Valois: Father Maurice Valois

Maurice Valois

Ex-priest, Diocese of St. Jerome, Quebec.  Ordained 07 June 1958.   Priest at St. Jerome elementary school in 1966.  Moved to Montreal for psychiatric counselling after a letter to the bishop of St. Jerome alleging sex abuse.  In 1970 convicted in Montreal for acts of sexual abuse since his arrival in Montreal.  Fined $200.   1991 CONVICTED by Justice Francois Beaudoin  for sex abuse of three male foster children from St. Jerome (the children from allegations in the 1966 letter) .  Spent one night in jail.  At some point left the priesthood and married – working as a security guard when he was convicted in 1991

 

1991:  CONVICTED for sex abuse of the three foster boys in St. Jerome, Quebec.  Sentenced to one night in jail (M)

1973-74, 1971-72:  Not listed in directory (CCCD)

1970:  CONVICTED in Montreal, Quebec for abuse of children since his arrival in Montreal.  Fined $200 (M)

1969:  St. Louis de France Roman Catholic Church, Brownsburg, comte d’Argenteuil, Quebec (Pastor Father Paul-Emile Perron) (CCCD)

1967:  St. Jerome Elementary School, Terrebonne, Quebec (CCCD)

1966:  teaching at St. Jerome Elementary School (M)

sexually abused three brothers – sent to Montreal for psychiatric counselling (M)

1959:  St. Theresa Seminary and assisting at Coeur-Immacule-de-Marie, St. Jerome, Quebec (CCCD)

1958:  ORDAINED (CCCD)

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March 14, 1991  22.01 EST

Canadian Press

ST‑JEROME, Que. (CP) ‑‑ A former Roman Catholic priest was sentenced to a day in jail Thursday for sexually assaulting three foster children 24 years ago.

Maurice Valois, 60, spent the night in jail and will be on probation for a year and a half starting today, after a ruling by Quebec Court Judge Francois Beaudoin. He will also have to perform 200 hours of community work within the next eight months.

Valois, who lives in north‑end Montreal, pleaded guilty to one charge of gross indecency and two charges of attempted indecency against three brothers  who were aged 9, 11 and 14 in 1966.

Beaudoin ignored the prosecution’s call for an absolute discharge.

The judge said Valois’ conviction will send a signal to society that the gross abuse of power by priests and anyone else in authority will not be tolerated.

For the last 20 years, however, Valois has maintained a clean record, married and had steady employment as a security guard.

“It is true that in the case of the accused, the rehabilative aspect of imprisonment does not apply,” Beaudoin said in his judgment.

“But for others who would be tempted to imitate him, it’s quite another story. They should know in the clearest of terms that the courts won’t tolerate actions like his.”

Valois was priest at a St‑Jerome elementary school in 1966.

One day, the youngest of the three brothers confessed to masturbating and Valois suggested they get together to talk about it.

“I went to confess 24 years ago, asked for forgiveness and got something else indeed,” Christian‑Claude Dancause said Thursday.

“Today, (Valois) is getting the forgiveness I was denied.”

Throughout the summer of 1966, Valois drove the three brothers to a secluded lake near St‑Jerome, took off his clothes and told them to do the same, then fondled, caressed and had oral sex with them. Valois told them what they were doing was natural and good.

After each occasion, he would drop the boys off at their foster home with a warning: if they told anyone, they’d go to reform school and he to prison.

In the fall of 1966, the boys complained to their guardian, who told a social worker, who wrote the St‑Jerome archdiocese to alert them to Valois.

He was removed from his post and sent to Montreal for psychiatric counselling.

Four years later he was convicted of trying similar acts with four other boys in Montreal.

The judge in the case was told at the time about the earlier episodes in St‑Jerome, but did not order any inquiry. Valois paid a $200 fine.

Then late last year Valois’ past caught up with him.

The three brothers he had corrupted, now adults, went to the police and this time charges were laid.

On Thursday, Judge Beaudoin condemned the Church for allowing Valois to preach in the first place.

“It is deplorable that the authorities of the archdiocese grossly neglected the fate of the victims, who got no compensation for the immeasurable evil that the accused showed them,” Beaudoin said.

The Church would handle things differently if a similiar case emerged now, archdiocese official Marie‑Therese Lemay said after the ruling was made.

“The law now requires us to report anything like that to the civil authorities, so there’s no question we’d do it,” she said.

 

 

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