priest, Diocese of St. Paul, Alberta. Ordained 1951. 1989 Charges laid 1989 related to allegations of sex abuse of three children in the Diocese of St. Paul, Alberta in the 60s. Initially not guilty plea.
Judge threw out sex abuse charges (sodomizing a young boy from age 6 to 17,) In 1991 plead GUILTY to five counts of indecently assaulting the latter complainants three sisters, one who was age three when the molesting started. He also admitted to sexual relationship with the complainants’ mother as well as a homosexual encounter with another priest. ( Media reports of the latter info will scanned and posted at a later date)
Sentenced to 15 months custody in a sex offender program.
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The following dates and locations are drawn from Canadian Catholic Directories (CCCD) of that date, media (M) and other sources as indicated
15 October 2012: concelebrates at a funeral Mass at St. Joseph Roman Catholic Church in Fort Kent, Alberta
26 August 2010: active participant in the sanctuary at St. Paul Cathedral at a Mass honouring the centenary of Mother Theresa’s birth. Croteau concelebrated with four other priests and then distributed Holy Communion while the other priests remained seated in the sanctuary.
2010: C.P. 1454, St. Paul Alberta (CCCD)
2000: C.P. 3270, Hinton, Alberta (CCCD)
1997, 1995: C.P. 99, Radway, Alberta
diocesan contact for Charismatic Renewal and Missions (CCCD)
teaching at John Paul II Bible School in Radway Alberta – offering Mass daily, hearing confessions and providing spiritual direction. AFter complaints form the laity his faculties were revoked. He continued saying “generational” healing Masses, conducting “exorcisms” and hearing confessions.
1993 (?) – served as spiritual director to Mother Theresa’s Missionaries of Charity for about a year until Father Antoine Tetu was out of jail and took over
1992: address of St. Paul Diocesan centre (CCCD)
1991: Convicted (M)
1989: Charged (M)
1978-89: Pastor, St. John the Baptist RC Church, Morinville, Alberta (source: Art in the Park: Tableaus in St. Jean Baptiste Park, Morinville, Alberta)
1985-86: Pastor, St. John the Baptist RC Church, Morinville, Alberta (CCCD)
1968-1973: Pastor, St. Dominique RC Church, Cold Lake, Alberta (source St. Dominic’a website)
1973-74: Pastor, St. Dominique RC Church, Cold Lake, Alberta (CCCD)
member of “Conseil d’administration” (CCCD)
1971-1972: Pastor, St. Dominique RC Church, Cold Lake, Alberta, and Holy Rosary mission church (CCCD)
member “Conseil d’administration” (CCCD)
member “Consulteurs diocesains” (CCCD)
diocesan contact for Caisses Populaire (CCCD)
diocesan contact for Alberta Catholic Welfare Association (CCCD)
1969: Vicar General for Diocese (Philippe Lussier CSsR Bishop of St. Paul)
member “Conseil d’administration” (CCCD)
member “Consulteurs diocesains” (CCCD)
diocesan contact for Alberta Catholic Welfare Association (CCCD)
diocesan contact for Caisses Populaire (CCCD)
1967: Vicar General and Rector at Cathedral (Philippe Lussier CSsR Bishop of St. Paul)
member “Conseil d’administration” (CCCD)
member “Consulteurs diocesains” (CCCD)
diocesan contact for Alberta Catholic Welfare Association (CCCD)
diocesan contact for Caisses Populaire (CCCD)
Visiteur d’ecoles
Association des Educateurs bilingues de l’Alberta
1959: Administrator, St. Isidore, Plamondon
Assistants visiteur d’ecoles
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31 March 2011: BLOG That would make sense
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Canadian Press
May 22, 1991 17.54 EDT
EDMONTON (CP)
In the last two years, three Roman Catholic priests from the northeastern Alberta diocese of St. Paul have been convicted of sex crimes against children.
To the other priests of St. Paul, why the crimes have happened among them is still a mystery. Perhaps a bigger puzzle is how such offences should best be handled.
Earlier this month, Rev. Fernand Croteau was convicted of indecently assaulting three girls from his parishes in St. Paul and Cold Lake, Alta. He was sentenced to 15 months’ custody in a sex offenders program.
Rev. Antoine Tetu is serving a two-year jail term after pleading guilty in 1989 to two charges of indecent assault and four charges of sexual assault against five girls and one boy.
And Rev. Armand Beaupre was sentenced in March to 15 months in a sex offenders program for indecent assault and gross indecency with a youth.
The RCMP have said they found no links between the cases, but all involved complaints that surfaced several years after the incidents.
The three priests are among dozens of Catholic religious leaders across the country to be charged with sex offences in the last few years.
NO SERMON
Raymond Roy, bishop of St. Paul, did not discuss the latest conviction in a recent sermon and has said repeatedly he does not want to deal with the issue in public.
“I do not wish to speak to the media,” Roy says. “The option I have chosen . . . is to give my diocesans information, and I strive to motivate them, first and foremost, in forgiving and adjust in a Christian way to this sad situation that has touched everyone.”
During the trials of Croteau and Beaupre, the court heard that Roy did not go to police after hearing allegations that the priests had been involved in sexual assaults. Legally he didn’t have to.
But Jane Karstaedt, executive director of the Sexual Assault Centre in Edmonton, says priests have a moral obligation to speak out.
“Child sex abuse has been able to carry on for so long because of the secrecy surrounding it. If you speak out, you declare that you’re putting a stop to it.”
Roy told the media earlier this year that he follows the Edmonton archdiocese’s guidelines on sexual abuse, which lay out specific steps to be taken when a parishioner complains of sexual abuse.
OFFERED PRAYERS
But Rev. Roger Guerin, now pastor at Cold Lake, said he has never seen a copy of the Edmonton guidelines, nor can he recall being briefed on the issue. But he said the bishop has occasionally mentioned the problem at priests’ gatherings and has offered prayers for those involved.
Guerin suggests part of the reason for Roy’s silence may be that he’s feeling overwhelmed.
“My impression is that he doesn’t know what more he can say that would improve the situation or satisfy the public.”
Rev. John Hamilton, chancellor of the Edmonton archdiocese, says opening the closet on hidden sins from the past may have therapeutic value, but he questions how useful it really is.
“There’s some bewilderment out there,” says Hamilton. “How could this happen? How could it not come to light until now? What’s the justice of dredging it up after 25 or 30 years?”
Karstaedt says that coming forward with a complaint is part of the healing process for the victim.
“These people weren’t heard when they were children. They continue to feel the abuse. It’s affected their lives.”
Edmonton lawyer Fred Day, who defended all three St. Paul priests, wouldn’t comment specifically on their cases. But he speculates that the lack of social opportunities for priests may have led to the sex offences.
“They became socially isolated. They had little opportunity to go out and play hockey, go for a drink. The degree of isolation might have made the proclivity for child molestation.”
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Canadian Press
February 10, 1990 01.16 EST
ST. PAUL, Alta. (CP)
A third Roman Catholic priest in the St. Paul diocese has been charged with sexual assault.
Rev. Armand Beaupre, 59, has been charged with one count each of indecent assault and gross indecency. The charges were alleged to involve a teenaged boy.
Beaupre had not been served with a summons Friday and was believed to be staying in the Edmonton area. He will be served within the next few days and is to appear March 14 in court in Grand Centre, Alta.
RCMP said the charges stem from incidents while Beaupre was a priest at the Cold Lake Mission from 1976 to 1983.
Beaupre is the third priest from the St. Paul diocese to be charged with sexual offences and the fourth in Alberta in the last two years.
Rev. Antoine Tetu received a two‑year sentence after pleading guilty last year to sexually assaulting children in Fort Kent,
Alta. Rev. Fernand Croteau has pleaded not guilty to charges of sexual assault of children in the St. Paul area dating back to the 1960s.
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Canadian Press
June 30, 1989 02.23 EDT
ST. PAUL, Alta. (CP)
The locals have often thanked God that brutal crimes rarely touch them, but recent allegations that children were sexually abused by Roman Catholic priests have left many feeling betrayed and angry.
“This has hit myself and most of the community with a great deal of shock,” said Paul Emile Boisvert, a parish member and assistant superintendent of St. Paul schools.
He prays the ordeal will make the northeastern Alberta town of about 5,500 a better Christian community. But he says it must first go through a trying time.
“It’s like a fatal disease,” he said. “Your first reaction is shock, dismay and then anger. Once that passes we’ll start to realize how we can come together and help the victims.”
Charges against Rev. Fernand Croteau, who moved to St. Paul a month ago and served in the parish during the 1960s, are front‑page news in this heavily francophone town.
Croteau, 58, is to appear in St. Paul court July 20 to answer to eight charges, including abusing a boy and two girls in the St. Paul area during the 1960s.
PLEADED GUILTY
Another priest from the sprawling St. Paul Diocese, Antoine Tetu, pleaded guilty to charges of indecent and sexual assault and was to be sentenced in Edmonton today.
Reaction on main street St. Paul, about 210 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, is one of disbelief that the ugliness which has tarred Newfoundland ‑‑ where several priests have been found to have abused children ‑‑ has seeped into this town.
“I didn’t think it could happen here,” said one 12‑year resident. “You read about it happening back East and then read it in the local paper. I nearly fell off my chair.”
Residents say the anger extends beyond Roman Catholics in the town.
“Catholic or not, we are all caught up in it,” Clare Gauvreau, editor of the local weekly paper, the Journal, wrote this week.
Although the charges have thrown the diocese into turmoil, Gavreau said the community will not condemn Croteau unless he is found guilty.
St. Paul Bishop Raymond Roy continued Thursday to refuse all interviews. Tetu is staying with Roy.
BISHOP DISAPPROVES
On Monday Roy issued a five‑sentence new release to the local papers. The bishop acknowledged the criminal conduct of Tetu and said he totally disapproves of it.
“He invites all faithful of the Diocese of St. Paul to stand with him in being understanding, compassionate and forgiving.”
All necessary professional help will be given to Tetu, he said. Roy said he would make no comment on Croteau while the matter is before the court.
Some of the 800 local Catholic families are left wondering what will be done for the victims.
“I know many others who share my feeling that the bishop should be saying what we’re going to do for the victims,” said Boisvert, who said he fears there will be more revelations of abuse.
At St. Therese Hospital, executive director Benno Muench says the community should focus on the victims and on preventing such a thing from happening again.
“We have a role to play as parishioners. I would suggest a community the size of St. Paul should get the priests more involved in community activities rather than living in isolation.”
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Alberta priest charged
Calgary Herald
RCMP in St. Paul, 100 kilometres northeast of Edmonton, have charged a priest with eight counts of sexual assault.
The priest is been charged with one count of buggery and seven counts of indecent assault.
Ferdinand Christian Croteau, 58, of Mallaig, northeast of St. Paul, is accused of sexually assaulting three girls and one boy who lived in Cold Lake and the St. Paul area between 1962 and 1973, police say.
He is scheduled to appear in St. Paul provincial court later this week.
Re John Quatros: is there a back story to the tragedy that unfolded in St. Paul on May 9, 2014? He was reported to have used his son’s truck during a shooting rampage that injured three police officers and may be related to the shooting death of a priest. The priest was relatively new to the area and was well-liked in the community. Diocese officials said that there was no known connection between Quatros and the priest who was murdered. Was Quatros ever a member of the congregation of the St. Paul diocese in the past, before the new priest’s arrival, or are these completely random events?