Bishop Surrenders in Child-porn Case, Michael Tutton, Toronto Star, October 2, 2009

Bishop Surrenders in Child-porn Case

By Michael Tutton
Toronto Star
October 2, 2009

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/704238

Reverend Raymond Lahey arrives at a police station in Ottawa Thursday Oct.1, 2009 . Lahey, A former Nova Scotia bishop facing child-pornography charges, has turned himself in to Ottawa police.
Photo by SEAN KILPATRICK/ THE CANADIAN PRESS

N.S. cleric granted bail as accusations rock his former parishioners

SYDNEY, N.S.–Parishioners at a Nova Scotia diocese where children allegedly endured decades of sexual abuse at the hands of Roman Catholic priests were urged to keep their faith intact Thursday as the man who helped to salve old wounds surrendered to police on child pornography charges.

Archbishop Anthony Mancini of Halifax appealed to past victims of abuse and parishioners in the diocese of Antigonish after Bishop Raymond Lahey turned himself in at Ottawa police headquarters.

"We are going through a very painful, contemporary experience of the mystery of faith," Mancini told a news conference in Sydney.

"I call on you to be hopeful because we do believe in new life and in new possibilities."

Parishioner John MacEachern said he felt like he'd been punched in the stomach when he learned that his bishop had been charged with possessing and importing child pornography in Ontario.

"If it proves to be true, it is just tragic," said MacEachern, a vice-principal in nearby Glace Bay.

MacEachern said Lahey was held in wide esteem in the diocese for his work as theologian and a liturgist, and for brokering a $15 million settlement for parishioners who claimed to have been sexually abused by priests in the area dating back to 1950. He called the 69-year-old priest "the face of the settlement" and the person who was going to help the local church move on from the abuse.

"If this thing is true, the contradiction is explosive to the faith of some people," he said.

In Ottawa, a sombre Lahey climbed out of a black sedan and pushed through a crush of reporters to surrender to the charges that have stunned his flock and shaken an already tarnished institution.

Dressed in street clothes and ignoring questions, Lahey was accompanied by Michael Edelson, a high-profile criminal lawyer who represented Ottawa Mayor Larry O'Brien when he was acquitted this spring of influence-peddling charges. Police say Lahey was later granted bail on conditions until his next court appearance on Nov. 4.

Mancini began his news conference by speaking directly to those who brought the class-action lawsuit against the diocese.

"Let me first speak to those victims of past sexual abuse and to all for whom these recent elements and news rekindles past pain," he said. "These recent revelations take on the character of another victimization and I wish that it were not so. Because it is not what our community of faith is supposed to be about."

Ronald Martin, who launched the lawsuit claiming the diocese failed to protect children, said the charges have shaken both his personal faith and his trust in the church.

None of the allegations against Lahey has been proven in court.

The charges against Lahey were filed 10 days after officials found images of "concern" on his laptop computer at the Ottawa airport as he was returning from a foreign country. He resigned from his post with the diocese of Antigonish on the weekend before news of the charges became public.