Marc Cardinal Ouellet's Brother Has Sex-Abuse Convictions

By Jesse McLean
Toronto Star
March 12, 2013

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/pope/2013/03/12/marc_cardinal_ouellets_brother_has_sexabuse_convictions.html

LA MOTTE, QUE.—Inside Épicerie Chez Flo, the convenience store in the heart of this village of 440 people, the topic of conversation has been steady for weeks.

“The pope. The pope. Then the temperature, maybe. Then the pope,” one of the store’s owners, Lise Breault, said.

But as residents proudly talk of their native son, Cardinal Marc Ouellet, few mention his younger brother Paul.

“I don’t think the family will want to discuss that,” Lise’s husband, Florian, warned a journalist.

In 2009, Paul Ouellet was convicted of sexual abuse of two underage girls during the 1980s. He pleaded guilty to having improper sexual relationships with the girls when they were reportedly as young as 13 and 14. He was in his late 30s and early 40s. He was sentenced to 15 months of community detention.

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Just weeks after his conviction, Paul took out an ad in a local newspaper in which he said he was guilty of “accepting the advances of these young people.”

“I bitterly regret the way they now look back on the bonds we had and I regret, evidently, the hurt that I caused them unintentionally,” he wrote.

At the time of the charges, Marc Ouellet, then archbishop of Quebec, refused to comment on the case. The brothers have spoken about Paul’s convictions in private, the family has said.

Ouellet’s family is not speaking to reporters until the conclave elects a pope.

Paul Ouellet, 67, an artist and former teacher of children with learning difficulties, still lives in La Motte. The house listed as his home was quiet Tuesday. Another brother said Paul lives on the property shared by his mother and several other relatives. Three private property signs are posted at the top the driveway.

In court, one of Paul Ouellet’s victims testified: “Wherever I go, whatever I do, this experience and its baggage will follow me.” She did not respond to the Star’s requests for an interview.

Several La Motte residents said the cardinal should not be judged by the actions of his siblings.

“It’s not fair to put what his brother did on his shoulders,” said Mariette Savard. MORE: New from StarDispatches, “Sex, Scandal and Secularism” by the Star’s Sandro Contenta offers a fresh take on critical issues facing the Catholic Church. To get the full story, simply go to StarDispatches and subscribe for $1/week. “Sex, Scandal and Secularism” is also available for single-copy purchase at starstore.ca for $2.99.