Priest continued work despite complaints
Calgary Herald
20 January 1995
Gordon Legge
A Calgary priest being sentenced today on eight charges of
sexual and indecent assault continued parish work for over a year
after the church first heard complaints about his actions.
Most Rev. Paul O’Byrne, Roman Catholic Bishop for the Diocese of
Calgary, received a complaint about Rev. Frank Van Tighem from one
of his victims in October 1989.
It was not until almost 14 months later that O’Byrne put Van Tighem
on an indefinite leave of absence for “health” reasons.
Van Tighem, 69, a member of one of southern Alberta’s most
prominent Catholic families, is to be sentenced in provincial court
today after pleading guilty in December to charges of sexually
touching seven girls aged six to 17 during the period 1960 to 1988.
It was the first such case the diocese had dealt with, O’Byrne told
the Herald Thursday. He said he was operating with some degree of
uncertainty: “I was learning how to spell pedophile.”
After receiving the complaint, O’Byrne confronted Van Tighem, who
admitted there had been “misconduct.”
He sent Van Tighem to a local therapist and had concerns about his
continued activity in a parish setting, but the advice he received
didn’t indicate a need to worry. “The message seemed to me to be
that there was a problem, but there wasn’t anything that could be
done about it at the age that Frank had attained.”
At the same time, in the fall of 1989, O’Byrne put in place an
advisory committee related to sexual assaults and apprised them of
the Van Tighem case.
The former chairman of the advisory committee, which handled the
victim’s complaint, said the committee shares responsibility for not
adequately policing what happened to Van Tighem.
Founding chairman Jack McDonald said the case was a first and no
formal protocols were in place.
The victim says her family was told Van Tighem was in therapy, but
didn’t know he remained on as pastor in the Crowsnest Pass parish in
Blairmore.
Ten months after the original complaint, the bishop transferred Van
Tighem to a parish in Hanna, angering the family. “I thought it was
an incredibly destructive thing to do,” she told the Herald, noting
she had concerns about children in the diocese.
In the fall of 1990, she complained to the bishop’s sexual assault
advisory committee, which then advised the bishop to remove Van
Tighem. In November, Van Tighem resigned as pastor for “health”
reasons.
At the same time O’Byrne wrote the victim an unconditional apology
and offered to reimburse her for any counselling costs.
“Unfortunately, the church generally speaking was very unfamiliar
and uncomfortable in knowing how to properly deal with both victims
and the accused. Therefore, if mistakes were made, I want to assure
you that these were totally unintentional.”
Van Tighem was put on an indefinite leave of absence, sent to
Toronto for counselling and later given an office position at the
Catholic Pastoral Centre. He resigned in 1993 after the committee
recommended his removal from any situation where he might have
contact with children.
In early 1994, he was arrested after another victim, dissatisfied
with the church’s response, reported him to police.
Copyright Calgary Herald 1995 All Rights Reserved.