The Workshop Was Organized by the Diocese of London in the Wake of the Conviction of Rev. Charles Sylvestre
By Jane Sims
London Free Press [Canada]
February 1, 2007
http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2007/02/01/3497695-sun.html
The image of a smiling little girl on a family vacation towered over the crowded room at London's St. Justin's Roman Catholic church.
At the podium below was that little girl now grown up -- a mother, wife and teacher at St. Ursula's school, next to her childhood parish in Chatham. Kelly Ann Appleton was a victim of childhood sexual assault by Rev. Charles Sylvestre.
Yesterday, she spoke to a hushed room of priests, lay pastoral ministers and Diocese of London employees, describing how the abuse by a trusted priest scarred her life and lingers with her today.
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| Rev. John Sharp bows his head as he listens to Gladys Charbonneau recount how Rev. Charles Sylvestre’s abuse of her two daughters affected her family. She spoke at a workshop organized by the Diocese of London at St. Justin’s parish to raise awareness of sexual abuse of minors by clergy. |
She was part of a workshop organized by the diocese and spearheaded by Bishop Ronald Fabbro to raise awareness surrounding sexual abuse of minors by clergy.
It's been only a week since Sylvestre, 84, who pleaded guilty to 47 charges of indecent assault last summer, died in a Kingston prison hospital.
What he did to the little girls who trusted him over almost four decades haunts the parishes and people who trusted the popular priest.
"The challenge is for us to continue to fight and do what we can to prevent this from happening again," said Chatham-Kent Crown attorney Paul Bailey, who sat in rapt silence during the poignant presentations.
Appleton described how the abuse changed her.
"The woman you see today is not the person who was violated and victimized by Charles Sylvestre," she said.
The victim, she said, was a 10-year-old girl "who had complete and utter faith in her parish priest and the church."
All that was destroyed by Sylvestre's abuse. "I grieve for that little girl because she is gone forever and I live my life never knowing who she could have been."
Appleton described how her faith has been tested . She stopped being a practising Catholic just a month before two of her kids were to be confirmed in the church.
"I am angry at my church, the church I was raised in and have been an active part in for 40 years," she said.
"I am ashamed to call myself a Catholic today. I have not lost my faith in God, but I have lost my faith and trust in the Catholic church."
Tammie McKay of Leamington was in Grade 4 when Sylvestre first abused her in a confessional. There were other violations.
She put pants on under her dresses on the school bus to protect herself from his advances.
She said it's "still challenging even after all these years to share my story with others.
"I feel like it's time to move forward and actually do what I can to make a difference," she said after her presentation
Gladys Charbonneau, the mother of two victims, described how her family was deeply involved in St. Ursula's parish. Her husband was director of the Catholic school board.
She read her victim impact statement and the grief that overwhelmed her family.
She also read a message from her daughter, Anne-Marie, asking the priests to look at their hands "to follow the lead of our shepherd Bishop Fabbro and join him in his commitment to become an instrument of healing."
Bailey set out in detail what happened to the women and how Sylvestre used his place in the communities to prey on the girls.
He also used his role as priest to scare them into silence by telling them God would punish them.
Bailey also told the clergy Sylvestre told police he had been a victim of sexual abuse as a child.
Bailey described his taped meeting with Sylvestre at the Elgin-Middlesex Detention Centre shortly before he was moved to Kingston and how Sylvestre took no responsibility for his deviancy.
Sylvestre blamed his victims, his confessor, school principals and Fabbro, Bailey said.
" 'These girls came over there every day. They planned it,' " Bailey said Sylvestre told him.
" ' I could hear them talking and they'd come in and sit on a chair and their skirt would be up to their crotch. . . . Well, it was kind of attracting.' "
The diocese is working on revising its sexual abuse policy and hopes to have a draft by spring.
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