CANADA
Metro News
By Joe Lofaro
Metro
An Ottawa pastor who was charged last week with sex offences against a teenage boy has received more than 100 emails of support from his followers, said a priest filling in for the accused man during Sunday morning mass.
Ottawa police charged Father Stephen Amesse, 56, on Thursday, with two counts each of sexual assault and sexual interference. They allege he sexually assaulted a then-14-year-old boy at a west end church in 2008.
Police said they had been investigating Amesse since they received the complaint in February.
The Archdiocese of Ottawa said he was suspended from the ministry immediately after the arrest.
On Sunday at St. Patrick’s church where Amesse is a pastor, the congregation was united in disbelief.
Father Geoffrey Kerslake told a packed St. Patrick’s church Amesse received 128 emails by Friday morning and all but one were “positive.”
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