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	Church "Forced My Hand" By Don Lajoie Windsor Star November 26, 2010 http://www.windsorstar.com/news/Church+forced+hand/3887107/story.html Brenda Brunelle wants Catholic church leaders to know she's not the same 13-year-old girl who sat on her school steps, afraid to go home and sobbing, the day she says her priest molested her in 1977. "If they try to discredit me, good luck to them," said the 46-year-old woman who is suing the church for $3 million for the sexual abuse she alleges she received in the late 1970s at the hands of Rev. Michael Fallona at St. Vincent de Paul church. "I'm not the little girl I was then. ... I've had it with lies." Sitting in her South Windsor home Thursday, the mother and wife vowed she would press her civil lawsuit against Fallona, Rev. Christopher Quinlan, the Catholic diocese of London, Bishop Ronald Fabbro and the Congregation of Saint Basil. It had not always been this way. Up until 2009, the committed church volunteer said she would have been content just to meet with Fallona and, ironically, apologize to him. Brunelle had grown up believing she must have been in the wrong, that she had, perhaps, done something to lead the priest on. She learned to live with the guilt and shame, hoping her volunteer work with the church on the parish advisory board, sponsoring in the Rite of Christian Initiation program and working with bereavement committees would make amends "with God." Then Brunelle, who works for the federal government, fell seriously ill with cancer. Surgery to remove part of her intestine became infected, and Brunelle feared she was near death. "I nearly bled out, had emergency surgery and several transfusions," she said. "I thought 'I'm going to die and I wanted to rid myself of my secret once and for all.' " She began trying to arrange a meeting with Fallona, who was living in Toronto. At first, the diocese could find no record of the priest. Then, Brunelle discovered that he was from the Basilian order. She petitioned the church to set up a meeting, believing the church would support her. She said she requested a diocesan priest travel with her on her mission to apologize, and even offered to pay travel expenses. Then came the blow that snuffed out her devotion to the church. Fallona, she said, refused to meet with her and denied he even knew her. Her parish priest, Rev. Quinlan, wrote a report, obtained by The Star, stating Brunelle, "lives in her own world and is prone to fantasy. ... This would be just the kind of experience she would imagine." He concluded Brunelle is "a very disturbed woman and not to be believed." She called the report a devastating betrayal. "I didn't want to expose the things I had done with a priest," she said, wiping tears with the tissue offered by her husband Donald, who remained by her side throughout the interview. "I was embarrassed. But they literally forced my hand into litigation. ... I would have asked that man to forgive me. He probably would have, and none of this would have happened. ... Now, over my dead body." Her statement of claim charges the priest fondled Brunelle and asked her to engage in sexual acts, eventually committing several that would constitute sexual assault under the Criminal Code. It further states Fallona "engaged in a pattern of behaviour which was intended to make the plaintiff feel that she was special in the eyes of Fallona, the Church and God." The statement is calling for damages for pain and suffering at $300,000, pecuniary damages in the amount of $1.5 million and punitive damages in the amount of $1 million, among other claims. At the same time, the claim asserts the priest "intended to make the plaintiff feel that her soul was in jeopardy and that she would suffer eternally in hell if she did not concede to his demands." None of the accusations has been heard in court. Fallona's statement of defence states he "has no knowledge of the plaintiff, nor of the allegations of sexual abuse." It further states: "(Fallona) denies each and every allegation contained in the statement of claim and denies all allegations as to his alleged conduct involving the plaintiff." The priest's lawyer could not be reached for further comment. Diocese of London spokesman Mark Atkinson said the diocese would refer all comment on the matter to the Congregation of St. Basil. A statement from the Basilians, signed by Rev. Tim Scott -- general councillor -- says that the order "has been notified that a statement of claim has been filed against Father Michael Fallona and the Basilian Fathers in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. The allegations date to Fr. Fallon's ministerial assignment to Windsor in the late 1970s. "The Basilian Fathers wish to express our shame and deep regret that one of our own members is alleged in the civil action to have abused a child. We hope and pray that anyone who may have suffered in this way can experience healing." It goes on to offer "restorative therapy" and concludes that the order has had policies in place since 1991 to deal with allegations of sexual misconduct, adding that information is available at www.basilian.org. In an interview, Scott said the Basilians would not discuss details of the Fallona case. It is believed the priest, now in his '70s, is living in the Toronto area. Brunelle's lawyer, Paul Ledroit, who has represented about 50 victims of sexual assault at the hands of priests, said it was the denial that Fallona knew Brunelle that led her to seek his help. "That upset her," he said. "Victims always suffer guilt and shame because they feel they let this happen, that they were at fault. They feel they must have prompted the priest because clerics are of the highest order of trust." Brunelle recalls the instant that she began to have serious doubts. She was "12 or 13" and had been helping around the church. She came from a devout family, she said, the kind that would pray the rosary in the evenings of Lent, while other kids were out playing. She had developed a close relationship with Fallona. He told her she was his friend, that he was lonely and needed someone to love him. He loved the smell of her red hair, her "beautiful cat eyes," he would tell her as he rocked her in his arms, she said. She was uncomfortable with the physical contact, but was too young to really know what was going on, she said. She said she felt sorry for him because he was lonely, and really felt she was doing God's work in being his friend. Then one day, he asked her to change a lightbulb. She climbed a ladder and he came up behind her, grabbing her crotch, she recalled. "At that point I knew," she said. "What had gone on before was not my imagination. "I went to school, sat on the (stairway) landing and cried for an hour. How could I go home to my parents and tell them what he was doing?" ONLINE: windsorstar.com Watch our video as Brenda Brunelle tells her story.
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