By Kristy Nease
Ottawa Citizen
May 7, 2011
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/Ottawa+archdioces+removes+priest+convicted+crimes+1990s+from+east+side+Catholic+church/4740582/story.html
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| An archive photo shows Rev. John McCann, now age 82. |
OTTAWA — An 82-year-old Roman Catholic priest who served jail time for sexually molesting two British Columbia girls in the 1970s — who were both under 16 when the incidents began — has been quietly assisting at least one Ottawa parish for more than a decade. And the pastor at the east-end church where he's been working had no idea about his colleague's past.
Rev. John "Jack" McCann, whose permission to perform occasional ministry in Ottawa was revoked by the Archdiocese of Ottawa on April 29 after the Citizen began inquiring about him, is a member of the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), which has a residence on Main Street.
At Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish on St. Laurent Boulevard, McCann had been filling in for Rev. Stephen Liang while he was away, performing occasional masses and interacting with parishioners at socials. Liang, who has been with the parish for about four years, said McCann was there when he arrived. Msgr. Kevin Beach, the archdiocese's vicar general, confirmed McCann has been in Ottawa for at least 10 years, but he didn't know if McCann had worked at any other Ottawa parish.
McCann's religious career is primarily overseen not by the Archdiocese of Ottawa, according to Liang and Beach, but by his religious superior at the OMI, Rev. John Malazdrewich, who was not available for comment on Friday. Reached by phone, OMI chief administrative officer Rob Meilleur said the entire Ottawa leadership team is away and unreachable, and that Malazdrewich is often away working. Meilleur said that therefore, no one was available to answer questions about McCann's employment history in Ottawa, whether or not the OMI informed the Archdiocese of Ottawa about McCann's criminal past when he arrived, or what McCann's religious supervisor will advise McCann to do next.
Beach, meanwhile, said none of the archdiocese's records includes any details about McCann's past, and he doesn't know if McCann was granted permission to practise occasional ministry by the archdiocese. Beach also said he doesn't know if — despite the lack of any information in the written record — someone at the archdiocese may have been informed when McCann arrived.
"I don't know what permission he was given back then, but I can tell you today that any priest from any origin who is here requires faculties before they can do ministry," Beach said. "Faculties" is, essentially, official permission to work granted by the archdiocese.
Meilleur said McCann is now free to "enjoy his retirement."
"Personally, I'm a parent with five kids," Meilleur added. "I'm not a priest, I'm their business person. I always try to be fair and level-headed, and the man has served his time. And I'm going to leave it at that."
In 1992, McCann pleaded guilty to molesting two girls and was sentenced to 10 months in jail. The offences took place while McCann was a priest at St. Augustine's parish in Vancouver and St. Peter's parish in New Westminster.
One of his victims, Leona Munnalall, told the Vancouver Sun in 1994 how McCann lured her into near-daily sex, starting when she was 13. The last incident occurred when she was nearly 20 years old. Munnalall went public because she believed it would help the Catholic Church face up to sex abuse by priests. She went to police with her complaints against McCann after hearing he had been transferred to a Catholic parish on Saltspring Island, where she feared someone else might be victimized.
At the time of his conviction, McCann was reported to have been terminated from parish ministry. He had served as parish priest in Nootka from 1959 to 1963, in Lethbridge from 1963 to 1970, in Fort St. John from 1981 to 1983, in Edmonton from 1984 to 1990, and on Saltspring Island from August 1990 until October 1990.
Liang of Mount Carmel said Friday that he had no idea about McCann's past.
"The archdiocese was just informed themselves on Friday, the 29th of April," Liang said. "It was news to them, too. They had no idea, as far as I can tell, of his background, of his previous criminal conviction of sexual assault in the 1990s, so they were just as surprised as myself."
Liang said McCann's work at Our Lady of Mount Carmel parish — made up of mainly elderly parishioners — did not include contact with children. "The parishioners seemed to get along well with him, as far as I know, and I haven't had any complaints, major complaints of any misconduct on his part, so it hadn't come to my attention," Liang said.
"It comes to me as a really big shock … Why wasn't I made aware of his background, because I'm responsible as a pastor, the parish priest here, for this parish's welfare and of my parishioners. It certainly would have been extremely helpful if I knew of his background. He wouldn't even have been able to officiate as a priest in any ministry in the Archdiocese of Ottawa if my superiors knew about it. They would have not allowed him to step in here in the first place."
McCann's whereabouts were revealed by the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests, a U.S.-based support and advocacy group that investigated after receiving a tip from "a concerned Canadian."
The organization, known as SNAP, called on Ottawa Archbishop Terrence Prendergast to immediately suspend McCann and alert every parish where he has worked about his criminal record.
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