Silmser's abuse allegations rebuffed by priest: Schonenbach

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

23 July 2008

Posted By TREVOR PRITCHARD

"What do you expect me to do?"

Those were the words David Silmser heard when he first brought sexual allegations against a local priest to the attention of the Alexandria-Cornwall Roman Catholic Diocese, according to the handwritten notes of an Ottawa priest who testified Tuesday at the Cornwall Public Inquiry.

Msgr. Peter Schonenbach was the Ottawa archdiocese's delegate on sexual abuse matters when Silmser called in December 1992, alleging he'd been assaulted decades earlier by Rev. Charles MacDonald at St. Columban's Church in Cornwall.

Silmser would settle in September 1993 for $32,000 with the local diocese in exchange for not pursuing criminal or civil charges against MacDonald. Schonenbach, 71, told the inquiry -which is exploring how institutions like the church handled historical sexual abuse allegations - that he phoned Silmser on Dec. 9, 1992, after Silmser left a message with his bishop's assistant.

During their call, Silmser explained he had phoned Ottawa because when he contacted the Alexandria-Cornwall diocese, the priest on the other end told him, "What do you expect me to do?"

"I don't know if (Silmser's statement) is true or not true," Schonenbach told commission counsel Pierre Dumais yesterday. "But this is what he told me."

Following Silmser's phone call, Schonenbach said he got in touch with Denis Vaillancourt, the chancellor of the local diocese, and Msgr. Donald McDougald, the priest responsible for handling sex abuse complaints.

Schonenbach said one of the men - he couldn't remember which - said the accusations were impossible because MacDonald was "such a wonderful priest."

Schonenbach added he didn't infer anything negative from the comment.

"Frankly, this is the really horrible thing about (sexual abuse by a priest): you can be a man who's doing wonderful pastoral work and hiding all of this," he said.

The next day, Schonenbach met with Silmser in person. Silmser described the alleged assaults, said Schonenbach, and told him he wanted a letter of apology from MacDonald to give to his mother, so she would understand why he turned to a life of petty crime.

Schonenbach summarized that meeting in a two-page letter he sent to both McDougald and then-bishop Eugene LaRocque the next day.

The letters were intended to show the diocese "how serious (the allegation) was," Schonenbach said.

In January 1993, Schonenbach said McDougald called him and asked if he could help arrange a meeting between Silmser and MacDonald - a request that Schonenbach felt was "abusing" his relationship with Silmser. "I certainly wasn't going to go down that road," he said.

McDougald, Vaillancourt, and diocesan lawyer Jacques Leduc would meet with Silmser that same month to discuss the allegations.

 It would not be until 1996 that MacDonald was charged by the Ontario Provincial Police with sexually assaulting minors.

The charges were stayed in 2002, and MacDonald has always maintained his innocence.

Schonenbach testified that Silmser also told him he'd been sexually abused by Ken Seguin, a now-deceased probation officer.

Schonenbach said he didn't take action with the complaint "for the simple reason that it didn't affect the church."

Although Seguin was accused of abusing a number of boys, he was never charged. He committed suicide in 1993

.Article ID# 1125787