Wallace: Father Gerald Wallace

Gerald J. Wallace

Priest, Archdiocese of Toronto.  Ordained 27 May 1961. Several lawsuits launched in 90s, one settled involving sex abuse of young boy (I don’t have details on the others)

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The following information is drawn from Canadian Catholic Church Directories (CCCD) of those dates, the 1980 Ontario Catholic Directory (OCD, and media (M)

1991:  not listed

1985-86: St. Joseph RC Church, Toronto (According to media he died 1982, however the 1985-86 CCCD has him listed in the index as at St. Joseph’s.  The parish section of the CCCD shows Father Allan McNeil as Pastor at St. Joseph’s) (CCCD)

1982:  died (M)

1980: St. Martin RC Church, Mississauga, Ontario (with Father D. Cullen and Mr. Leonard Andrews [p.d.]) (OCD)

1978:  St. Martin de Tours RC Church, Ontario (M)

1973-74, 1971-72:  assisting at St. Gregory, Islington, Toronto.  (Pastor, Father H.M. Clarkson) (CCCD)

1968-69  assisting at Our lady of  Lady of Fatima, Scarborough (Pastor Father W. V. Egan) (CCCD)

1967:  assisting at St. Gregory, Islington, Toronto.  (Pastor, Father H.M. Clarkson) (CCCD)

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Archbishop of Toronto from time of Father Wallace ordination to death:: James Charles McGuigan  (22 December 1934 – 30 March 1971); Philip Francis Pocock  (30 March 1971 – 29 April 1978); Gerald Emmett Carter  (29 April 1978 – 17 March 1990)

Auxiliary Bishops of Toronto from time of Father Wallace ordination to death:   Francis Valentine Allen † (02 Jul 1954 – 07 October 1977) ; Francis Anthony Marrocco  (01 Dec 1955 – 10 June 1968);  Aloysius Matthew Ambrozic(26 March 1976 – Coadjutor Archbishop: 22 May 1986); Michael Pearse Lacey (03 May 1979 – 31 May 1993); Robert Bell Clune  (03 May 1979 to 27 December 1995); Leonard James Wall  (03 May 1979 — 25 February 1992)

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Abuse by priesta lasting trauma Ex-altar boy lived nightmare for 14 years

Toronto Star

20 April 1992 

Moira Welsh

Fourteen years after Stephen Austin was sexually assaulted by his Roman Catholic priest, the nightmares are finally ending.

Austin, a 25-year-old Hamilton television news writer, launched a civil lawsuit against the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Toronto and won an out-of-court settlement of $98,500.

It was the settlement – paid by the archdiocese’s insurance company – that allowed him to feel as if he could finally control his life.

“I was trying to take back some power for that little 11-year- old defenceless boy who had been violated and taken advantage of,” he said. “I feel like a tremendous load has been lifted off my shoulders. I don’t walk with my head down any more. I look people in the eye.”

Rev. Edward Boehler, judicial vicar for the archdiocese, refused to comment on the settlement and wouldn’t say whether other victims of the same priest have contacted him.

Boehler would only say the archdiocese has a “very extensive procedure” to deal with complaints and allegations.

Raised by deeply religious Catholic parents, Austin worked as an altar boy in St. Martin of Tours Parish Church in Mississauga in 1978 when, he said, he was sexually assaulted by his priest, Rev. Gerry Wallace.

Wallace, a Metro priest for 21 years, died in 1982 at the age of 55.

The assaults – Austin remembers several incidents – began during a weekday mass when the priest kissed him on the cheek and then began fondling him in a chamber where the youngster was removing his altar-boy robes.

“He was whispering, ‘God loves you. If you make me happy, you’ll make God happy. You’ll go to heaven for this,’ ” Austin said quietly. “It felt like hours but it was probably no more than five minutes.”

Several weeks later, Austin, who attended St. Gerard separate school adjacent to the church, was called to perform as the lone altar boy during another weekday morning mass.

That’s when the most traumatic assault occurred.

“He was in his office. He called me and I stopped dead in my tracks. I knew I didn’t want to go. He said, ‘Come here, boy.’ His office was dark. . . . He put his arm around my waist and felt my buttocks. He asked did I like what we did last time?”

Then Austin recalls the priest pulling down his pants, fondling his genitals and performing oral sex on him.

“All of a sudden he stopped himself. He was really hostile. He said, ‘Look what you made me do, you little . . .’ ”

Austin got dressed, walked back to school and, from that moment on, blocked the incidents from his mind.

“I think, on that short walk back to school, my mind decided it didn’t want to deal with it.”

He didn’t serve any more weekday masses and quit his altar-boy position a few months after.

It would be more than 10 years later that Austin would be forced to remember his abuse. It started when he watched a television talk show about victims of sexual abuse by priests and soon after when a relative was ordained as a priest in December, 1988.

Austin began to have nightmares of Wallace kissing him, dreams so vivid he finally turned to his parents and told them he may have been assaulted by the priest.

His father sent him for counselling, and through hypnosis the assault memories returned.

As a result of the therapy – now paid for by the archdiocese – Austin feels much of his anger and helplessness is gone. He now understands why his teenage years were so difficult, why he felt so unworthy and why he has had a hard time maintaining relationships with girlfriends, he said.

Now Austin, who is convinced there are other victims of the same man, is simply trying to tell people who share similar experiences they are not to blame.