By Brent Richter
The Province
May 12, 2011
http://www.theprovince.com/news/Former+Vancouver+Catholic+priest+criminal+discovered+working+Ottawa+church/4767750/story.html?cid=megadrop_story
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| John Wojnowksi holds a placard accusing the Catholic church of hiding pedophilia by priests on 14 March, 2002, outside the Vatican embassy in Washington, DC. |
A former New Westminster priest who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting two young girls has been drummed out of a Catholic parish in Eastern Ontario.
Father John McCann pleaded guilty in 1992 to charges of sexual intercourse with a female under the age of 16, two counts of indecent assault and two counts of gross indecency.
The charges related to sexual relationships he had with a 13-year-old Royal City girl and an 11-year-old Vancouver girl while serving as priest of St. Augustine's Church in Vancouver from 1972 to 1973 and St. Peter's Church in New Westminster from 1975 to 1979.
He was given a 10-month sentence.
The judge in the case noted that McCann felt genuine remorse for his crimes, but his abuse of his position of trust as a priest was a serious matter.
He said in his ruling that McCann's victims suffered emotional trauma as well as "social and spiritual damage."
McCann was friends with his New Westminster victim's family, and she had worked for him in the rectory.
The Crown prosecutor in the case noted that the two had sexual contact almost every day and their relationship continued until she was almost 20.
McCann, now 83, had been doing fill-in work, including conducting mass and pro-life rallies at Our Lady of Mount Carmel Church in Ottawa when victims' advocate group Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests blew the whistle about his past in late April.
McCann has since left his public duties with the church, but a spokesman with the Oblates of Mary Immaculate, the religious order McCann is ordained by, could not say how McCann wound up in front of a congregation again.
"I'm not quite sure how that all unfolded, and I don't think anybody is," said Rob Meilleur, chief administrative officer for the Oblates. "There is a process. Was this one followed? There's discussions you've seen in the print regarding the Oblates and the Archdiocese, and I'll leave it at that."
"He's not in active ministry. That's the bottom line," Meilleur added.
Asked if McCann could return to a congregation, Meilleur said it was doubtful.
"I would suspect not. At his age, he should be retired and doing what retired Oblates do,"
Rob Talach, a London, Ont. lawyer who represents survivors of sexual abuse within the church, said McCann's quiet re-entry into active ministry is egregious but not surprising.
"It's typical," he said. "It's completely absurd that he would return to such a role. If you mix the power and authority he had with access to children that the job involves, it's just a volatile combination."
Talach said the church should have fired McCann immediately after his guilty plea.
"If you had a kindergarten teacher convicted of sexually abusing some of their students, she or he would be fired," he said.
Talach said it typically takes decades for a victim of sexual assault to come forward, which make makes their suffering worse over time.
"Talk to somebody, because part of the damage of sexual assault is leaving it bottled up inside. Share it with a loved one or doctor or counsellor. Go to the police if you feel that's something that should be done," he said.
"These people that are out there, be it the victim of a priest of a victim of whoever, they really need to consider speaking up because it helps them and it helps society and it definitely helps bring justice to the perpetrator."
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