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	The Sins of the Fathers By Cheryl Cornacchia Montreal Gazette March 22, 2010 http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/sins+fathers/2709993/story.html CANADA -- Pope's apology 'empty words'; Priests must be held accountable, says woman who was sexually molested A woman who says she was raped and impregnated by a Quebec priest 45 years ago characterized this weekend's apology by Pope Benedict XVI to victims of pedophile priests in Ireland as an empty gesture. While unprecedented in its recognition of pedophilia in the Catholic Church and the damage done, France Bédard complained that no mention was made of measures that would hold priests accountable or that could prevent future abuse. "You have suffered grievously and I am truly sorry," was the pope's message communicated to Irish Catholics through a letter read during weekend masses. "I know that nothing can undo the wrong that you have endured." "They were empty words," said Bédard, now 62 and the woman behind l'Association des victimes de prêtres, a Quebec organization that assists victims of sexually abusive priests. Yesterday, she and other victims' rights advocates called for a zero-tolerance policy towards priests found guilty of abusing children and a promise to immediately bring in police when church officials get wind of pedophilia allegations. They point to the 2008 case of a Montreal priest, Philippe de Maupeou, who was found guilty of sexually abusing an 8-year-old girl and was later awarded a $60,000 grant to study canon law at St. Paul University in Ottawa. Robert Cornellier said the pope's letter just didn't go far enough. "There no mention of help for those suffering as a result of abuse," Cornellier said. "There needs to be restitution." Cornellier's younger brother, René, died in 1994 at the age of 35, leaving behind letters that had been sent to Montreal church authorities alleging abuse by three priests and another staff member at Collège Notre Dame. His group has petitioned the Quebec Court to hear a class-action suit representing victims of sexual abuse by priests at the Montreal college. Bédard's alleged abuser, Armand Therrien, was charged with rape and gross indecency in May 2006, but died at age 67 before his February 2008 trial involving Bédard's case. A DNA test proved that Therrien, a priest in St. Marc des Carrières, a town near Quebec City, in 1965, was the father of a child that 17-year-old Bédard gave up for adoption the summer after she had worked as a live-in maid at the presbytery. A product of the times - one of seven children born to a devout French-Canadian Catholic family in a rural Quebec village - Bédard said, she remained silent about what had happened while she was a teenage girl. She married a good man, she said, and went on to raise a family of three children in St. Hubert. Everything changed when Quebec singer Nathalie Simard shared her story of sexual abuse at the hands of her manager, Guy Clouthier. These cases are just the beginning, Cornellier said, predicting many others will come forward as the stigma of childhood sexual abuse wanes. As for local Catholics, reaction to the pope's message was mixed as parishioners filed in and out of Mary Queen of the World Cathedral downtown and, a few blocks over at St. Patrick's Basilica. Precy Hernandez, a 43-year-old Montreal nurse who worships at St. Patrick's, said she was happy to hear the pontiff address the issue but she, too, felt that sexually abusive priests should be criminally prosecuted and not protected by the church. "You go to church because it's a safe place and the people there are safe to be with," Hernandez said. She and her husband recently had their infant daughter baptized at St. Patrick's. No one at the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Montreal was available to comment on the issue. Contact: ccornacchia@thegazette.canwest.com
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