Lahey Not at Monastery, Stephen Maher, The Chronicle-Herald, October 6, 2009

Lahey Not at Monastery

By Stephen Maher
The Chronicle-Herald
October 6, 2009

http://thechronicleherald.ca/Front/1146123.html

Reverend Raymond Lahey arrives at a police station in Ottawa last Thursday.
Photo by PAWEL DWULIT / The Canadian Press

Where’s Bishop Raymond Lahey?

Neither the police nor the church can say, but one thing is for sure — he’s not where he told the court he would be during his Ottawa bail hearing.

On Sunday, the abbot of the Cistercian-Trappist Monastery of Our Lady of Calvary in Rogersville, N.B., put a message on the monastery’s website saying that Bishop Lahey, who was charged last week with importing and possessing child pornography, is not at the monastery.

As a condition of his release at his bail hearing Thursday, Bishop Lahey undertook to stay at the monastery in New Brunswick, reporting twice weekly to the local RCMP detachment.

But it appears nobody checked with the monastery before making that arrangement.

"The press seems to have anticipated something that may have been discussed in the court proceedings but was not definitively decided upon," says the online message from Abbot Bede Stockill.

"Ultimately, some other arrangement has been made for Bishop Lahey’s residence. We are not expecting him coming to reside here. The . . . prosecution service never formally requested my consent to Bishop Lahey’s coming here, and I am not expecting them to do so."

Const. Alain Boucher, an Ottawa Police Service spokesman, said Monday afternoon he does not know where the bishop is.

"I’ve notified the investigator and he’s looking into it," Const. Boucher said. "He must notify the investigator of any change of address."

Michael Edelson, Bishop Lahey’s lawyer in Ottawa, did not return an email.

The church doesn’t know where he is, said Marilyn Sweet, an Archdiocese of Halifax spokeswoman who is handling communications for the Diocese of Antigonish.

Ms. Sweet said the dioceses are not being briefed on the case.

"We are not being informed and we are not in touch with Bishop Lahey," she said. "If the bail conditions have been changed and it’s just not recorded, I don’t know that.

"If the deviance from his bail conditions is not being recorded somewhere, I don’t know who would be responsible for him anymore than anybody would be responsible for any other 69-year-old man who did not go where he was supposed to go."

Bishop Lahey was charged with importing and possessing child pornography after Canada Border Service agents found images on his laptop last month during a security check at the Ottawa International Airport.

The mayor of Rogersville had objected to Bishop Lahey’s presence in the community.

Contact: smaher@herald.ca