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	More Sex Victims Set to Break Silence By Marianne White Montreal Gazette April 11, 2010 http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/More+victims+break+silence/2788543/story.html The wave of sex scandals battering the Roman Catholic Church is only the tip of the iceberg, claims a victims' rights advocate in Quebec who has gathered more than 400 testimonies from men and women who say they, too, were abused by priests. France Bédard, 62, who heads an organization that assists victims of sexually abusive priests, says many of them will break their silence in the coming months. "More revelations will be made because many victims now have the strength to come forward," she said. She said cases of abuse that have been exposed at Collège Notre Dame in Montreal are encouraging male victims to speak out. Last year, a Montreal Gazette investigation uncovered dozens of cases of abuse by the college's clergy during the 1970s. Bédard says she was raped and impregnated by a priest in the 1960s. She decided to press charges only in 2005 after the Quebec City Catholic archdiocese refused to help her, saying the priest was denying being the father of her child. A DNA test later proved Armand Therrien was indeed the father. He was charged with rape and gross indecency in 2006, but died before his trial. Bédard has since filed a $325,000 lawsuit against the Archdiocese of Quebec and Therrien's estate. Since going public with her story, Bédard has become the confidante of hundreds of other victims in Quebec and some Atlantic provinces. "I get calls every day from victims," said Bédard, who runs the Association des victimes de prêtres (www.victimesdepretres.org). She is putting together a list of victims of sexual abuse by priests that has more than 400 names, and she said she's not finished. There are priests or institutions that have dozens of victims, she said, while other cases are unique. "I'm telling you, and I know what I'm talking about - colleges and boarding schools will soon be exposed because people are finding the courage to talk," Bédard said, adding some of them have already been to the police to press charges. She noted that twice as many men as women have contacted her.
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