Roy J. McParland (Father Roy McParland)
priest Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie. Ordained 1955. Sued 2008.
Unless otherwise indicated the following information is taken from Canadian Catholic Church Directories of the dates indicated (CCCD), the 1980 Ontario Catholic Directory (80ON) and media (M)
2010: Apartment in Sault Ste. Marie (CCCD)
22 May 2006: Officiated at a funeral Mass Holy Angels, Schreiber, Ontario http://www2.chroniclejournal.com/obituaries/legault/laura-mcparland
March 2006: Lenten Mission at St. Patrick’s Parish, Sudbury, Ontario
2004: said to have retired
2002, 1999, 1991: Pastor, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario 114 McDonald Ave, Sault Ste Marie (CCCD) (I believe he served here from his appointment in 1984 until his retirement in 2004)
1984: Appointed Pastor Our Lady of Good Counsel (http://olgoodcounsel.diocesessm.org/about/history/en)
1980: Pastor, St. Andrew the Apostle, Sudbury, Ontario (80ON) http://stpatrick.diocesessm.org/News.2006-02-20.4790997595/en/
1966-76: Pastor St. Gerard Majella, Sault Ste Marie, Ontario (http://stgerard.diocesessm.org/about/history/en)
1973-74: Pastor, St. Gerard Majella, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (CCCD)
1967: address Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Sudbury, Ontario (Pastor Father H. Brennan) (CCCD)
1962-1964: Pastor Blessed Sacrament, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (http://www.saultchurches.com/blessedsacrament/previous.asp)
1955-1962: Assistant pastor, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (http://olgoodcounsel.diocesessm.org/about/history/en)
1959: Pastor, Our Lady of Good Counsel, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (CCCD)
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17 February 2010: Care of victims, church urged; Survivors of abuse by ‘monster’ priests need help
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Sault Diocese Knew of Sex Abuse
The Sault Star
October 17, 2008
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie knew Father Jean-Claude Etienne of Warren was abusing altar boys as far back as 1970, a lawyer for two sexual abuse victims said Thursday.
Robert Berube, 53, and a second man known as Claude, recently reached a settlement with the diocese for an undisclosed amount. Berube launched a $3.1-million lawsuit three years ago, followed in 2007 by Claude, who sued for $4.5 million, based on alleged abuse they endured 30 years ago.
The “most dramatic of all the information” discovered was a letter from then-Bishop Alexander Carter warning Etienne to stay away from a number of boys at St. Thomas Apotre Parish, said lawyer Rob Talach at a press conference Thursday.
Talach, with Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers, of London, said Carter sent the letter in July 1970, responding to complaints by parents and listing a number of local boys by name.
Berube told reporters Etienne abused him for three-and-a-half years, starting in 1969 when he was 13. His claim listed a dozen particulars of the alleged abuse, including fondling, oral sex, sodomy, striking, punching, throwing and assault.
The claim alleged Etienne “engaged in a pattern of behaviour that was intended to make the plaintiff feel that his soul was in jeopardy.”
Claude, who asked his last name not be published because he hasn’t told some family members his story, said Etienne also abused him for about three years, beginning when he was 10.
Talach expects more victims to come forward with the publicity of these two cases. He said the diocese should be held even more accountable for crimes committed after 1970, when it was clear leaders knew what was happening.
As Etienne’s employer, Talach argues, the diocese was legally responsible for his actions.
Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe, head of the diocese, said an apology has been issued “to the individuals concerned.”
But a public apology won’t be forthcoming from the diocese, nor will money be contributed to a program to help men suffering post-traumatic stress disorder as a result of abuse by priests.
“A public apology has not been the practice of the church,” said Plouffe.
Berube and Claude are challenging the diocese to establish a program to help male sexual abuse survivors and to fund it.
A similar program in London, Ont., is heavily funded by the Roman Catholic diocese, said Berube.
Plouffe said his diocese simply doesn’t have the money to get involved in such a program at this time.
He said some “worthwhile” pastoral services may have to be “restricted” or “restrained” and other expenses cut to cover the cost of legal settlements.
Talach’s law firm specializes in litigation concerning clergy sexual abuse and has been part of several high profile court cases in Cornwall and London.
He currently has six outstanding cases in this diocese, including a Sault Ste. Marie man who claims he was repeatedly assaulted by a city priest in 1965. Jim Lanigan alleges he was 15 when Rev. Roy McParland sexually abused him, including anal and oral sex.
None of the allegations have been proven in court.
McParland, 77, is the only one still alive of four area priests Talach’s clients are suing. McParland founded St. Gerard Majella Parish before moving on to Our Lady of Good Counsel, where he stayed for two decades until he retired in 2004.
Talach said he is trying to schedule an “examination for discovery,” which involves question and answer sessions with all parties involved.
“There are wonderful, holy men who serve in the priesthood,” said Talach. “There are also some monsters operating in the cloth.”
He said the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie is beginning to deal with these allegations instead of sweeping incidents under the rug, but Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe still needs to be more proactive.
Some larger dioceses, like London, now automatically fund counselling for victims who come to them with credible claims of abuse.
Bishop Plouffe was not available for comment Thursday.
Talach said the Catholic Church has to start looking at clergy sexual abuse as a systemic problem instead of just “a number of rogue, bad priests.”
“Why do so many of these characters end up in the priesthood and are allowed to do what they do for so long?”
Corina Milic, The Sault Star, Carol Mulligan, Sudbury Star
Article ID# 1251982
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Care for victims, church urged; Survivors of abuse by ‘monster’ priests need help
Sudbury Star
February 17, 2007
The lawyer for three men suing the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie for $13.5 million is appealing to the diocese and Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe to do the right thing.
Robert Talach represents three men who allege they were sexually abused by four priests – three of whom are dead – decades ago in parishes in Sault Ste. Marie, Warren and North Bay.
The men were six to 15 years old when the abuse began. They have suffered physical and mental agony, lost educational and work opportunities, and crippling self-blame ever since, Talach said.
His clients need “true Christian ministry right now,” Talach said at a news conference Friday.
“They need the understanding and the care the Roman Catholic faith was founded to provide.”
Talach urged the diocese to be progressive and give them the financial, psychological and spiritual assistance “they so desperately need right now.”
His three clients sat with him for 90 minutes at a table in a meeting room at the Radisson Hotel in downtown Sudbury.
Propped up against water glasses in front of each were photographs of the men taken about the time they allege they were sexually abused.
Robert Berube, 50, formerly of Sudbury, who in 2005 launched a similar suit against the diocese, joined the men. Berube is on sick leave from his job as a school principal in London and works with an organization called SNAP (Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests).
He was there to provide moral support to Jim Lanigan, 59, Daniel Contant, 53, and a man who wishes only to be known by his first name, Claude, because he hasn’t told some family members what he experienced as a child.
Talach asked reporters to be sensitive when posing questions to the men who have suffered what he called a “devastating affliction.”
The men are victims, not only because they were sexually abused, but because of the fundamental breach of trust during their formative years.
Part of the purpose of the public news event was to allow the men to “release their demons” and exorcise their pain, shame and guilt.
Talach said the lawsuits were not an attack on the Roman Catholic faith, but on fallible humans involved in the organization.
“There are wonderful, holy men who serve in the priesthood,” said Talach. “There are also some monsters operating in the cloth.”
His clients allege they encountered monsters when they were young and impressionable, and believed their priests were God.
Claude, 48, sat ashen-faced early in the news conference. Later, he pointed to a large picture of himself as a child.
“That’s the guy that got raped,” he said. “I was gonna’ die.”
Claude said he tried to kill himself twice, and was stunned years later when his sister read him an article about Berube.
Both men say they were sexually assaulted by the same priest – Father Jean-Claude Etienne, who was pastor at St. Thomas Apotre Parish and St. Thomas Separate School in Warren.
The men and their lawyer said that’s why it is so important to go public with their stories. They urge people who may have suffered abuse at the hands of these priests and others – or who may have knowledge about it – to come forward.
Claude alleges he was 10 when Etienne began sexually abusing, assaulting and molesting him for three years. He said he loved the priest.
It is alleged in his lawsuit that clergy, parishioners and others had concerns about Etienne, and some had spoken with former Bishop Alexander Carter about it.
Contant was six and his mother was the organist at St. Rita’s Roman Catholic Church in North Bay when he alleges he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Father Magnus J. Fedy.
He claims the priest showed him pornographic material and exposed him to nude adolescents, both at the church and at Scollard Hall, the Catholic boys’ high school where Fedy worked.
He claims the abuse occurred at the church at Scollard Hall.
Contant claims to have been sexually assaulted again when he was 17 by Father John Fisher, whom he alleges got him drunk and tried to have anal sex with him after he passed out.
Lanigan alleges he was 15 and an altar boy at Blessed Sacrament Church when he was repeatedly sexually assaulted by Father Roy McParland, the only one of the four priests still alive. He alleges the abuse continued for two years.
In 1975, when he was experiencing a personal crisis, Lanigan alleges he sought the advice of McParland, whom he claims took advantage of his “troubled mental state” and sexually abused him again, including oral and anal sex.
Lanigan said he has lost his faith in the Catholic church, “but I have never lost my faith in my higher power,” clinging to it in his darkest hours.
“Without that, I don’t think I could have gone on.”
McParland, 77, retired two years ago, but apparently still says private masses.
Father Angelo Caruso, spokesman for the Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, said Friday the Diocese has retained the law firm Lucenti Orlando Ellies of North Bay to respond to the lawsuits.
“I’m very sorry towards the survivors,” Caruso told The Star, adding he was also sorry for the diocese, which is being portrayed in a negative light.
The men claim in their lawsuits the diocese had a duty of care to its parishioners because of the “close proximity” of its priests to the lives of parishioners.
The Congregation of the Resurrection in Ontario is also named in Contant’s lawsuit