The ChronicleHerald.com

By MARY ELLEN MacINTYRE Truro Bureau

Mon. Sep 21 - 4:46 AM

There is a tradition among Catholics, as with many religions, to help those in need.

If a family has fallen on hard times or a church hall burns to the ground, it is customary to give money to help those who need it most.

However, those Catholics within the Diocese of Antigonish, which include parishes in Cape Breton, Richmond, Victoria, Inverness, Pictou, Guysborough and Antigonish counties, will be asked to help pay a $15-million settlement for victims of alleged abuse by Roman Catholic priests. The allegations date back to 1950.

Some say this kind of help may be just a little hard to swallow. With the numbers of churchgoers dwindling and churches throughout the diocese closing, some Catholics say the money is just not there.

Neither is the will, in many cases.

For some Catholics in the 123 parishes of this diocese, it comes down to whether they should pay for the sins of the priests.

Justice David MacAdam of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court certified the $15-million settlement earlier this month, bringing to a conclusion a class-action lawsuit launched by Ronald Martin of Sydney.

Mr. Martin embarked on a court case after the suicide of his brother, David Martin.

In a note Ronald Martin found with his brother’s body, he learned his brother had been abused by the same priest who had abused him in New Waterford when he was 11 years old.

"These are the very priests who hurt the children, who took their youth from them and used their power and authority over them to do vile things," said one Inverness County man who asked not to be named.

"I’ll pay to get work done on the church, but I’m not contributing to this."

Some Catholics wonder if some of the properties in each parish — ball fields, halls, lands, bank accounts, churches — may be put on the auction block to help pay the debt.

They also wonder if money set aside to pay for things like new church roofs and funds raised through bake sales and bottle drives to fix up church halls will be targeted.

"What about the fact that my ancestors . . . struggled to feed their families and give to the church over the years?" asked the Inverness resident. "What about how they built this very church by the sweat of their brow?

"Those old people, they had such great faith and they brought their children up in the same way, to respect the church, to respect the priest.

"They had nothing to do with this and neither did the current generation — the priests were the perpetrators."

Calls to Bishop Raymond Lahey, head of the diocese, were referred to lawyer Bruce MacIntosh.

"The bishop and church leaders understand there is some frustration among parishioners and some find it hard to understand the process," Mr. MacIntosh said in a telephone interview Saturday.

Mr. MacIntosh said Bishop Lahey has opted to allow the lawyer to make all comments on the issue.

"The bishop wants to do what is not just legally appropriate, but spiritually appropriate as well," he said.

Mr. MacIntosh said no one has ever questioned the propriety of the compensation at any of the meetings he has attended in the diocese.

However, some people contacted for this story questioned the propriety of seeking funds from parishes.

Mary-Louise Samson of Petit de Grat, Richmond County, didn’t hesitate to wade into the discussion when contacted by telephone.

"Look, the church is an entity and they claim we are part of that entity and I’ll tell you, the Vatican is the sky-high entity and that is where all the bucks are," said Ms. Samson, a former sister with Les Filles de Jesus.

"At $1,000 an ounce, let the Vatican melt some gold down.

"I have not attended any of the meetings where these things are being talked about, but I was a member of the parish council for many, many years and I’m a former nun.

"Believe me, I know how it works and the only thing they won’t sell to raise money is the cemeteries. You’ve got land throughout these parishes — ball fields, parish halls — they won’t stop selling what belongs to the parishes until they get their money."

Ms. Samson said parishioners put their trust and faith in the church and their priests. To expect those faithful parishioners to pay for the sins of the very ones they trusted is to break faith with the parishioners, she said.

"Although I believe the victims deserve every cent they have been promised, I will definitely not give one cent to the church, even if I won $10 million in a lottery," she said.

"The bishops transferred those priests from parish to parish, knowing what they did to those children, knowing full well what was going on — the people of these parishes did not do that," she said.

Raymond Gregory of Pictou said he hears a lot of coffee-shop talk on this topic.

"Oh, yes, people are talking about it, and the impression I get is people don’t want any part of it," he said.

Mr. Gregory said it is difficult for many churches to collect enough money to pay heating costs.

"These are hard economic times and, in all the conversations I’ve heard lately, no one has ever said, ‘Gee, that’s a good idea. Let’s bail them out,’ " he said.

"The very worst part of it is the victims will pay for this for the rest of their lives.

"Let’s face it, the parish council can make all the decisions they want, but it’s a hard, old pill for the parishioners to swallow."

( mmacintyre@herald.ca)

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Global News

August 7, 2009

An "extraordinary resolution" was reached yesterday when a Roman Catholic diocese in Nova Scotia announced a multimillion-dollar settlement with victims of sexual abuse by a priest. The proposed settlement -- totalling more than $13-million -- brings to end a class-action lawsuit filed by Ron Martin. "I want to formally apologize to every victim and to their families for the sexual abuse that was inflicted upon those who were entitled instead to the trust and protection of priests of the Church," said Raymond Lahey, bishop of the Diocese of Antigonish. Mr. Martin said the abuse he suffered as a boy still haunts him and that it wasn't until his brother's suicide in 2002 he learned the same priest had sexually abused them both.

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