Fireworks at the Weave Shed?

Fireworks at the Weave Shed!

The Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall absolutely does not want Roman Catholic American canon lawyer Father Tom Doyle to testify as an expert witness. Doyle is scheduled to take the stand tomorrow (Wednesday, 29 August 2007) after Canadian canon lawyer Father Frank Morrissey OMI!

According to David Sheriff-Scott (the diocese and Bishop Eugene Larocque) the content of some emails sent by Doyle to Dick Nadeau are suffice to disqualify Doyle.

The diocese is fine with Father Morrissey testifying and apparently sees no issue with the fact that

(1) it was Morrissey who certified Father Charles MacDonald’s canon law credentials for ordination in 1969;

(2) taught Bishop Paul Andre Durocher;

(3) probably instructed Jacques Leduc in his canon law studies and possibly it was he who bent the rules to allow him to enter the faculty of canon law;

(4) probably instructed the diocesan chancellor Msgr. Denis Vaillancourt during his canon law studies and is or was friendly with Justice Colin McKinnon

Nor does the diocese deem it problematic that Morrissey is known to have a sympathetic bias toward clerical molesters and enabling them to remain priests.

Morrissey was also known to have a friendship with Father Paul Marchese, an American who became a priest in the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, pursued his priestly formation at St. Paul University, ran the youth group with Father Charles MacDonald, disappeared suddenly from the diocese and surfaced in the Diocese of Albany, New York, and eventually ran off with a male hair-dresser, his homosexual partner. An informed and reliable source told me years ago that Father Morrissey used to visit Marchese in Albany.

I think if there’s potential for bias with either of the pair the case against Father Frank Morrissey wins hands down.

But, Father Morrisey took the stand….

After lunch, or perhaps after Morrissey’s testimony is finished, the fireworks about Father Doyle will fly. Sherriff-Scott was planning to get his arguments of protest together 🙂

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And, in keeping with canon lawyers who look after their own and defend the indefensible, St. Paul University has, I am told hired Monsignor John Renken to teach canon law. This is the Monsignor Renken who was eventually forced to leave the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois after scandalized Roman Catholics demanded his ouster upon learning of his homosexual relationship with Father Kenneth Steffen. Renken is a past president of the Canon Law Society of America and served as a consultant to the U.S. bishops’ ad hoc committee on child abuse.

Hearings resume at 2 pm, any minute now…..

Enough for now,

Sylvia

(cornwall@theinquiry.ca)