BELLEVILLE (IL)
Belleville News-Democrat
BY GEORGE PAWLACZYK
News-Democrat
A defrocked priest living in Belleville, who admitted he sexually molested boys in Massachusetts decades ago, could be prosecuted if a victim comes forth and statute-of-limitation requirements are met.
And if a prosecution is brought against the Rev. Real Bourque, 78, a resident of the St. Henry Oblate Retirement home on North 60th Street, a potential witness could be another priest who told church officials in Massachusetts that Bourque abused that priest's brother.
That priests' brother wrote a 1994 letter to Cardinal Bernard Law, former archbishop of Boston, stating that in 1979 Bourque had abused him in South Natick, Mass., where Bourque was then assigned. The letter also referred to Bourque sexually molesting members of a local boys choir.
"For any time the alleged perpetrator is not in the State of Massachusetts, the time on the statute of limitations stops..." said Emily LaGrassa, spokesman for the Middlesex County district attorney's office, which has jurisdiction over South Natick.