I am in the process of adding a new page to the Accused list: Father Ashok Mascarenhas sac. The sca means he is a Pallottine Father – a member of a religious order of priests known as the Pallottins (also Pallottines – also known as the Society of the Catholic Apostolate.
At this point I have no idea what sort of trouble Father Mascarenhas got himself into aside the fact he was reported to RCMP, an RCMP investigation was conducted, charges were not laid, and Father had now been shipped back to his native India. According to an archdiocesan press release, despite the fact that charges were not laid “… the Archbishop has determined that there was not full adherence to the code of ministerial conduct expected of all ministers of the Gospel, ” and, for that reason “ the decision to remove Fr. Ashok from priestly ministry in the Archdiocese of Edmonton remains in effect. He has returned to his native India, where he is under the care of his religious community.”
The RCMP is not revealing the nature of the investigation “for the protection of victims and so on.” The officer, according to reports, did say that not all allegations were substantiated, and that actions which were “inappropriate in nature ” were taken by Mascarenhas, but the officer seemed to rule out the actions as being “sex crimes,” but said they were “leaning on the borders.”
According to a spokesperson for the archdiocese the matter ” certainly does not involve a criminal offence.” The spokesperson refused to comment further on the nature of the abuse and whether was any risk to parishioners.
Does anyone know any more about this strange strange sequence of events?
I shall do a little more hunting for info. If you find anything please post or send it along to me.
Enough for now,
Sylvia