CANADA
Canada.com
Kelly Patrick
Windsor Star
Wednesday, July 06, 2005
A retired Windsor bishop who is alleged to have played an "instrumental" role in a long-rumoured pedophile ring in Cornwall, Ont., is facing at least five lawsuits from men claiming he abused them decades ago.
The first of those suits against Eugene LaRocque, 78, was filed Monday in a Superior Court in London on behalf of Adrien St. Louis, a 48-year-old bus driver living outside Cornwall.
The $3.1-million action, which also names the Vatican, the College of Cardinals, Toronto Cardinal Aloysius Ambrozic, two Roman Catholic dioceses and the estate of a deceased Cornwall priest, accuses LaRocque of sexually abusing St. Louis 30 years ago when he was an 18-year-old altar boy.
St. Louis's London-based lawyer, Paul Ledroit, said Tuesday he expects to launch at least four more suits against LaRocque in the future.
LaRocque is already accused of negligence -- not direct abuse -- in another civil action alleging a priest violated two boys on his watch.