Bishop Busted, Alison Auld, The Chronicle Herald, October 1, 2009

Bishop Busted

By Alison Auld
The Chronicle-Herald
October 1, 2009

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1145376.html

Raymond Lahey leaves St. Ninian’s Cathedral in Antigonish afer being installed as the Bishop of Antigonish on June 12, 2003. Bishop Lahey faces child porn charges.
Photo by PETER PARSONS

Lahey accused of possessing, importing sexual images of children

THE FORMER BISHOP of the Antigonish diocese, who resigned on the weekend, has been charged with possessing and importing child pornography.

The charges against Bishop Raymond Lahey, 69, came just weeks after his Roman Catholic diocese reached a $15-million settlement with people who said they were abused by priests as children.

The charges were laid last Friday but just became public knowledge on Wednesday. The bishop’s whereabouts are unknown.

Ottawa police say Bishop Lahey was sent for a secondary examination at the Ottawa airport on Sept. 15 as he was returning to Canada.

Police said in a news release that officers with the Canada Border Services Agency searched the bishop’s laptop and "found images . . . that were of concern." They seized the laptop and other media devices.

"The forensic examination of the computer and media later revealed child pornography," the release states.

Bishop Lahey was released at the airport pending further investigation. Police say a warrant was issued for his arrest when charges were laid last Friday. The allegations against him have not been proven in court.

Rev. Paul Abbass, a spokesman for the Diocese of Antigonish, said he learned of the charges from media reports and hadn’t been told about them before the bishop resigned Saturday.

"I’m sad, I’m shocked," he said from Frenchvale, Cape Breton, where he is the parish priest. "I think I’m mostly concerned about our people, about our priests, about our diocese."

Father Abbass said he knew a couple of days before the resignation that Bishop Lahey was considering stepping down, but he knew nothing more about the personal reasons the bishop cited.

He said he didn’t know where Bishop Lahey was when he tendered his resignation, saying only that the bishop had been away on meetings "for the last week or so."

In August, Bishop Lahey announced a $15-million class action settlement involving sexual abuse in the Antigonish diocese that dated back to 1950. The bishop was not implicated in the case and had been in the diocese for only six years.

A notice Saturday from Anthony Mancini, the Archbishop of Halifax, said Pope Benedict had accepted Bishop Lahey’s resignation "for personal reasons."

Bishop Lahey, a native of Newfoundland and Labrador who once served as a professor of theology at Memorial University in St. John’s, informed his parishioners in a letter Saturday that he had resigned "to take some much-needed time for personal renewal."

John McKiggan, a Halifax lawyer who represents the alleged victims in the class-action suit, said he was stunned when he learned of the charges on the news.

"Like many people I expect, I am very surprised," he said.

Mr. McKiggan said the settlement, which was announced Aug. 7, won’t be affected by the charges because it was approved by the court, and because it was the diocese — not Bishop Lahey — that was named in the suit.

Ronald Martin, whose brother wrote a suicide note in 2002 that led to charges of sex crimes against a priest from the Roman Catholic diocese, filed the class-action lawsuit last year.

Mr. Martin wasn’t available for comment. His wife would only say from their home in Sydney that they were shocked by the news.

"He’s not doing so good," said Mr. McKiggan, who had spoken with Mr. Martin. "I think like everyone, he is surprised and distressed."

Chris Kealey, a spokesman for the Canada Border Services Agency, said people entering Canada may be sent for secondary screening based on information from ongoing investigations or based on "indicators" observed by border officials. He would not say why Bishop Lahey was chosen.

Mr. Kealey also noted that no warrant is needed for border officials to search the contents of laptops or media devices.

"It’s considered part of your personal goods when you enter Canada," he said.

The spokesman would not say where Bishop Lahey was travelling from when he arrived in Ottawa, citing both privacy and investigative issues.

In the suit, Mr. Martin claimed that the Diocese of Antigonish failed to protect children in its care when it became aware of the alleged abuse.

Nova Scotia Supreme Court certified the settlement on Sept. 10.

"This will bring another element of pain into the situation," Father Abbass said. "We want to find some hope in the midst of all of this, but right now it’s just so overwhelming."

Archbishop Mancini has been appointed administrator of the Antigonish diocese until Bishop Lahey’s successor is chosen. He scheduled a news conference for today in Cape Breton.

The class-action settlement is aimed at compensating anyone who was allegedly or known to have been sexually assaulted by a priest of the Catholic Episcopal Corp. of Antigonish since Jan. 1, 1950.

The $15-million settlement includes $12 million in damages, about $400,000 for counselling fees, and the remainder for legal and administrative costs.

The lawsuit claimed five priests were sexually assaulting children in their care between 1960 and 2008. Several were convicted of multiple counts of sexual abuse.

When the settlement was announced in August, Bishop Lahey said the agreement was the first step in recognizing the alleged abuse of children as young as eight years old.

"I want to formally apologize to every victim and to their families for the sexual abuse that was inflicted upon those who were entitled instead to the trust and protection of priests of the church," he told a news conference in Halifax at the time.

"Sexual abuse, indeed any abuse, is wrong. It is a crime and it is a serious sin in the eyes of God. I want to assure you that for some time our diocese, like others throughout Canada, have been taking steps to protect children and youth."

With files from Bruce Cheadle in Ottawa