North Bay Nuggett

10 November 2009

Posted By BOB VAILLANCOURT, SUN MEDIA

Roman Catholic Priest Bernard Cloutier was sent to prison for five years Monday for sexually assaulting four young boys more than a quarter century ago.

The five-year term is less than the eight years sought by the Crown but more than the two years suggested by the defence.

Cloutier, 68, showed no emotion when the sentence was handed down.

Outside of court the four victims, who ranged in age from 12 to 17 years at the time of the assaults, expressed relief.

The four, along with family and friends, watched as Cloutier was led from the courtroom in handcuffs to begin his prison term.

Just how long Cloutier will remain behinds bars wasn't clear, however, because he has already filed an appeal with the Ontario Court of Appeal over his conviction. His lawyer was expected to file an application with the court today for his release on bail pending that appeal hearing.

It's like a weight has been lifted," said one of the victims, none of whom can be named because of a court order.

Cloutier was convicted of four counts each of indecent assault and gross indecency, as well as two counts of sexual assault.

In each case, Cloutier befriended the boys and became close friends with their parents. He was, said Superior Court Justice Paul Kane, a trusted and frequent guest in their homes."

He was a local leader of the church and as such held incredible persuasive power, Kane said.

But he abused his position of trust for his own sexual gratification."

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 He was friendly and generous to the boys, endearing the friendships with gifts and providing them access to adult privileges, including alcohol, said the judge.

He preyed upon the young boys at a time when their sexual identity was still developing.

Some of the assaults r a period of years, he said.

Cloutier did not use threats of violence with the boys, Justice Kane said. Instead, he used his power and position in the church.

Cloutier was serving as parish priest at Paroisse Saints-Anges in North Bay when he was charged in June 2007.

When allegations of the assaults first surfaced from two of the boys in 1983, Cloutier and then diocese Bishop Gerard Dionne showed up at the home of one of the two, while police were there conducting an investigation.

Immediately upon entering the home, Dionne took over the probe. He talked to the two boys separately in an upstairs bedroom and then came down to the main floor where parents and police had gathered to announce he was satisfied nothing improper had happened.

The bishop knew that statement was a lie," Kane said. He was attempting to close down the investigation.

It was a classic case of interception, misrepresentation and damage control."

And it was enough to end the police probe at that time.

I recognize that Bishop Dionne is not on trial here and the Catholic Church is not on trial here. I am only concluding that the bishop and a priest (Cloutier) participated in a shutdown of a police investigation for 25 years."

It was not until 2007 when the charges would once again become a matter for the police. By this time, the number of incidents had grown.

While Cloutier did not speak at that 1983 meeting, he allowed events to unfold as they did for his own benefit, Justice Kane said.

He was a participant in shutting down the police investigation and after that he made the decision to remain silent, that whatever was done was done."

Cloutier's assaults were

actions not simply of adult male, but rather someone who held an elevated position of his church, which is an internationally recognized religious institution."

Cloutier had the power of a priest to the parents of these boys who were devote Catholics and whose strong and lifelong beliefs impacted on their daily lives.

The role of the priest was not just one of trust. It is one of power and of trust . . . near mythical power."

It was not surprising, given that fact, that some 60 people wrote letters of support for Cloutier, said the judge.

The sense of loss and betrayal felt by Cloutier's victims did not just impact them, but so many around them, Kane said.  

What is striking is that after 25 or 30 years, the damage is still ongoing. It has still not stopped. There has still not been in many cases a resolution of that damage."

The Sudbury Star

10 November 2009

Posted By BOB VAILLANCOURT

The victims of Roman Catholic Priest Bernard Cloutier told a Sudbury court Monday how they turned to drugs and alcohol to try and deal with the fact a trusted family friend had sexually abused them when they were just boys.

"It took all the courage and strength of my young mind and soul to tell my mother what had happened to me and once I had, my total world as I had known it for 13-1/2 years began to collapse," one of Cloutier's four victims told the priest's sentencing hearing.

Cloutier was sentenced to five years in prison for sexual assaulting four young boys over a period of nearly nine years, more than quarter century ago.

In victim impact statements both read and filed with the court, the four talked about how the abuse affected them.

None of the four, who are now all middle-aged men, can be named because of a court order. All four talked of dramatic changes in their lives because of the assaults they suffered at the hands of Cloutier.

One said his relationship with his mother was severed because of his revelations.

"My mom was a devout, church-going Catholic her whole life and she simply could not conceive of such heinous acts committed against her family by a trusted friend and so-called pillar of the community.

"My relationship with her was greatly compromised as a result of this crime, and for the rest of her life it became a love-hate relationship. I never got over her abandonment of me," he said.

"Home was never home to me again. As much as I craved her love and acceptance, she seemed to constantly find fault with everything I did and this led to many confrontations between my mother and I.

"I began to go out of my way to stay out of the house as much as possible. It was no longer a safe haven."

In the end, he said, he realized his mother, who died in 2000, was as much a victim of Cloutier as he was.

All four of the victims told the judge how they have sought psychiatric help, and been prescribed anti-depressants to help them deal with the impact of the assaults. They spoke of having difficulty maintaining long-term relationships and of suicidal thoughts, all to escape memories of what happened.

One of the victims talked about how Cloutier entered his life about the time his father had been killed in a hunting accident. His mother had gone into a deep depression because of his father's death, said the man.

"I felt I had lost two parents."

But instead of helping him cope with the loss, Cloutier exploited it, he said.

Turning to face Cloutier, the man said, "Bernie, I trusted you and you betrayed me and my family.

"Today I forgive you and I want you to pray every day to my father and ask his forgiveness for what you did."

Aside from turning to look, Cloutier showed no reaction.

Cloutier "violated everything," said another victim.

Sudbury Star (thesudburystar.com)

09 November 2009

Roman Catholic priest Bernard Cloutier has been sent to jail for five years for sexually molesting young men a quarter century ago at various church parishes in the Sudbury area.

Cloutier was originally charged with 16 charges of sex-related offences involving five young men.

Following a lengthy trial, he was found guilty of 11 of the charges involving four of the five males.

Superior Court Justice Paul Kane convicted Cloutier of five counts of gross indecency, four of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault on four male teens.

The charges were laid in February of last year following allegations by five males, now adults, about incidents that took place from 1970 to 1983, when they were aged 12-17.

Toronto Globe and Mail

From Monday's Globe and Mail Published on Monday, Nov. 09, 2009 12:00AM EST

Last updated on Monday, Nov. 09, 2009 4:07AM EST

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/catholic-priest-faces-sentencing-for-sexual-abuse/article1356154/

KIRK MAKIN

JUSTICE REPORTER

Father Bernard Cloutier will stand alone in a Sudbury courtroom today to be sentenced for his sexual abuse three decades ago of a group of altar boys who had idolized him.

Missing from the prisoner's dock, but present in spirit, will be Bishop Gerard Dionne - named as a culprit in a rare judicial finding that the Roman Catholic Church intervened to forestall criminal charges being laid against Father Cloutier in 1983.

Coming on the heels of a recent scandal over child pornography charges laid against Nova Scotia Bishop Raymond Lahey, the cases raise new questions about the church's response to sexual misconduct within the clergy.

Lawyer Susan Vella - an authority on cases involving sexual abuse within religious institutions - said that the Cloutier case is a rare instance where evidence indicates a high-level attempt by the church to subvert a police investigation.

"I think it's safe to say that it's not a common occurrence for these kind of allegations to come to light, and then be proven," she said.

In 2007, the five complainants came forward one by one to allege that Father Cloutier had groomed them during weekend drinking parties and out-of-town trips three decades earlier, and then sexually assaulted them.

In testimony earlier this year at Father Cloutier's trial, court heard that the priest had an excellent stereo system and often supplied cigarettes and liquor to boys who visited the rectory. One man said that Father Cloutier had been like a big brother: "I trusted him. I thought he was God. He was a best friend."

At the core of Crown counsel Diana Fuller's case was an emotional meeting held in 1983 at the home of one of the altar boys, attended by two Sudbury Regional Police investigators. Early in the meeting, Bishop Dionne and Father Cloutier arrived uninvited.

The lead investigator in the case - retired Detective Fern Kingsley - recalled in an interview that the arrival of the clergymen had no real effect on the meeting.

"By the time that the priest and bishop reached the house, the boys had recanted," Mr. Kingsley said. "They said that nothing had happened. So, I couldn't go anywhere with it. It's just the way things happen sometimes."

However, Mr. Justice Paul Kane of the Ontario Superior Court was skeptical about Mr. Kingsley's version of events. He said that he preferred the testimony of the altar boys and their parents, who insisted that Bishop Dionne, 90, had angrily taken over the meeting. The bishop took the boys upstairs individually to be questioned in private, they said, while the officers meekly waited in the dining room.

The altar boys and their parents also stated that Bishop Dionne flatly informed them after conducting the interviews that Father Cloutier had done nothing wrong - but would nonetheless be sent away for a few months to receive therapy.

Soon after, Father Cloutier was quietly moved to another diocese. "The defendant and bishop used their superior religious positions over devout parents and a religious policeman to halt and neutralize a Crown investigation," Judge Kane concluded. "If the boys recanted, as per Mr. Kingsley's version, why send the defendant for treatment?"

When the altar boys re-emerged in 2007 with their accusations about the long-ago events, Father Cloutier was charged with numerous counts of gross indecency, indecent assault and sexual assault between 1970 and 1983.