The Orator, Vol. 10 No. 1
Jan-March 1999

Father Charles MacDonald (Father Charlie) was a 35-year-old teacher when he decided to become
a priest.  He attended Ottawa’s University of Saint Paul Seminary where he was known as  
“the old man” because of his age.  He was ordained in Cornwall in 1969 while Adolphe Proulx 
was Bishop.

According to Faith is Our Strength, a 1994 publication recounting the history of Cornwall’s St.
Columban’s Parish, the parish youth groups had ceased to function by the mid 1950s.  However, 
in the 60s “assistant pastor Charles MacDonald organized the youth group and later with the help 
of the young priest Paul Marchese* the group was quite active.”  

While Bishop Proulx was at the helm, Father Charlie served on the Diocesan Marriage Tribunal. 
 Later, under Bishop Larocque, he was elected Dean to the Diocesan Consultors and Senate of 
the Bishop in the government of the Diocese.  He was also placed in charge of the English 
Cursillo movement and COR (Christ in Others Retreat), a weekend retreat with ongoing activities
 for youth around the ages of 17-21.  For several years the entire Cursillo and youth movements 
of the diocese were in the hands of Fathers Gilles Deslaurier (French sector) and Charles 
MacDonald (English sector).

*Father Paul Marchese, a New York resident, attended Ottawa’s University of Saint Paul 
Seminary and was ordained by then Bishop Adolphe Proulx at St. Columban’s in 1973.  Marchese 
was assigned to that parish “until his return to the Albany, N.Y. Diocese in 1978.”  The Orator has 
learned that Father Marchese created a bit of a sensation in Albany when he showed up in open-
neck shirts and tight pants — not the order of clerical attire in those days.  He was encountered in 
this attire one day by an individual who did not know or recognize that Marchese was a priest.  
Marchese was in the company of a male hairdresser whom he identified as his “companion.”  
According to officials in the Diocese of Albany, Marchese left Albany in January 1984 and some
 time later left the priesthood.  His last known whereabouts were somewhere in Florida.  

Fathers Kenneth Martin and Paul Lapierre were both ordained for the Diocese of Alexandria-
Cornwall by Bishop Brodeur, the former in 1959, the latter in 1958.  They both left the diocese in 
the early 70's while Bishop Proulx was in charge.  Father Lapierre is a brother of Laurier Lapierre, 
a self-declared homosexual and former lecturer at London, Ontario’s Christ the King College.  
Prior to his departure from Cornwall, Father Lapierre served as a member of the Diocesan Liturgy 
Commission, was responsible for the diocese’s marriage prep. programme, and conducted retreats 
at Villa Fatima in Alexandria.  Father Martin, meanwhile, was in charge of diocesan catechetics and 
served as director of la Sainte-Enfance.   The 1973 directory of priests shows both priests residing 
in Montreal at a common address.  At that time, Martin was functioning as a student (he later 
assumed pastoral responsibilities in the Montreal diocese), and Lapierre was active at St. Jacques 
Church on St. Catherine Street.  Both have retained their incardination in the Diocese of Alexandria-
Cornwall while carrying out priestly duties in the Montreal Archdiocese, each eventually assuming 
pastoral responsibilities in the wealthy English-speaking sectors of the Montreal Archdiocese.  
Although absent from the Alexandria-Cornwall, it is known that at least Father Lapierre occasionally 
returned to minister to the flock, witness the following quote from Faith regarding parish missions at 
St. Columban’s:

Forty hours devotions took place annually with special guest homilists such as Corbin Eddy, a 
Sulpician priest who was present for the devotions in November 1982 [Father Eddy is now a priest and 
liturgist in the Archdiocese of Ottawa].  A year earlier, Father Paul Lapierre conducted a successful 
week-long mission which included homilies each evening from Sunday to Thursday.


[inquiry.ca Ed note:  Father Eddy has since left the Archdiocese of Ottawa and returned to the USA]