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	Priest's Gross Indecency Convictions Not a Secret: Parish Council CBC News October 6, 2009 http://www.cbc.ca/canada/nova-scotia/story/2009/10/06/ns-macdonald-convictions.html The chair of the parish council of Holy Redeemer Parish in Sydney, N.S., says the group knew their priest had two convictions for gross indecency involving young people when he joined their church more than 10 years ago. Father Errol MacDonald, 64, was charged with gross indecency in 1995 for incidents that occurred in 1969 and the early 70s when he was a teacher, before he joined the seminary in 1980s. Court documents detailed two incidents involving two different boys — the evidence in the first case described fondling and the second case involved oral and anal sex. When the charges were laid, MacDonald informed the diocese of Antigonish and was sent to a clinic in the United States for six months of treatment. He was then sentenced to a year in prison and two years' probation. At a time when Roman Catholic parishes across Nova Scotia and Newfoundland are reeling from allegations that one of their bishops, Raymond Lahey, possessed child pornography, the parish council at Holy Redeemer says what's in the past is done. Jean Murphy, the chair of the parish council, said members of the council were told of MacDonald's convictions when they were approached about him becoming their priest. "I know that the parish council were fully aware and they were representing the parish so they made the decision on behalf of the parish," she said. Father Paul Abbass, the spokesman for the diocese of Antigonish, said the church believes in redemption and healing and he has no concerns about MacDonald's presence at Holy Redeemer. "It is possible for a priest or another employee, actually, who has had a charge like that or a conviction to re-enter the ministry or to be further employed with us, if and when they have met all of the criteria of the policy itself," he said. Murphy said there are no restrictions on MacDonald's interaction with children. "You know, we all have the right to move on in our lives and if we make errors, I would hope that somebody would be able to forgive us," she said.
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