NS Diocese Wont Pay Former Bishops Court Costs, by Richard Foot, Ottawa Citizen, October 4, 2009

N.S. Diocese Won't Pay Former Bishop's Court Costs

By Richard Foot
Ottawa Citizen
October 4, 2009

http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/diocese+former+bishop+court+costs/2068660/story.html

HALIFAX, N.S. — The former Roman Catholic bishop accused of child pornography crimes has not asked the church in Nova Scotia to help pay his legal bills — nor would the church provide such help if asked, a Catholic official said Monday.

Bishop Raymond Lahey arrives at a police station in Ottawa. Lahey, a former Canadian bishop who oversaw the settlement of sex abuse allegations against the Roman Catholic Church, is facing child pornography charges, police said on Wednesday.
Photo by Chris Wattie

"One of the most pressing questions in the past few days has been whether the Diocese of Antigonish would assume legal costs for the defence of Bishop (Raymond) Lahey.

The bishop has not requested that the diocese meet his legal costs.

"If that request were made, it would be declined by the diocese," said Archbishop Anthony Mancini, the most senior Catholic clergyman in Nova Scotia, in a statement issued Monday afternoon.

Lahey was freed on bail last week in Ottawa after being charged on Sept. 25 with possession and importation of child pornography.

The day after he was charged, he resigned as the bishop of Antigonish, where he was in the midst of overseeing an historic, $15-million, out-of-court settlement with victims who were sexually abused as children by a former priest of the diocese.

Questions have since been raised about who is funding Lahey's legal defence.

The Diocese of Antigonish has published policies saying it is required to provide legal support to employees who are charged with a crime.

Lahey, who is living at a monastery in rural New Brunswick while awaiting his trial, is no longer a diocesan bishop. It's not clear if he remains an employee of the church.

In his statement Mancini declined to comment further on the matter, except to say that the church was convening a group of specialists to provide "appropriate care" to members of the diocese, particularly past victims of abuse, "who have been affected by the charges concerning Bishop Raymond Lahey."