For nearly two years Father Robert McGuire was under investigation in New Brunswick, both by police and by the Diocese of St. John, New Brunswick, …..and it was all kept hush hush.

McGuire disappeared from Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Miramichi without explanation, and not  a word from Bishop Robert Harris who was well aware of the reason for McGuire’s departure.  Instead, in tears from the pulpit at his final Mass at the Chatham Head parish,, McGuire read a letter advising a surprised congregation that he had requested and been granted a leave of absence.  (I would imagine the same letter was read at the mission parish, Most Pure Heart of Mary Parish in Barnaby River )

That was March 2010.  For nearly two full years the investigation has carried on, and not a word was uttered.   It was all quiet in the Miramichi.  It was all quiet in the Diocese of St. John, New Brunswick.

No a boo.

I have now learned that the Miramichi police and, more recently, the Fredericton police, have closed their files.  No charges have been laid.

So, no charges, why do I add Father McGuire to the list?  Well, no charges laid can mean many things.  And, there were indeed allegations, so he has indeed been accused.  The list on the site includes those charged, sued or accused.

I will tell you what I have learned, from reliable sources,  since this situation was first brought to my attention:

The Investigation (s)

(1) Father McGuire ‘said’ his last Mass at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Miramichi (Chatham Head, New Brunswick) around mid March 2010.  It was a Sunday – probably 14 March 2010.  As I said earlier, he said he was taking a leave of absence,  And, he shed a tear or two;

(2)  Bishop Robert Harris was aware that there were allegations of a sexual nature from the beginning.  In fact Bishop Harris happened to be  in the Miramichi that very weekend.;

(3) There were a total of four complainants in the Miramichi area: one was age 25.  two were age 16; one was age 15.  All are male.  The allegations related to recent incidents.

(4) The 25-year-old male was ready to stand behind his allegations and go to court;

(5) The families of and/or the teenage boys themselves did not want to go to court.  I have actually heard it is the families who were adverse to the boys having to testify, but it could be the boys as well;

(6) I am uncertain if the investigation by Fredericton police involved one of the complainants from the Miramichi or a fifth complainant.  I believe it is the former – if McGuire took one of the boys to Fredericton and something happened in Fredericton then it would fall under the jurisdiction of the Fredericton police;

(7)   Persons close to the situation tell me that a woman by the name of Mamie Murray was conducting a diocesan investigation.

Mamie Murray,  President of Atlantic Forensic Investigations & Consultants Ltd, a private investigation company specializing in polygraph and lie detector serviced, is based in Fredericton, New Brunswick.

A cached copy linked onto the site from the Mamie Murray link can be accessed here.  I will post both these pages on the Father Robert Borne page later.  (8)  It seems that in addition to the detective agency there may also be a team of three priests investigating for the diocese.  I will try to confirm that.

This of course means that complainants have been subjected not only to questioning by and giving statements to police, but also to the same scenario with Mamie Murray – and she from a detective agency retained by the diocese.

There is a possibility that there has been yet another set of interviews/questioning conducted by three priests from the diocese.   I have been told that there was a team of three priests involved but I want to check that further to ensure it is accurate.  I actually have names of two of the three but will hold on posting them unil I am certain of their involvement.

Father Bob MacGuire

Now a little more information about Father Robert McGuire. (Father Bob McGuire)

(1)  Father Bob McGuire was a “late vocation”  to the priesthood.  He was ordained 19 May 2000;

(2) Originally from the St. Stephen’s or St. John area of New Brunswick, McGuire graduated from St. Thomas University in Fredericton New Brunswick in 1981.  He had attained a BA;

(3) After attaining his BA McGuire worked as a ‘behaviourist’  with the York Central Hospital Association in Toronto;

(4)   Somewhere along the line McGuire felt he was called to the priesthood.  In 1998 he  entered the seminary.  I don’t know which seminary;

It’s interesting to see that there was no bishop in St. John from around September 1997 when Bishop Troy suddenly and prematurely resigned, to October 1998 when Bishop Faber MacDonald was installed as bishop.  I don’t therefore know who in 1998 would have given McGuire the nod to become a priest for the Diocese of St. John?  unless he entered the seminary with plans to be ordained for the Archdiocese of Toronto or elsewhere and then changed his plans? or perhaps, and unless he was given the nod by Bishop Troy back in 1997? (Troy was bishop from April 1986 to September 1997)

Regardless, on 19 May 2000, after two years of seminary formation, McGuire was ordained as a priest for the Diocese of St. John, New Brunswick.  The Bishop of the day was Faber MacDonald (MacDonald served as Bishop of Grand Falls, Newfoundland from 1980 until his appointment to St. John);

(5) From 2000-2002 Father Bob McGuire assisted at  Sts. John and Paul Roman Catholic Church,  in New Maryland, New Brunswick (that’s just outside Fredericton).  The church has a mission at St. Columba Roman Catholic Church in Fredericton Junction, NB.  The pastor was Father Ralph McRae;

(6) There was allegedly a problem of some sort at Sts. John and Paul.  There is talk that McGuire left on a sabbatical in 2002.  Whatever the situation it is understood, rightly or wrongly, that his last parish before arriving in the Miramichi was Sts. John and Paul in New Maryland:  he did not, however, arrive in the Miramichi until 2004.  I have as yet been unable to determine where Father McGuire was from 2002-2004 or if indeed there was anything untoward about his departure.  Any assistance with this would be appreciated;

(7)  Shortly after his arrival at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Chatham Head, New Brunswick (summer of 2004) Father McGuire purchased a home in the Fredericton area.  Parishioners in Chatham Head held a huge house warming party for him at the rec centre in Chatham Head.  There were a lot of gifts, and a lot of cash gifts.  Cash gifts allowed him to buy, amongst other things,  a washer and dryer for his new home.  Parishioners on the whole liked Father McGuire and were happy to help him set up his new home;

Father McGuire travelled back and forth to his home at least once a week.  It’s about a two hour drive, but he would work his trips around his Mass schedule;

(8)  McGuire  used to take young lads on overnight trips to Magic Mountain, a huge water-park in Moncton, New Brunswick.  He took  groups of three or four young lads on camping trips.  He was also a Big Brother;

(9)  There are rumours circulating that McGuire was threatening to have complainants charged for laying false allegations.

There are rumours that McGuire is out of the priesthood ( I don’t think that is fact:  he’s still listed on the Diocese of St. John’s website)

There are also rumours that he was working in  Sobey’s in Fredericton, New Brunswick.  I doubt that, but, who knows?  This of course is the problem when people aren’t told what’s going on.  Rumours abound.

(11)  There is frustration that since the day this began nearly two years ago parishioners and Catholics in the diocese have been left in the dark.  Not a word from the bishop.

As I say, rumours abound.  It’s hard for one and all to separate fact from fiction  when the shepherd isn’t up front and honest with his flock..

 (12) Neither Bishop Harris nor his Vicar General will answer questions I posed by by email.

Silence!

There is much about this whole situation which is troubling.  I am hoping to get a little deeper into it to sort a few more pieces of the puzzle out.  If anyone can shed light on any little corner of darkness please contact me at cornwall@theinquiry.ca.

Meanwhile, keep the complainants and their families in your prayers.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

Enough for now,

Sylvia

That aside I had to spend some time today fixing things up on the site.  The New to the Site page was overloaded.  It locked on me on the control panel -  I couldn’t access it all to add new postings.  Then it dawned on me that it was probably overloaded and the time had come yet again to create a new page.  I relocated all the new postings from 01 August to 28 December 2011 to a new page.  Once that was done all was well I actually debated not posting the old pages of the old New to the Site links but decided that they may come in handy to someone who is looking for a posting from a specific date and isn’t sure where to find it on the site. If they help people find what they are looking for I will certainly leave them.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

I have started a page on Father Rene Labelle, priest of the Archdiocese of Kingston, Ontario and former chaplain at Holy Cross Secondary School.  I will add to it later this evening.

I commend those who had the courage to go to police.

At this point there are no charges – a police investigation is underway.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

As always, please pass on news of the outcome, either with a link to a media coverage or a comment.

*****

I have had Father Denis Vadeboncoeur sv name on the Accused list since last April.  There were also several related articles posted on the site and a couple of blogs.  At that time I was just starting to get the data base together hence  the information was never pulled together and presented in one page.  That has now been done.

I think the information speaks for itself.  It is a rather unique ‘case’ in that Vadeboncoeur, a Vincentian priest (order of Saint Vincent de Paul) in Canada, was, after his conviction and short time in prison,  welcomed into the Diocese of Évreux, France by Bishop Jacques Gaillot.  In short order Vadeboncoeur was given a parish.

In 2000 Vadeboncoeur was reported.  He had resumed molesting young lads shorty after his arrival in France.

In 2005  Vadeboncoeur entered a guilty plea.

What is interesting here is Bishop Gaillot’s tap dancing regarding what he knew and when.  According to a 21 September 2005 article in the Montreal Gazette: “The then-bishop of Evreux, Jacques Gaillot, was caught in a lie when he later claimed he hadn’t been told of Vadeboncoeur’s past.”

According to another article of the same date Gaillot claimed he was told of Vadeboncoeur’s past a few months after the priest’s arrival in France.

In 2010 Gaillot is quoted as saying:  “We were being helpful….We were asked to take in an undesirable priest and we agreed,” the implication here that he was asked to take in a known predator.

In response to Gaillot’s trans-Atlantic mud slinging the Archdiocese of Quebec released the two letters.

There’s a little confusion in various media reports as to what exactly triggered the first of these two letters, but the fact is that on 29 October 1987 the Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Quebec wrote to Gaillot specifically to inform him of Vadeboncoeur’s past.  According to one source Vadeboncoeur was already in France when the letter was dispatched.  According to others the letter was dispatched when it was known in Canada that Gaillot had agreed to take Vadeboncoeur in.

And, four months later a second was dispatched.  It is unclear if this letter was dispatched by registered mail to ensure that it got into Gaillot’s hands, or if it was, as is indicated in one article, because news had reached Canada that Gaillot had assigned Vadeboncoeur to a parish.

The fact is that that letter was sent to Gaillot and he was informed, and by the sound of it, he was warned!  It doesn’t sound at all as though Canadian Church officials were urging Gaillot to take in a convicted sexual predator .

Was Gaillot lying?

Again, and again and again?

I will try to get copies of the letters today, and will also try to get some dates squared away, as well as find out when exactly Vadeboncoeur left the Vincentians.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

I posted the John Carson MacKenzie Statement of Claim alleging abuse by Father Malcolm MacEachern (no relation)

01 December 2010:   John Carson MacKenzie Statement of Claim re Fr. Malcolm MacEachern

Father Malcolm MacEachern became Bishop of Charlottetown, PEI.  He was essentially molesting that boy until he, MacEachern, headed off to Charlottetown.  And then in due course MacEachern was off to Rome as one of the Fathers of the Second Vatican Council.  He attended all sessions.

I cringe.  True, the allegations have not been proven in court, still, I cringe.

John, I commend you for speaking up.

*****

I draw your attention here to a comment I just posted on the Father Barry McGrory page. A strange turn of events indeed.  Do these priests have no shame?  None?!!

Enough for now,

Sylvia

*****

A guilty plea today from Father James Boudreau:

25 January 2012: Former Guelph Catholic priest pleads guilty to two historic sexual assaults longer version

25 January 2012: Former Guelph Catholic priest pleads guilty to two historic sexual assaults

25 October 2012:  Retired priest pleads guilty

It took Boudreau a year to decide that he was guilty.  Faster than many I know, but still a lot of time to meditate and play the ‘not guilty’ game.  I still do not understand how these men can go on and on and on – in and out of court date time after time – and all the while feigning innocence.  I am sure at  his sentencing we’ll hear that Boudreau deserves hugs and praise for his guilty plea.  It goes right over the top of my head.

But, he is guilty.  Boudreau is indeed a sexual predator.  And yes, he is indeed a criminal.  And he did indeed molest those boys.

To the two victims who came forward, thank you!  Thanks to your courage we now know that Father James Boudreau is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.  You stripped off the sheep’s clothing for us.  We see the wolf.  Thank you!

And now it’s up to Bishop Doug Crosby.  Has he put the wheels in motion to have Boudreau laicized/defrocked?  He should.  Has he?  Will he?  He must.  Boudreau has proven himself unfit to be a priest.

*****

 I hear via the grapevine that the former bishop of Antigonish, and now convicted criminal Raymond Lahey, is house hunting in Vancouver.  True or false?  I don’t know with certainty, but, keep an open eye out there on the West coast.

Also, I am told that Lahey spent  a lot of time in Saskatoon over the last few years.  In fact, Catholics in Antigonish complain he was never there, and  some in Saskatoon felt that he practically lived in their fair city.

What, I wonder, was the attraction in Saskatoon?

*****

I have heard nothing as yet of (1) Father Eric Dejaeger omi court date of yesterday  in Edmonton Alberta, or (2) the Father Rheal LeBlanc csc court date of yesterday in Welland, Ontario.  If anyone has any news on either please pass it along.

*****

I have more bits and pieces of info from the Archdiocese of Ottawa to post.  All being well I will do some more scanning and posting tomorrow.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

(1) Father James Boudreau:  Guelph court house, Guelph, Ontario for continuation of pre-trial.  This is not open to the public and it is highly doubtful that Boudreau will be in attendance;

(2) Holy Cross Father Rheal LeBlanc:  Welland, Ontario court house.  I don’t unfortunately have the time.  It is probably early, around  9:30am  or 10 am.  But it could be earlier, i.e., 9 am.  If I were going I would be there for 9 am just to be sure;

(3) Frequent flyer Father Eric Dejaeger omi is due in the Edmonton, Alberta court house at 9 am, courtroom #256 “for election and plea.”

Please remember the complainants in your prayers, and please, as always, pass on word of the outcome by posting a comment and/or link to media coverage.  Because it is a pre-trial conference I doubt that there will be any media coverage on the Father Boudreau  court date, but there should be coverage on the other two.

Enough for now,

Sylvia

It’s always hard to know what exactly will happen at these ‘revolving door’ hearings.  I call them ‘revolving door’ because really, that’s what it seemed like to me when I first started following court cases.  The lawyers it seemed were in and out of courtrooms, – on and on and on.  For someone who once naively thought a trial was always just around the corner, it was a rude awakening for me!

Bastein may or may not be at today’s hearing.  And there may or may not be something of merit happening in court regarding the charges.  Sometimes it’s just a case of picking another court date.  Often it is a junior lawyer from the firm who shows up, and likewise it is often an assistant to the Crown or Assistant Crown who is handling the case.

Anyway, today is the day.  Please keep the complainants in your prayers.  No matter what does or does not happen today they come to this day filled with a multitude of hopes and fears. Each court date is difficult.

As always, please pass on links to any media coverage

Enough for now,

Sylvia

Please pass on links to any media coverage.

And, as always, remember the complainants in your prayers - those in Igloolik, those in Baker Lake and those in Edmonton, Alberta.  Court days are always particularly difficult.

It’s a busy week this week.  Heads up here on court dates for the remainder of the week:

(1) Father Linus Bastien, Tuesday, 24 January 2012:  9:30 am, Windsor, Ontario “To speak to”

(2) Father James Boudreau , Wednesday, 25 January for continuation of pre-trial.  This is not open to the public.

(3)  Holy Cross Father Rheal Leblanc, Wednesday 25 January 2012, Welland, Ontario courthouse.  I will try to get the time before Wednesday

(4)  Father Eric Dejaeger is supposed to be back in Edmonton Alberta: 9 am, courtroom #256, Edmonton, Alberta courthouse, “for election and plea”

I encourage those with the time and within driving distance of the court house to attend.  It is important for the complainants to know there are people out there who care enough to show up, and I personally believe it is important that we all become familiar with the legal process.

******

I’ve been battling a cold bug for weeks which just won’t leave me alone.  I think it’s on it’s way – then it’s back with a vengeance.    I did get to Mass yesterday, but came home and straight into bed.  Not the end of the world by any means, and I did get a short blog together –  just explaining why I have not been  on top of things

Enough for now,

Sylvia