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	Priest Pleads Guilty to Molesting Girl The Gazette September 11, 2007 http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/news/story.html?id=b9bdcee3-298e-46b5-9b94-412f04619395 Philippe de Maupeou, an activist Montreal priest in Montreal's Plateau Mont Royal district, pleaded guilty yesterday to sexual touching of a girl under the age of 10 during a camping trip in the Lanaudière region in 2002. De Maupeou, 47, entered his plea at the Joliette courthouse to one count of sexual touching. The crime carries no minimum sentence but a maximum of 10 years in prison, his lawyer, Yves Duceppe, said yesterday. The incident occurred when de Maupeou, who was administrator of the Immaculee Conception parish, took children on an outing to a summer camp near St. Alphonse Rodriguez. The girl only told her mother of the incident in 2006, her mother told police. De Maupeou was charged last November. The clergyman touched the girl's genitalia, Duceppe said. De Maupeou is scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 26. Duceppe noted that he has no prior convictions, is extremely remorseful and has undergone six months of therapy. De Maupeou will remain a priest, but has been suspended from working in a congregation or a parish and will not be in contact with children or adults, auxiliary bishop of Montreal Anthony Mancini said yesterday. "But because he is a priest and we have a responsibility to care for him, he will be asked to continue to serve the church, but in a bureaucratic way, doing some work in one of our offices."
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