Sullivan: Father John E. Sullivan

John Edward Sullivan

Priest, Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario.  Ordained 25 May 1958.  Charged 1989.  Eventually faced 32-charges related to allegations of sex abuse of nine boys age 9 to 12 between the years 1958 and 1979.  GUILTY plea.  Lawsuits launched by three brothers alleging abuse by Sulllivan when he served as priest at Canadian Forces Base Falconbridge, Ontario

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Bishops of Sault Ste. Marie Diocese since Father Sullivan’s ordination :

Alexander Carter  (Coadjutor Bishop: 10 Dec 1956 - Bishop 22 November 1958 - 03 May 1985); Marcel André J. Gervais (03 May 1985 -  13 May 1989  when appointed, Coadjutor Archbishop of Ottawa, Ontario) ; Jean-Louis Plouffe (02 December 1989  -  )

Auxiliary bishops:  Adolphe E. Proulx  (2 Jan 1965 – 28 April 1967 [ also served as Chancellor from 1960 - 1965] ); Roger-Alfred Despatie (20 May 1968 – 8 February 1973); Gérard Dionne ( 29 January 1975 – 23 November 1983);  Bernard Francis Pappin (29 January 1975 – 27 Aug 1998);  Marcel André J. Gervais (03 May 1985 – 13 May 1989); Jean-Louis Plouffe (12 Dec 1986 - Bishop 2 Dec 1989);  Paul-André Durocher ( 20 January 1997 – 27 April 2002); Robert Harris 26 October 2002 – 8 May 2007); Brian Joseph Dunn (16 July 2008 – 21 Nov 2009).

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04 December 2010: Statement of Claim: J.J.J. and John E. Sullivan and the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation of the Diocese of Sault Ste Marie

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The following dates are drawn from the materials which I have on hand, specifically the Canadian Catholic Church directories (CCCD) of that date, the 1980 Ontario Catholic Directory (OCD), media (M) and legal documents (L)

04 November 2011:  Lawsuit filed by P.S.S

2010:  boul De Roseraies, Anjou, Quebec  (CCCD)

2002, 2000, 1999, 1998, 1997, 1996, 1995, 1994:  2533 De La Salle St., Montreal, PQ.  H1V 2L4  514-255-9882 (Cardinal/Archbishop Jean-Claude Turcotte) (CCCD)

1993, 1992, 1991:  not listed in directory (CCCD)

1992:  GUILTY plea to 32 offenses involving 13 altar boys.  One of the victims was P.J.J.  (M)

September 1990:  trial to be set

Winter 1989:  arrested at Mary Lake Monastery near Toronto (why was he at Marylake?)

1985-86:  address for St. Mary of the People  570 Marion Ave., Oshawa, Ontario (Pastor: Father Thomas Melady) (this church is in the Archdiocese of Toronto – Cardinal/Archbishop Emmett Carter) (CCCD) (why was he serving in the Archdiocese of Toronto?)

1980:  Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption, North Bay, Ontario (Rector Father D.J. MacLellan with Fathers A. McMillan, T. O’Connor and Fathers N.F. Clement and J.E. Sullivan in residence) (OCD)

-“officialis”  with the marriage tribunal and auxiliary Bishop B.F. Pappin “Defensor Vincui”   (interesting, Father Hod Marshall csb is listed as a member of the Senate of Priests) (OCD)

1958-79:  intermittently at Pro Cathedral Assumption, North Bay, Ontario (M)

1973-74: Chaplain,  North Bay Psychiatric Hospital. (CCCD)

1971-72: Chaplain,  North Bay Psychiatric Hospital. (CCCD)

“Offiiciaité” monsignor  B.F. Pappin, P.D. déf du line & John E Sullivan, notaire (CCCD)

1968-69: Ste. Anne RC Church, Sudbury (administrator, Father R. G. Hebert) (CCCD)

allegations in lawsuit relate to sex abuse by Sullivan in or about 1968.  The abuse transpired in the victim’s home, in the church and in the rectory (L)

1967:  chaplain St. Joseph’s General Hospital and Ontario Hospital, North Bay, Ontario (CCCD)

1958-61:  St. Monica’s RC Church, Wawa, Ontario (M)

25 May 1958:  ORDAINED

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31 March 2011:  BLOG A Lark!

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Brothers never shared abuse details

 The Sudbury Star

May (?) 2011

By CAROL MULLIGAN, THE SUDBURY STAR 

Three brothers suing a former Sudbury-area Roman Catholic priest for sexual abuse have outlined the nature of the abuse they allegedly suffered more than 30 years ago in statements of claim.

But the three men, now in their 50s, have never shared with each other details of the sexual acts they say they were forced to perform by Father John E. Sullivan in the late 1960s when he was priest at Canadian Forces Base Falconbridge.

The eldest of the brothers, now 57, lives in Nova Scotia. He said it wasn’t until last year that he and his brothers, known as BJJ and RJJ in their statements of claim, discussed launching civil lawsuits against Sullivan, now in his late 80s, and the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie.

PJJ said he and his brothers were “pure as white snow” when the priest began molesting them.

“I did not know at 14 about the birds and the bees, let alone the birds and the birds,” he said in a telephone interview from Halifax.

Sullivan, who lives in Montreal with a sister, was convicted in 1992 of several criminal charges of sexual assault against the brothers and other boys in four different locations in Ontario, said PJJ.

The allegations contained in the lawsuit have not been proven in court.

PJJ recalled Sullivan being sentenced to two years and six months after pleading guilty to 32 offences involving 13 altar boys, although he said he didn’t think Sullivan served federal time for the convictions.

The brothers are each suing the diocese and Sullivan for about $3 million, the maximum allowed under the law. There is no statute of limitations on sexual assault charges.

PJJ said he was together with his two brothers and their wives about a year ago when one of the women asked why they hadn’t filed civil lawsuits against the priest.

PJJ said he left the discussion, telling his family, “Because I don’t want to go through that (pain) ever again.”

After thinking about it for a couple of months, he began considering a lawsuit. He had read about lawyer Rob Talach, of Ledroit Beckett Litigation Lawyers of London, Ont., representing women in Yarmouth, N.S. in a sexual abuse suit there and contacted him.

Talach is representing at least a dozen clients in civil lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and priests who served in it in the last 40 years.

The three brothers allege they were repeatedly sexually abused by Sullivan at their home at CFB Falconbridge. At the time, they did not know that all three were victims of the same man, said PJJ.

In an interview last week, Bishop Jean-Louis Plouffe said the Roman Catholic Diocese has offered some counselling to victims who have come forward over the years saying they were abused by priests.

But PJJ accused the diocese of being more interested in protecting its priests, and getting help for them, than helping victims.

PJJ said when he told his parish priest in NS two decades ago about the abuse he had suffered as a boy, he was bitterly disappointed in his priest’s response.

PJJ was then president of his church’s parish council and his wife suggested he speak with his pastor.

“I told him what happened,” said PJJ. “I was getting ready to pour my soul out to him. He just shook his head and said: ‘Why do people have to continually try to attack us?’ ”

PJJ said he left the Roman Catholic Church at that moment.

It has been a difficult year since the brothers decided to sue, said PJJ.

“I’m hoping this will really put an end to what’s going on. It’s affected my family, the way I raised my kids,” he said.

The lawsuits are not about money, he said. Most civil lawsuits are settled for pennies on the dollar of the damages being sought.

“We want an apology. We wanted support, it fell on deaf ears … and the only way we could figure out how to poke them in the eye to make them stand up and take notice is to start this lawsuit,” he said.

“And I’m hoping, with our lawsuit, other people will come out and say” they were also abused.

cmulligan@thesudburystar.com 

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Priest to be tried on sex charges

17  August 1990 

Edmonton Journal.

A 65-year-old Roman Catholic priest was ordered to stand trial Thursday on 32 sex-related charges involving boys over a 21-year period.

Rev. John Edward Sullivan, waived his right to a preliminary hearing and elected to be tried by a judge in North Bay, Ont. District court Judge Jean-Gilles Lebel said a trial date would be set Sept. 26.

Lebel also granted a request by defence lawyer Paul Rivard to transfer charges to North Bay from other Ontario communities where Sullivan is charged.

Sullivan, who now lives at the Mary Lake Monastery near Toronto, was arrested by North Bay police last winter.

He was charged with nine counts of indecent assault and six counts of gross indecency.

The charges relate to incidents against nine males while Sullivan served as a priest at the Pro-Cathedral Assumption from 1958 to 1979.

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Former priest faces 30 charges across Ontario

The Ottawa Citizen

08 February 1990

SUDBURY, Ont. (CP) _ A former Roman Catholic priest now faces a total of 30 sex-related charges involving incidents alleged to have occurred here over two decades ago.

Rev. John Sullivan, 64, of the Mary Lake Monastery in King City, Ont., appeared in provincial court in Sudbury Wednesday where preliminary hearing dates of Oct. 29 and 30 were set in the case.

In December, Sudbury Regional Police charged Sullivan with four counts of indecent assault on a male and four counts of gross indecency, but have since laid four additional charges of indecent assault.

The charges stem from incidents alleged to have occurred between 1966 and 1970 while Sullivan was serving at St. Anne’s Church in Sudbury.

Sullivan faces 18 other sex-related charges across the province including a total of seven in Midland, Wawa, and Sault Ste. Marie for alleged incidents dating back to 1958.

The remaining charges are are for incidents alleged to have occurred in North Bay between 1966 and 1979, while Sullivan served intermittently as priest at the Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption.

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Canadian Press

01 December 1989

SAULT STE. MARIE, Ont. (CP)

A Roman Catholic priest, already facing 13 charges of sexual assault, has been charged with two counts of indecent assault, police said

Fr. John Sullivan, 63, who lives in the Toronto area, was charged in Sault Ste. Marie on Thursday.

The assaults occurred between 1958 and 1961 at the Precious Blood Cathedral in the city, police said

He has also been charged with three counts of sexual assault on boys while he was at St. Monica’s Church in Wawa, Ont., from 1958 to 1961. Wawa is about 100 kilometres north of Sault Ste. Marie.

The boys were between nine and 12 years of age at the time.

He also faces six charges of indecent assault and four counts of gross indecency in North Bay, where he served intermittently at the Pro-Cathedral of the Assumption from 1958 to 1979.

He has been released on bail and is scheduled to appear in court Jan. 16.