February 23, 2005

Sex-abuse suits launched against Cornwall church, lawyer

CANADA
CBC News

CORNWALL, ONT. - Three men in Cornwall are suing the Catholic Church, a former Crown prosecutor and a priest, in the latest development of a sexual-abuse scandal that has long divided the eastern Ontario city.

Albert Lalonde and Robert Renshaw have each launched $3.1-million lawsuits against the Roman Catholic diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall, alleging they were victimized by a former priest, Rev. Charles MacDonald.

The suits name current Bishop Paul-Andre Durocher and his predecessor, Eugene LaRocque, for alleged negligence.

Lalonde, who alleges he was abused when he was an altar boy, struggled to hold back tears at a press conference Tuesday as he remembered running into MacDonald in 1990.

Posted by kshaw at February 23, 2005 07:14 AM