BELLEVILLE (IL)
News-Democrat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
BELLEVILLE - The Rev. Real "Ray" Bourque, who admits that he sexually abused boys in the late 1970s and early '80s while serving as a priest on the East Coast, was transferred four years ago to a retirement home in Belleville.
During a brief telephone interview Monday, Bourque said that while he did sexually abuse children, he was himself a victim of molestation as a child by an attacker who was not a priest.
Asked whether he had sexually molested boys, Bourque responded: "Eventually I did." He declined further comment, saying, "I was a victim myself ... I'm retired. I'm 78 years old. I don't want to be part of a witch hunt."
A spokesman for the most Rev. Wilton Gregory, archbishop of Atlanta and former bishop of Belleville, said if Gregory had had any knowledge of Bourque's transfer or background, he would not have allowed the admitted child molester to reside within the diocese.