Priest, Archdiocese of Montreal, Quebec. Member of Communaute du Pain de Vie serving in the Archdiocese of Montreal, Quebec. Ordained 1991. 2008, GUILTY plea to charges related to sexual touching of a 10-year-old girl in 2002. Archdiocese of Montreal then financed him to the tune of $60,000 to study canon law at St. Paul U in Ottawa Ontario
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19 November 2008: BLOG No easier to stomach
18 September 2008: BLOG Did your skin crawl?
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Ottawa protesters demand university turf convicted priest
Wed, November 19, 2008
Edmonton Sun
By BETH JOHNSTON, SUN MEDIA
OTTAWA — A group of protesters gathered in front of St. Paul’s University yesterday to alert the public that a Quebec priest who molested an eight-year-old girl on a 2004 church camping trip is studying law there.
Father Philippe de Maupeou, who pleaded guilty in 2007 and served a six-month conditional sentence, is studying canon law on a three-year, $60,000 scholarship at the downtown religious university.
Protesters argued de Maupeou shouldn’t even be a priest anymore.
“This priest needs to be let go, and that’s what we’re here to tell people about,” protester Carlo Tarini said.
“This money is coming from the pockets of the people who go to church and we feel that this is a major affront to all parishioners everywhere.”
Louis Hebert, a bearded man with long, grey hair, paced up and down the sidewalk carrying a large white cross yesterday. “Sexual abuse,” the cross read.
He was one of the dozen people gathered to speak against de Maupeou’s presence at the university.
De Maupeou authorized the university to make a statement saying he’s not a member of the student body, said Pascale Turmel, a spokesman for St. Paul’s University.
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Victims of sex abuse protest at Saint Paul
Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, November 18, 2008
Jennifer Green, Ottawa Citizen
OTTAWA-Victims of clergy sex abuse protested outside Saint Paul University Tuesday, angry that a priest convicted of molesting an eight-year-old would get $60,000 to study canon law.
The nine or so demonstrators with the Association of Victims of Priests hoisted their signs as they huddled into the icy wind on Main Street. One carried a crucifix with “Sex Abuse” on it; another called for all convicted pedophiles to be booted out of the church.
Unbeknownst to them, Rev. Philippe de Maupeou left Ottawa in September, quitting his courses after just a few weeks. He now lives in a supervised ecclesiastical residence under the jurisdiction of the Montreal archdiocese.
“It’s better than just cutting him loose,” said Rev. Alain Faubert, assistant to the vicar general in the archdiocese. “He can never do public ministry again.”
Father de Maupeou pleaded guilty in 2006 to touching an eight-year-old on the breast and genitalia during a camping trip. The 48-year-old priest served in Montreal’s Plateau Mont Royal district with Communauté du Pain de Vie, a religious commune including priests and families who work with the poor.
After the child came forward, years after the incident, Father De Maupeou was not allowed to be near children unsupervised, nor could he live with his commune.
However, Carlo Tarini, spokesman for the victims, said the church still doesn’t understand how serious the offences are. Jean-Claude Cardinal Turcotte of Montreal told a radio station that Father de Maupeou was not a pedophile; it was more an “error of comportment,” he said.
France Bédard, who founded the victims’ association and organized Tuesday’s demonstration, said in an e-mail after she found out the priest had left Ottawa: “Are Canada’s bishops so hard up for recruiting priests that they can’t readily fire convicted pedophiles and other sex abusers?”
Ms. Bédard has launched a civil action against the church, saying a priest raped and impregnated her when she was 17.
The priest died one month before he was to face criminal charges.
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It’s just a mistake, archbishop says
CJAD NewsTalk Radio 800 AM (Quebec)
http://www.cjad.com/news/565/788488
Fri, 2008-09-12 05:41.
Richard Deschamps
Montreal’s Catholic Archbishop says a priest who molested a young girl and made innapropriate gestures to another — is not a pedophile.
48-year-old Phillippe de Maupéou pleaded guilty to the charges and served 6 months in the community.
De Maupéou made headlines yesterday, after it was learned the church gave him $60 000 to pay for law school.
Cardinal Jean-Claude Turcotte says he’s not a pedophile — he just made a mistake.
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Archdiocese gives pedophile priest…a law school grant
CJAD 800 AM
Thu, 2008-09-11 07:22.
Richard Deschamps
The Montreal Catholic archdiocese is handing 20-thousand dollars a year as a law school grant. to one of its priests who, earlier this year, was convicted of sexually assaulting an 8-year-old girl.
48-year-old Philippe de Maupeou was sentenced to six months in the community for his crime, for which he plead guilty. He was also found to have committed ‘inappropriate gestures’ toward another girl.
The chancellor of the archdiocese, Mgr. Michel Parent says, he’s paid his debt to society, and he adds those who call for priests convicted of sexual assaults on children are ‘hard-hearted’.
The priest in question is still with the archdiocese, but is no longer working with the public. He’s going to study canon law at St. Paul University in Ottawa.
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Priest pleads guilty to molesting girl
The Montreal Gazette (Quebec)
Tuesday, September 11, 2007
Philippe de Maupeou, an activist Montreal priest in Montreal’s Plateau Mont Royal district, pleaded guilty yesterday to sexual touching of a girl under the age of 10 during a camping trip in the Lanaudière region in 2002.
De Maupeou, 47, entered his plea at the Joliette courthouse to one count of sexual touching. The crime carries no minimum sentence but a maximum of 10 years in prison, his lawyer, Yves Duceppe, said yesterday.
The incident occurred when de Maupeou, who was administrator of the Immaculée Conception parish, took children on an outing to a summer camp near St. Alphonse Rodriguez.
The girl only told her mother of the incident in 2006, her mother told police. De Maupeou was charged last November. The clergyman touched the girl’s genitalia, Duceppe said.
De Maupeou is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 26. Duceppe noted that he has no prior convictions, is extremely remorseful and has undergone six months of therapy.
De Maupeou will remain a priest, but has been suspended from working in a congregation or a parish and will not be in contact with children or adults, auxiliary bishop of Montreal Anthony Mancini said yesterday. “But because he is a priest and we have a responsibility to care for him, he will be asked to continue to serve the church, but in a bureaucratic way, doing some work in one of our offices.” © The Gazette (Montreal) 2007
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Priest charged with abuse
Plateau cleric accused of molesting girl at camp
Montreal Gazette
Published: Wednesday, November 22 2006
ALAN HUSTAK
An activist Roman Catholic priest in Montreal’s Plateau Mont Royal district is to appear in court in Joliette on March 5 to answer charges he molested a girl who was under age 10 during a camping trip two years ago in the Lanaudiere region.
Philippe de Maupeou is a member of Communaute du Pain de Vie, a religious commune founded in France in 1976, which includes priests, families and their children who work with the poor. The group has been operating in Quebec since 1992.
De Maupeou, 46, has been suspended by the Montreal diocese pending the outcome of a full criminal investigation.
He is is not permitted to be unsupervised in the presence of children and can’t live with his commune, housed in the former presbytery at Eglise de la Conception Immaculee at Papineau Ave. and Rachel Sts.
De Maupeou was the founding director of the Bande FM youth group.
Until recently, he was president of the committee of sacred art and religious heritage for the diocese, and was vice-president of La Fondation du patrimoine religieux du Quebec, the provincial body that oversees religious heritage properties.
The incident involving the girl is alleged to have happened in 2004, when de Maupeou, who was administrator of Immaculee Conception parish, took children on an outing to a summer camp near St. Alphonse Rodriguez, 60 kilometres north of Montreal.
The girl apparently waited until recently to tell her mother, who called the police.
ahustak@thegazette.canwest.com