A strange saga

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I have added a page with further information Father Rene Touchette.

Touchette, a priest with the Diocese of Saint Boniface, Manitoba, was convicted in 1995 for sexually abusing three boys in the 70s and early 80s.

There are several things of particular interest here:

(1)  In May 1992, after sex abuse allegations against him, Touchette was removed from St. Jean Baptiste Roman Catholic Church, St. Jean Baptiste, Manitoba

In early December 1992 Touchette launched a wrongful dismissal suit claiming he had been fired on the basis of innuendo!!

Around 14 December 1992 Father Rene Touchette was charged with four counts of gross indecency and four of indecent assault.  The charges related to the sex abuse of three boys in the 70s and early 80s while Touchette was serving at Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativite in Somerset, Manitoba

(2)  Touchette was convicted on three counts of indecent assault.  I don’t know what happened to the three charges of gross indecency, nor do I know when he was convicted.  He was sentenced to 30 months.  In legal documents he is described as “unrepentant”;

(3) In 1995 Touchette appealed his 30 month sentence –  according to court documents he was suffering from and being treated for cancer.  His sentence was reduced to 20 months;

(4)  I believe Father Rene Touchette is probably still alive.  He was listed in the 2011 Canadian Catholic Church Directory;

(5)  Last November Archbishop LeGatt (Archdiocese of Saint Boniface) arrived in Somerset, Manitoba and addressed parishioners on “the sexual abuse perpetrated by some members of the clergy” in the “Somerset and Mountain region”.  Strange to say, the Archbishop did not name these molesters but referred to them only as “priests” and “certain members of the clergy.”

I believe that this belated apology and offer to meet with the victims and seeking reconciliation would include the victims of Father Touchette?

A link to the “pastoral message” delivered by the archbishop is posted on the Father Rene Touchette page, but for convenience I will post it here as well:

26 & 27 November 2011: Archbishop Albert LeGatt Pastoral Message to parishioners at Notre-Dame-de-la-Nativite Parish in Somerset, Manitoba  re “the sexual abuse perpetrated by some members of the clergy “in the “Somerset and Mountain region”

What I wonder prompted this?  Does anyone know?

Father Touchette obviously was not defrocked.  Whether or not he has assisted at Masses since his conviction is, at this time, unknown.

Any further information on this strange saga is most welcome (email me:  cornwall@theinquiry.ca)

*****

I got taken up today with something which is a little beyond my usual dealings.  I received an email from a woman who discovered that one of her tenants is a convicted sexual predator who was listed as a high risk offender in 2006.  She came across an article about this man on my old website (www.theinquiry.ca).   She called a police officer and, according to her email was assured that   ” he won’t do it again” and that the info she had found on my site was not all true.”  Because the article was posted on my site I felt an obligation to do what I can to help this woman.

I called the police officer.  We had an interesting chat.   I would like to and will speak to this woman to get more details before I elaborate further.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

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5 Responses to A strange saga

  1. 1yelllowknife says:

    Based on the Martin Houston (Devil of Grollier Hall) burial and related matters — my confidence that Archbishop LeGatt will do anything for Touchette victims and those impacted by Touchette’s abuse is sorely lacking. Would love to be proven wrong, however.

  2. Leona says:

    Happy New Year, Sylvia! I’m just looking through the information on Touchette, and notice the link to the pastoral letter is not working. I’m very infested in reading it.

  3. Sylvia says:

    Happy New Year to you too Leona!

    I fixed the link. Try it now – it should work.

  4. Ron Messner says:

    He abused a lot more than 3 boys, I can tell you with a great deal of confidence. He also turned a lot of boys/men away from God. His legacy is only sad, pathetic and hurtfull.

  5. Bernard says:

    As a somewhat survivor of priestful lust, I find I have not been turned away from the Creator, possibly not even from the Christian God… however, I have been totally turned away from all so called christian religions… from most authoritarian control… from the French language as the priest (Roland Roy) was French (in spite of having tried to improve my knowledge of the language)…
    On the truly positive side, I have become a spiritualist… mostly aboriginal, but it also made me realize that Christ left us the Spirit obviously because he wanted us to be spiritual rather than religious…
    As a good friend and spiritual healer, who was himself a priest who had been abused as a child said to me, “Only through grass roots beginning will the Church change and to do this it must be financially bankrupt”.

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