I have posted Denis Beland’s Victim Impact Statement:
Denis Beland: Victim Impact Statement
This is yet another heart-rending account of the inestimable damage wrought by convicted Basilian molester Father William Hodgson Marshall. While every ‘story’ is now all too familiar, each is different.
As you will see, not only did Denis suffer from the abuse inflicted upon him as a child by Marshall, he was expelled from school for daring to speak the truth. Denis’ life and family were wrenched asunder.
Please please take time to read this poignant statement.
Denis, thank you for allowing us to see and almost reach and touch a little of your pain and suffering. Thank you for helping us all to understand. There are many who follow this site who can learn from what you and others have to say. There are clergy, lawyers and police officers, and there are Roman Catholics who are trying desperately to understand, and there are parents, and husbands and wives and children, and, yes, there are victims – victims who have come forward, and victims who are just discovering that they are not alone, and victims who are struggling to find the strength to speak out. You are reaching out to all those people.
Over the years I have had the privilege of speaking with victims who have allowed me to step into a very private corner of their souls. I have learned so much. Your sharing Denis, and that of others, allows people into a very private corner of your soul. All will learn.
Thank you Denis!
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A little more on Brother Gregory Van Buuren/Brother Gregorius and the Brothers of Our Lady of the Seven Sorrows.
(1) I have heard from a reliable source that there were rumours in Mabou, Nova Scotia that Brother Gregory was going after young lads. It is also felt that he left very suddenly, and that his departure seemed to coincide with a point when the the rumours really started to abound.
It is true that there was a huge farewell do to bid farewell, but it is also true that at that time there was talk and whispers. More on this to come;
(2) Three different people have described Brother Gregory as “creepy”;
(3) The farmland purchased by the brothers was down around Mabou Harbour, a bit of a distance from Mary’s Hill where they operated the Mary’s Hill Home and the site of the shrine. The farming was done by Brother Camilles. Brother Camilles, was, according to my reliable source, different than the others and not around them too much. He was usually in his overalls and at the farm. It is said that the farm was “magnificent.” Brother Camilles had the knack, a fact attributed to his Dutch blood.
The fact that the farm was a distance from Mary’s Hill explains, at least for me, the fact that Brother Camilles bought the farm in 1985 when in fact the brothers remained in Mabou for some years after. I thought – assumed! – that the farm was at the least adjacent to the other properties, ie. the boarding and technical schools, and then Mary’s Hill Home, and of course the shrine.
Not so.
(4) I am told that the brothers often attended Mass at St. Mary’s Church in Mabou. It is possible that the parish priest at St. Mary’s would have said Mass on site at Mary’s Hill on occasion, but at this time I have no proof of that. What is known, as I say, is that the brothers did go to St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church. (None of the brothers were priests so they were reliant on the local priest for Mass and confessions)
(5) My contact recalls Brothers Camilles, Joe, Longinus, Gregory and Paul. There was another brother whose name escapes at this time. There may have been others.
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Alas, Lona is having computer problems – there will be no more translations until her computer is up and running again! I have more information from Crispina but will hold posting and perhaps creating confusion until I have accompanying translations.
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Updates on court dates:
(1) A preliminary hearing for Father Eric Dejaeger is scheduled for 20-21 December 2012. This is in relation to the sex abuse charges in Edmonton, Alberta.
A long wait. And only days before Christmas.
(2) Father Rene Labelle‘s next court date is 24 April 2012
(3) Father Daniel Miller‘s next court date is 25 April 2012.
There is/may be something a little strange about Father Miller’s court date of 28 March. I am trying to get things sorted out before I say any more.
*****
A number of articles posted yesterday. Check NEW to the site. (Access manually by clicking on the NEW button on the horizontal menu under the picture)
Enough for now,
Sylvia
There was another brother name Richard and brother Actavian who became a priest he had a parish in Mc kenzie BC.Later died in a car accident.Actavian visited the farm on weekends. At the home in mabou there was also Raymond,Gilbert and Antony who taught at the school.There were school boys that stayed at the farm as well as as marys hill home.
Thank you DOG. This is very interesting.
When you say those brothers “taught at the school” do you mean that they taught at the vocational school which they operated after they arrived in Mabou? or were they teaching at a local school in Mabou?
Also, are you saying that school boys lived in the same residence as the mentally handicapped? I understood that Mary’s Hill Home was started after the vocational school and boarding school closed. I am a bit lost. Can you tell a little more about the brothers teaching and the school boys boarding at the farm and at Mary’s Hill Home.
Some of the brothers were teaching at a local school in Mabou. Brother Raymond was principal of the school for awhile.I do not believe he was from the first group of brothers that moved to mabou.The school boys from all over the province roomed there, this is before the residence was opened for the handicapped .It was never a vocational school just a boarding house for students (boys) that wanted to attend Mabou school for general programs that were not offered else where.
Boys mostly native boys stayed at the Brothers farm and went to school in mabou .
Thanks. That gives an emerging picture of what developed in Canada. Where would the native young men be from — was there an aboriginal community (band, reserve, other) nearby? Do you have an idea of age and numbers involved in this? Thanks again.
The young native men were from reserves Waymatcook about app.40 miles from Mabou .Some were from Eskasoni and a reserve near Sydney N.S.
They were all school age boys in Grades 7 to 12 .They all went home on the weekends never stayed over.There was always about 3 or 4 boys staying at the farm at a time per school year.The parish priest would also say mass now and then at the farm.There was a room set up fot mass.
I do not recall anyone complaining about the brothers at the farm,but it makes me sick that I did have some close contact with Gregory when I was a young person.I do remember him putting his hand on my shoulder I feel dirty just thinking about it.
You were very fortunate. Harreveld was a home in The Netherlands run by (some of) these brothers and certainly this order of brothers. From there they moved to Nova Scotia. At Harreveld, they left a legacy – as described in the Deetman Report – which was hellish. A translated summary of the Harreveld portion of the Deetman report is planned for this site in the near future. The Harreveld facility was in the province of Gelderland and near my own boarding school (which was wholesome, safe and good, by the way). The brothers had power and control in their dutch environment. The only insight I have into their life in Canada is from your feedback and from reading their published annual reports on the developments in Nova Scotia (annual reports are written in dutch). Which leads me to a final question — how was their ability to speak the english language? Were they fluent? They were not well educated men, i.e. less likely to be conversant in several languages, and since they came over in midlife, I just wonder how they functioned. Thanks… Bedankt. Tot de volgende keer.