I added the Father Leo Campbell csb page last night.
A few bits and pieces…
I had heard “stories” about Father Campbell for years. Word of the lawsuit was not truly a big surprise, at least for me personally.
Campbell was from Dominion, a small community in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. As with all small communities, word travels.
Over the years I heard stories that Campbell had been caught grabbing one young lad in the crotch. He allegedly made a move on the boy again at a later time.
I heard that one mother refused to let her children near Campbell. There are other ‘tales’ – I will have to refresh my memory to ensure I have my facts straight.
The most intriguing story was that around the time of ordination Campbell returned to Dominion with six young lads from Detroit in tow. Campbell allegedly said the boys were his adopted sons!
I don’t know if he did indeed adopt six boys. There was certainly a spell where it seemed to be the “in” thing for clergy to adopt boys. Even Ottwa’s Bishop Joseph Aurele Plourde adopted a boy.
But six?!
And from Detroit?!
Perhaps Campbell just said he had adopted the lads by way of easy explanation for the large escort?
I don’t know. Perhaps he did adopt them, but I see no reference to them in death notices. I shall continue to look.
The fact that the boys were from Detroit struck me as odd. Why boys from Detroit? As I went through directories last night and then onto the net I discovered that Campbell had served his diaconate in Detroit Michigan. He was ordained the following year, the year he landed in Dominion with the six boys.
So what was that all about? I have no idea. But, out of the ordinary is putting it mildly.
There were also stories of Campbell’s penchant for a drink, or two, or three, or four or more. His affinity to the bottle was well known.
My initial understanding was that Campbell was at St. Mary’s when Hod Marshallwas there, at least for a year. As I look at the dates and time-lines of both I see the need for clarification on this. I will look into it further. If anyone has access to St. Mary’s yearbooks for the late 70s could you please check to see if Father Leo Campbell and Hod Marshall are both on staff in the late 70s? I have a gap in Marshall’s time-lines, plus there is the whole issue of school years running from year into the next and when Canadian Catholic Church Directories go to print
I think too that what I would like to do is chart the timelines for Fathers Robert Whyte, Hod Marshall and Leo Campbell. I now need to see their movements year to year side-by-side. They were in and out of the same schools-
But, for now, bottom line is the only thing which can prove of disprove in black and white that Marshall and Campell were at St. Mary’s together for any time frame is the yearbooks.
I have more work to do on the Campbell page – still need to incorporate the rest of the dates and places from the Basilian bio.
I see too that according to the Basilian bio Campbell died at the Basilian residence. I was told by other sources that he died at Southdown. A bit of confusion here? Perhaps he had just been to Southdown before he died? Or perhaps he did die at Southdown and that would ahve proven an embarrassment for the Basilians?
Any clarity anyone can bring is welcome.
I have other things I must get at so will set this aside for now
Enough for now
Sylvia