Says it notified French of pedophile’s past
Toronto Star
07 April 2010
Denis Vadeboncoeur (Sept. 19, 2005)
ROBERT FRANCOIS, AFP/GETTY IMAGES FILE PHOTO
Jonathan Montpetit
The Canadian Press
MONTREAL–A Roman Catholic order in Quebec is defending its reputation after a former French bishop claimed he was asked to take in one of its priests found guilty of sexually abusing children in the 1980s.
The one-time bishop of Évreux, Jacques Gaillot, told a Paris newspaper this week he regretted appointing Denis Vadeboncoeur to head a parish in western France, where he was convicted in 2005 of child abuse.
But Vadeboncoeur’s old order in Quebec, the Religieux Saint-Vincent-de-Paul, denies it had anything to do with Vadeboncoeur’s career being allowed to continue in France.
They said he went to France on his own initiative in 1987, two years after being given a 20-month sentence in Quebec for sexually assaulting children. He was originally charged in the province with gross indecency and sexually assaulting several children aged 12 to 17, as well as one count of sodomy.
Upon learning of his new position in France, the order wrote a letter, dated Oct. 29, 1987, to Gaillot informing him of Vadeboncoeur’s past.
“We did what we had to do to inform those who were taking him in (in France), so there wouldn’t be any surprises,” said Alain Fiset, who headed Saint-Vincent-de-Paul during Vadeboncoeur’s trial in France five years ago.
“What they did with that information is their responsibility.”
The letter was sent to Gaillot again in 1988 and details Vadeboncoeur’s crimes and punishment in Quebec, noting he served one-third of his sentence after pleading guilty.
Vadeboncoeur received a 12-year prison sentence in 2005 after a trial related to the rape of several minors between 1989 and 1992.
Vadeboncoeur’s old order asserts its members acted properly in its handling of the situation and insists Gaillot must be more willing to accept some of the blame.