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	Credibility Tested on All Sides Print This Article The Cape Breton Post October 13, 2009 http://www.capebretonpost.com/index.cfm?sid=293813&sc=151 Questions about credibility and proof often come up when people discuss the roiling controversy over the sexual misdeeds of priests in the Antigonish diocese. How is it possible to assess the veracity of allegations about abuses committed in deep secrecy decades ago, especially when accused perpetrators are dead? Well, sometimes it’s pretty easy. On Thursday, Philip Latimer, a 47-year-old welder from Pleasant Hill, near Port Hawkesbury, supported by his slightly younger brother Warren, a contractor from Lower Sackville, told his emotionally wrenching story at a nationally televised news conference. If these guys are lying when they both claim to have been molested repeatedly by the same priest, now dead, then hand them their Academy Awards. There was a compelling rawness and anger to the Latimer presentation that we don’t get from the more controlled, antiseptic unfolding of the class action settlement between the diocese and Ron Martin on behalf of those abused by priests, going back to 1950. Philip Latimer, in opting to bypass the settlement by launching his own civil suit, suggests that while the settlement protocol is promoted as a private, non-confrontational way for victims to claim redress, it is also protecting the church from public scrutiny and further embarrassment. Defenders of the $15 million settlement agreement dispute that, and doubt that an independent civil action can dig any deeper at the truth. Meanwhile, various churchmen hasten to assure us that the church has changed dramatically from earlier scandals and needs no radical shake-up. Says Archbishop Luigi Ventura, the papal nuncio: “The church in Canada has made every effort to establish safe environments and protect children and young people.” Rev. Thomas Rosica of Salt and Light TV credits Canadian bishops as world leaders in fostering a climate of transparency, rigorous investigation, and instant suspension for suspected wrongdoing. And Rev. Raymond J. de Souza, contributor to the National Post, claims: “Catholics have learned, at the cost of the great pain and suffering of many innocents, how to better confront this evil behaviour.” And yet we have the immediate example of Bishop Raymond Lahey’s abrupt departure as head of Antigonish diocese on the utterly evasive pretext of “personal renewal” after he was charged with possessing and importing child pornography. Let that pass, since he was in a moment of personal catastrophe. But, evidently, neither he nor anyone in the church hierarchy who was aware of the truth saw fit to give so much as a heads-up to the churchmen back in Nova Scotia who were about to be thrown into the media glare to answer for things they knew nothing about. In Frenchvale, Rev. Paul Abbass, a designated spokesman for the diocese, learned of the charges against Lahey from broadcast news. Once again the church, at a senior level, jumped instinctively to defend the interests of the priest before all else. It does not inspire confidence that any deep sea change has actually occurred.
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