BishopAccountability.org
	Diocese, Former Sault Priest Sued for Sexual Abuse in Sudbury By Frank Dobrovnik Sault Star April 20, 2011 http://www.saultstar.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=3088260 A London, Ont., law firm wants to hear from anyone who remembers Rev. John Edward Sullivan, the convicted pedophile priest who served at Precious Blood Cathedral in Sault Ste. Marie from 1958 to 1961. "Because these are historical cases, we're really behind the 8-ball in putting the facts together ... We've got to find stuff that happened decades ago. It's not just victims but anyone who knew of his whereabouts, anyone who was a parishioner," said Rob Talach, a lawyer with Ledroit Beckett. The litigation specialists have commenced three lawsuits against the Roman Catholic Diocese of Sault Ste. Marie and Sullivan, for sexual abuse he was convicted of having committed against three brothers in the late 1960s while chaplain at the Falconbridge Canadian Forces Base in Sudbury. Sullivan, now in his mid 80s and living in Montreal, was convicted in 1990 of numerous offences of sexual assault on boys in several communities including Sault Ste. Marie, Wawa and North Bay. He was ordained in 1958 and began his career in the church at Precious Blood. Talach says there is evidence the diocese had knowledge of his crimes from years before he was posted to Sudbury, beginning with the "very short" time he spent at his first posting and "then being farmed out to Timbuktu" — St. Monica in Wawa. "It fits the pattern of someone who's been caught and shuffled away," said the lawyer, who has sued the Sault diocese "over a dozen times," including for former Sudbury priest Bernard Cloutier, convicted in 2005 for sexually assaulting four young boys in the 1970s. Based on victim numbers, Talach called Sullivan's crime spree "large, for its time." And based on history, he is confident others are out there. "Those that come forward are usually only the tip of the iceberg," he said. "In smaller communities, in more rural areas, it's a little more difficult for someone to come forward, in their mind, because they think everyone in the community is going to know and is going to treat them differently." The reality is that in most cases "these things can go from start to finish without anyone ever knowing, other than the diocesan lawyer and the bishop, in a civil suit." The church prefers to keep it that way, he said. "If you look at the church's own documentation, they've been putting out dictates and instructions from the Vatican all through the 20th century, so this isn't new to them. They clearly like to keep the cap on any information, because at the end of the day this is what's referred to as a scandal, and that's kryptonite to the church." Now retired, Sullivan remains a priest in good standing with the church. The three separate statements of claim filed in Sudbury Superior Court allege he initiated sexual contact with the three brothers in the summer of 1968, when they were aged 12, 13 and 14. The abuse lasted for approximately a year, according to the documents. In addition to being convicted for sexual assaults in the Sault, Wawa and North Bay, The Sudbury Star reports Sullivan was convicted for the Sudbury offences against the three brothers.
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