone,'" Pflanz recalled.
Doughty apologized and expressed remorse. He became a responsibility the Oblates say they took seriously.
Ken Thorson, head of the Oblate order, said Doughty had "been living at Springhurst" since he was released from prison.
Springhurst residence is located in central Ottawa in the middle of a residential neighbourhood and just 200 metres from a city park. Over the years it has housed several clergy members who were accused or convicted of sex crimes. (Julie Ireton/CBC)
Penelakut (Kuper) Island
4 St. John's Catholic churches sold and set to close doors
by September, parishioners told
Rocked by abuse claims, archdiocese plans to cut St. John's parishes 9 to 3
Terry Roberts · CBC News
Posted: Jun 21, 2022 4:54 PM NT
St. Patrick's Church is located on Patrick Street, near downtown St. John's. The church property has been sold as part of a liquidation of assets by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's. (Curtis Hicks/CBC)
Parishioners who attended mass at four Roman Catholic churches in the St. John's area this weekend learned their places of worship have been sold as part of the archdiocese's sell-off of properties, and that they may have to close their doors by September.
Catholics were also informed that the plan is to reduce the number of parishes in the capital city from nine to three in the coming months.
The move is part of one of the most dramatic shakeups in the 238-year history of the Archdiocese of St. John's, which has been focused on settling massive sexual abuse claims related to the Mount Cashel Orphanage.
"On Friday afternoon, we were told by the archbishop that St. Pius church and [the former] St. Pius school has been sold," Father John Sullivan, a Jesuit priest who ministers at the church on Smithville Crescent, told those attending a Sunday that was broadcast on the parish's Facebook page.
Sullivan made the announcement on the same day the parish was celebrating its 60th anniversary, a coincidence he described as "a little awkward and a little weird."
Parishioners also learned that unknown bids submitted for St. Patrick's church on Patrick Street, Mary Queen of Peace church on Torbay Road and St. Francis of Assisi in nearby Outer Cove were accepted by Ernst and Young, the firm overseeing the court-monitored sale of church properties.
St. Pius X Catholic church on Smithville Crescent in St. John's and an attached building
has been sold to an unknown bidder, and will likely close in September. (Google Maps)
CBC has confirmed that the congregations at St. Pius, St. Patrick's and Mary Queen of Peace did not submit bids on their churches. It's not known if that was the case for St. Francis of Assisi, although one source said St. Francis of Assisi is being acquired "by a developer."
"While I am deeply saddened by this news, I think our parish made the best decisions we could have made with the time, resources, and support we had available," Father James Fleming of St. Patrick's wrote in a letter to parishioners on Saturday.
We can now look to future, priest says
The Newfoundland and Labrador Supreme Court will need to approve the sales, but Fleming wrote "it seems likely that the sale of these properties will proceed as outlined above. If there is a note of encouragement here, it may be that a difficult decision has been made for us, and we can begin looking together toward the future."
Sullivan said he expects St. Pius will close at the end of the summer, and "a movement would be required to one of the new identified parishes."
More than two dozen properties in the St. John's region are being sold to the highest bidder as the archdiocese liquidates its holdings in an effort to raise money to compensate victims of abuse.
The claims for victims of abuse at the Mount Cashel Orphanage, and those assaulted by parish priests, is expected to be in the range of $50 million.
The deadline for bids was June 2, and details about the sales process have been slowly trickling out.
A spokesperson for Ernst and Young said Tuesday a full report should be published by the end of June.
The most prominent parcel up for grabs is the Basilica Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, a complex which also includes a private school and a skating rink.
An unknown bidder has submitted a successful offer on Mary Queen of Peace church
on Torbay Road in St. John's. (Curtis Hicks/CBC)
Three organizations with deep roots in the Catholic faith revealed last week that their joint offer of more than $3 million was the successful bid for the basilica complex, which means the buildings will continue to serve their intended purposes.
CBC News has also confirmed that a group of parishioners at Holy Rosary in Portugal Cove have successfully bid on the church, while a new Portugal Cove arts, wellness and heritage committee submitted the winning bid on the Holy Rosary rectory, parish hall and most of the property.
In some cases, the amounts were so close that Ernst and Young asked the bidders to increase their offers, CBC News has learned.
Meanwhile, Sullivan said during mass on Sunday that the number of parishes in the capital city will shrink to three in the coming months as churches are sold off and a restructuring is undertaken.
The western area of the city will be served by either Corpus Christi on Waterford Bridge Road or St. Teresa's on Mundy Pond Road, depending on the outcome of the bids.
The first church service at St. Francis of Assisi in Outer Cove took place on Dec. 24, 1919.
The church is now being sold to an unknown bidder. (Curtis Hicks/CBC)
Catholics in the centre of the city will attend the Basilica, said Sullivan, while it's likely the eastern parish will be located at St. Paul's church on Newfoundland Drive, which is attached to a junior high school. It did not receive a bid.
"But we can be rest assured that there is no jeopardy whatsoever with regard to you having a place to gather in your Catholic Christian faith," said Sullivan.
In his letter, Fleming described the sales process as "painful and frustrating."
Bishops suspend priest convicted of child sex abuse, reopen probe
By Ana Vanessa Herrero
Updated July 6, 2022 at 5:48 p.m. EDT|
A Catholic parishioner holds a rosary during a mass in Caracas, Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela — The Catholic Church in Venezuela has reopened its investigation into a priest who was convicted of sexually abusing a child but was later returned to the ministry, officials said Wednesday.
The announcement came just over two weeks after The Washington Post reported on the case of the Rev. Luis Alberto Mosquera, the priest in Venezuela’s Lara state. Mosquera, 63, was convicted in 2006 of abusing a 6-year-old boy and sentenced to more than seven years in prison, but in 2008, he was released and allowed by the church to resume his work as a priest. A photo posted on his Facebook page in 2016 and reposted in 2017 showed him surrounded by children.
Mosquera’s case was one of 10 involving allegations of child sexual abuse scrutinized by The Post for the report published in June. In half of the cases, dating from 2001 to 2022, The Post found that convicted priests were released early from their sentences or served no prison time at all. In at least three cases, they were allowed to return to ministry.
Bishop Mario del Valle Moronta Rodríguez, the first vice president of the Venezuelan Conference of Bishops, told reporters in Caracas on Wednesday that Mosquera had been suspended from ministry while the investigation was reopened. It was not clear whether the church was investigating new allegations or reviewing the incident in which he was convicted.
“I cannot tell you the exact date because I am not the bishop of Barquisimeto, but he has been suspended,” Moronta said.
Mosquera confirmed to The Post that he was suspended June 29, eight days after The Post report was published.
“Due to the publications of the American newspaper The Washington Post, and the pressures of several NGOs and human rights activists … the Apostolic Administrator of the Archdiocese of Barquisimeto, according to the crime established by the Code of Law Canonical and for the good of the Church, has decided to suspend my ecclesiastic licenses,” Mosquera said in a message that he also shared with parishioners in Lara.
“I declare my willingness to submit with obedience, silence and humility to the process and reaffirm my adherence to the creed of the Catholic Church even in this adverse circumstance,” he told parishioners. “I invite you to persevere in the same faith.”
“There has been no complaint and yet they subject me again to public contempt,” Mosquera told The Post. “But I still remain calm, serene, and patient.”
The bishops held an unusual news conference on Wednesday to discuss the church’s response to allegations of sexual abuse by its priests.
Moronta, the bishop of San Cristóbal, announced an investigation into another priest who returned to ministry after pleading guilty to committing a carnal act against a 14-year-old in the state of Falcón. He said the Church was conducting a “serious investigation” into other cases but would share the results only if civil authorities request because “it is the norm of the church to maintain confidentiality.”
Moronta opened the news conference by reading from a lengthy statement. He said the bishops were “committed to making our Church instances safe places for everyone” through “different initiatives” against abuse. He didn’t describe actions against bishops who didn’t report cases to the Vatican.
Moronta said the bishops had created a prevention committee including bishops, priests, nuns and “lay faithful experts in the field.” He did not provide further details.
“We are aware that we can always do more, and we are willing to do so in synergy with other institutions,” he said.
Venezuelan and international reporters asked questions about specific cases. Moronta did not respond in detail.
“The fact that perhaps there are some Bishops or religious superiors who have not taken the corresponding steps does not mean that there has been an omission,” he said. Then he and three other church officials left the room.
Víctor Hernández, who says he was abused by a priest, called the news conference “terrible.” The bishops, he said, were “evidently nervous.”
“They have no idea of how many cases there are,” Hernández said. “That is why they kept avoiding the question,” he said.
Since The Post report was published, at least five people have contacted the newspaper to share other cases. Most said they were unsatisfied with the bishops’ response.
Moronta suggested the church has been unfairly singled out for criticism.
“It is noteworthy that they investigate us but not other entities, not only religious but professional, where the number of sexual abuses is greater,” he said. “I am not justifying anything — we assume our responsibility — but there are other places where these cases have occurred and nobody says anything.”
He's right, of course, the vast majority of child sexual abuse is never reported or investigated. It is absurd, however, to plead unfair investigation because they are the church. That should result in even more investigations.
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