Ex-priest Who Sued Church over Alleged Abuse Dies at 63

By Dan Arsenault
The Chronicle-Herald
September 3, 2014

http://thechronicleherald.ca/novascotia/1233943-ex-priest-who-sued-church-over-alleged-abuse-dies-at-63

A former Halifax priest who left Nova Scotia in the 1990s to work with Toronto’s homeless has died.

Rev. Robert Cashin, who would have turned 64 this Sunday, was found dead inside his apartment last weekend. He hadn’t been in contact with his family for three weeks and they summoned the police to check in on him.

“They believe it to be natural causes,” a cousin, Brenda Michalski of Dartmouth, said Wednesday. “He was a very kind, loving individual. He had a heart of gold.”

Cashin was ordained into the priesthood in 1979 and spent much of the next 20 years at Saint Mary’s Basilica and Saint Thomas Aquinas parish in Halifax. He also worked in the Mount Saint Vincent Motherhouse, Chezzetcook and Sheet Harbour, Michalski said.

In 1997, Cashin filed a lawsuit in Nova Scotia Supreme Court accusing Msgr. Albert O’Driscoll, the former rector at the basilica, of sexually assaulting him twice in 1979.

He’s believed to be the first priest in Canada to allege sexual abuse at the hands of fellow clergy.

The church denied the allegations but agreed to an out-of-court settlement in August 1998. A confidentiality clause prevented him from ever discussing the settlement.

Although his strong faith never wavered, the court case deeply affected Cashin’s ties to the church, Michalski said.

“He did not have a good relationship with the Roman Catholic Church afterwards. They pretty much ostracized him. He went into seclusion afterwards.”

She said he later moved to Toronto where he began to help the poor through non-denominational ministry work with the Salvation Army.

Outside of church, Cashin enjoyed travel and spending time with his family, Michalski said.

The family is still organizing funeral plans.