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	Church Acknowledges Dumoulin Fatherhood, but Takes Issue with Other Details By Amy Calder Morning Sentinel January 25 2009 http://morningsentinel.mainetoday.com/news/local/5848875.html The Rev. Marcel Dumoulin never denied that he fathered Judy Soucier's child, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Portland said last week. "We have a fair amount of documentation on this," Diocese spokeswoman Susan Bernard said Tuesday. But Bernard said the Diocese has no information in its files that would indicate Dumoulin ever tried to convince Soucier get an abortion, nor that other priests urged her to go out-of-state to have the baby and give it up for adoption. Soucier says her book about her love affair with the priest is true; only the names are fictional. But Bernard takes issue with Soucier's claim, made in the book and to the Morning Sentinel, that plans were made for Soucier to have an abortion and that Dumoulin drove her to New York to a clinic with the expectation that she would go through with it. She said that is the worst claim Soucier makes in the book. "The Catholic Church is very much against abortion, so I have a hard time believing a discussion encouraging abortion would take place with anyone," Bernard said. "And again, there is nothing in our files that shows anything like that. This is a story from the mother's point of view and there is no one who can refute it." Dumoulin, she said, is not in a position where he can defend himself against the claim. "He's been suffering from Alzheimer's for a long time," she said. Soucier's book, "Perfect: A Love Story," chronicles her love affair with Dumoulin in the early 1970s and her resulting pregnancy. She says she fought priests' attempts to get her to abort or give the child up for adoption, and ultimately, she gave birth to a boy and raised him alone. The book describes one vicar's efforts to urge her twice to go out of state to give birth and then give the baby up for adoption. He has since has died. Soucier also said a parish priest visited her while she was pregnant and told her he was a messenger from the bishop and that the bishop wanted her to go out of state, have the child and give it up for adoption. She said he gave her an envelope containing $3,000 cash and said the money was for her, and that all other expenses for the birth and adoption would be paid by the church. Bernard acknowledged she has not read Soucier's book. She said she has no information about any such attempts by the vicar to urge her to give the child up for adoption. "That would have been in his record and Father Dumoulin's record and I've gone through the whole thing," she said. She said she did not recognize the name of the priest Soucier said had approached her as a messenger from the bishop and offered her $3,000. Soucier, however, said he was a priest in Lewiston and later baptized her son, Christian, at her home. Asked if a priest fathering a child is an unusual occurrence, Bernard said: "It certainly isn't something that happens every day. Of course it's unusual. Priests take a vow of celibacy." If a priest finds himself in a situation where he falls in love with a woman or is drawn to a woman, he is supposed to go to a superior, usually a bishop or other spiritual director, and tell him what he is feeling, Bernard said. "They are encouraged to take time and discern what they want because the church does not want to have priests in the church who are confused or don't want to be there," she said. In Dumoulin's case, that did occur, she said, referring to Dumoulin's going to a superior with his situation. "I think it may have happened after she got pregnant," Bernard said. "It's not 100 percent clear on the documents but it looks as if Father Dumoulin came, I believe, to the bishop and said, 'This is what's going on. There's this woman and she's pregnant and she is going to have my baby...' " She said Dumoulin made a decision that he still wanted his vocation and recommitted to that vocation. Church officials said he needed to be responsible to the child, but did not force him to leave his vocation or to marry, according to Bernard. Bernard said Dumoulin was born in Lewiston and attended grammar school in QuZbec, Canada, and Rumford. He then attended high school at St. Charles Seminary in Sherbrooke, QuZbec. At the time, one could choose to go to the seminary while in high school, Bernard said. Dumoulin attended the Seminary of Philosophy in Montreal and the Grand Seminary of Montreal. During his 33 years as a pastor, he was assigned at parishes in Old Town, Lewiston, Chisolm, Biddeford, Auburn, Bradley, Grand Isle, Winthrop, Berwick, Augusta and Fairfield. In Augusta, he served at St. Augustine Parish; in Winthrop, at St. Francis Xavier, Bernard said. "He retired in 2004, but he was not well at all in 2004 and really being very much helped along for some time, even in 2004," she said. Bernard said Dumoulin was not disciplined for his actions. "It's not a crime," she said. "This is not about a crime, to father a child. He certainly did break his vow of celibacy and that is a mistake to do that." As to Soucier's claim that she was urged to give the baby up for adoption, Bernard said the church supports the concept of adoption but if that is not what a person wants, the church would not encourage it. "We think adoption is a wonderful thing," Bernard said, "but in this particular case, I have no reason to believe the church would have strongly advocated for it." Amy Calder -- 861-9247 acalder@centralmaine.com
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