Faith saved priest from a different life

Cornwall Standard Freeholder

03 October 2007

Posted By Terri Saunders

A priest told the Cornwall Public Inquiry Tuesday his life could have gone a very different way in the years after he was sexually assaulted by another member of the clergy.

"It could have taken my faith away," said Rev. Claude Thibault. "It damaged it; it shook it up. But my faith, in my case, is what saved me."

Thibault was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Rev. Gilles Deslauriers in the late 1970s before Thibault, who is now 47 years old, became a priest himself. In the mid-1980s, Deslauriers pleaded guilty to having abused Thibault and other young men and was sentenced to two years of probation.

Thibault said he realized as he got older that the actions of a single priest did not mean the church as a whole should be blamed for the sexual abuse of children.

"The real church is much more than Father Deslauriers who abused me," said Thibault. "The church is much more than its ministers and I include myself in that."

Thibault said while he believes it's important for victims of abuse to be believed and cared for by public institutions, he also worries about people who are alleged to have committed crimes of which they've never been found guilty.

"I think we need to help those who have been falsely accused and had their reputations damaged," said Thibault. "They need our assistance, too."

Thibault said over the years, the negative feelings he had about Deslauriers, the abuse and the after effects have lessened to some degree.

"It's important to let go of the anger, because in my case that anger kept me under the control of my abuser," said Thibault. "The anger and the pain have greatly diminished. It's not easy to forgive someone who showed no signs of remorse but I forgave him because I needed to forgive him.

"He can't take away my freedom anymore and that is such a great feeling." Thibault said.

Under cross-examination, Thibault was questioned as to when he first disclosed to then-Bishop Eugene LaRocque he had been abused by Deslauriers. Late last year, the inquiry heard from Lise Brisson, a city woman whose son, Ben Brisson, was another of Deslauriers' victims.

During her testimony, Brisson said she recalled Thibault telling her about disclosing the abuse to LaRocque during a meeting between the two men, and she recalled Thibault telling her the bishop had told the younger priest he didn't believe his story.

Thibault has since said the meeting to which he believes Brisson was referring was actually a conversation during which Thibault told LaRocque he felt Deslauriers could not be trusted and was "playing games" behind his back.

Thibault said at the end of that conversation, LaRocque warned the younger priest about making such "grave accusations" against Deslauriers, commentary which Thibault said prevented him from disclosing the abuse at that time.

It wasn't until some time later Thibault finally told LaRocque the truth.

On Tuesday, a lawyer for The Victims Group at the inquiry asked the priest if it was possible his version of that first conversation is inaccurate.

"I'm going to suggest to you that you disclosed to Bishop LaRocque that you had been abused by Gilles Deslauriers, that he did not believe and that he failed to take any action," said Dallas Lee. "I'm going to suggest the commissioner consider Mrs. Brisson's account of what you told her to be accurate."

"No," said Thibault.

Lee went on to ask Thibault if he was satisfied with the fact Deslauriers pleaded guilty to having sexually assaulted a number of young people but was permitted to remain active as a priest.

Thibault said he had asked church officials to prevent Deslauriers from participating in an active ministry.

"You tell your boss (about the abuse), you ask for the guy to lose his job and it doesn't happen," said Lee. "If you were working down at the local (department store), he would have been fire.

"Are you concerned about the kind of message that sends?"

"It shouldn't be handled that way," said Thibault. "But we have protocols in place today to address it.

"For a person like Gilles Deslauriers, someone should make sure he is not reintegrated into ministry as he was."

tsaunders@standard-freeholder.com