More Distrust

Western Star
January 6, 2012

http://www.thewesternstar.com/Opinion/Editorial/2012-01-06/article-2855730/More-distrust/1

The sentencing of Roman Catholic Bishop Raymond Lahey for importing child pornography has again sparked more rage against the church and the judicial system.

Lahey had pleaded guilty to the child pornography charge back in May and surrendered himself into immediate custody while awaiting sentencing.

Since Lahey committed his crime in 2009, Ontario Court Justice Kent Kirkland said the 71-year-old bishop was entitled to receive double credit for time served awaiting sentencing. And with close to eight months already in jail, Lahey was free to go from the court.

A well-respected bishop when he served in the St. George's Diocese from 1986 to 2003, the news came as a shock for many Roman Catholics from the area, as it did for people in the latest archdiocese in Antigonish, N.S. where he had served as bishop from 2003 up to his resignation following the charge.

Already reeling from a number of clergy from the Roman Catholic denomination who have been taken up on sex charges in the past number of decades, the news of Lahey going free after leaving the court was scorned by many.

Some feel the sentence didn't fit the crime and others seem to have become disillusioned with the church and some of the protection afforded to clergy members who did wrong through the years.

What some people found most disturbing about this case is that Lahey announced the result of a $15-million settlement for victims of abuse in the diocese he was serving dating back to the 1950s and apologized on behalf of the Roman Catholic Church for that. It was only about six weeks after the announcement that he had been arrested.

During his recent trial he was making apologies once again but this time on behalf of himself and that left a sour taste for some Catholics. While he was making the first apologies he was likely involved in possession of pornography himself, considering the amount of material he had on his computer when caught.

It's a distrust of people in positions of power that has been the most disturbing when it comes to the clergy being charged. It has happened time after time and unfortunately the innocent people who serve in the same church often also end up tarnished.

While the Roman Catholic church has taken some measures in recent years to distance itself from clergy who get caught for such activity there needs to be more done by the church to ensure this activity doesn't happen in the first place.