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	Bishop, Priest Made Home Visit: Father Testifies By Harold Carmichael Sudbury Star May 8, 2009 http://www.thesudburystar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1559486 A meeting of Sudbury Regional Police officers and the four parents of two boys allegedly fondled by a Roman Catholic priest in the spring of 1983 had barely started when surprise visitors showed up. "The police came over and we were sitting around the table and somehow, out of the blue, in comes Bishop (Gerard) Dionne and Father (Bernard) Cloutier," testified one of the fathers Thursday at the Sudbury Courthouse. "It really went to hell after that. We never got to say anything ... He asked 'who called the police?'My wife said 'I did.' "He said: 'Why? We could have settled this without the police.' " The father, who cannot be identified in order to protect the identity of his now-grown son, was testifying on the fourth day of the Superior Court trial of Cloutier, a Roman Catholic priest. Dionne was the bishop of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie at the time. Cloutier, now 68, has pleaded not guilty to 16 sex charges involving alleged incidents with five young males from 1970-1983. The charges consist of seven counts of gross indecency, seven counts of indecent assault and two counts of sexual assault. During that period, Cloutier served at various French-language parishes in communities across the North, including Espanola and Sudbury. The trial started Monday. The father said Dionne, who had not been invited to the meeting, took it over. The meeting was called so the two boys could be interviewed by police about two nights of alleged drinking and fondling by Cloutier while at the rectory of l'Annonciation Church. Cloutier, who was crying while seated at the table, never said a thing, added the father. "Every time Father Cloutier was about to talk, Bishop Dionne said 'tais-toi, shut up,' " he recalled. Bishop Dionne decided to interview each of the boys privately in an upstairs room, while the other boy and adults stayed at the table, said the father. "He came downstairs and said 'I'm satisfied nothing happened: the boys had been drinking,' " recalled the father. "It was almost like it was the boys' fault. "The bishop said he was going to put (Cloutier) in a hospital where he would get special treatment and he would be OK. I tried to figure out why, if nothing happened, why would (Cloutier) be put in a special hospital for molesting boys? ... "If nothing happened, why did (Dionne) need to go and interview the boys? Why would he not let Father Cloutier speak? Why was he so upset my wife had called police?" The father testified he and his wife were so upset that a man they trusted had fondled their son that they wanted him arrested and jailed. "We wanted to get something done," he said. "Nothing was happening and nothing did happen. We were going to sweep it all under the rug and it would go away." The father said he decided to ask the two boys what they felt should happen, a move he said he never should have made. "I asked the boys 'do we arrest him and put him in jail or go to hospital and get better?' " he recalled. "I was stupid asking a child. I should have made the decision. The boys said 'we don't want to see him in jail. He is going to get cured. He will be OK.' And everybody left." The father said before the meeting in the home, he and the other father went to see Father Cloutier at his rectory. When they arrived, he recalled, they were greeted by lawyer Andre Lacroix and then got to talk to Cloutier. "He said nothing had happened," recalled the father. "I said, 'the boys said differently. The boys said you did something to them.' 'All I did', he said, 'was show them how to masturbate.' He said, 'I've got a girlfriend. I don't have anything to do with little boys.' "I was furious. Someone came out and said 'this interview, this session, is over' and we left." The father also testified the two police officers who attended the interview session in his home never took any notes. The officers also said they would keep an eye on Cloutier and keep the families informed. "It never happened," said the father. The mother of one of the two boys involved in the alleged incident at the L'Annonciation Church rectory testified she was called at work in the spring of 1983 because her son had been screaming, "Cloutier is a faggot" in the St. Mathieu schoolyard. The mother, who said her son told her about what had happened shortly after he returned home from the rectory stayover, told the then principal, Serge Lancup, she would be contacting police. The mother cannot be identified in order to protect the identity of her now-grown son. Lancup testified the boy had also asked to talk to him privately and disclosed that Father Cloutier had touched him inappropriately. The principal said he told the boy he would act on the complaint and made a call to the Children's Aid Society. Lancup said not long after that, Bishop Dionne called him at home. "He asked me why I didn't call him first before contacting anyone else," recalled Lancup. "I said 'I did my job. Now, you do yours.' " The trial continues today. It is expected to last two weeks.
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