CANADA
The Telegram
Barb Sweet
Published on April 06, 2016
Former Mount Cashel Orphanage resident testifies of terrifying shower beating
In excruciating testimony Wednesday at the Mount Cashel civil trial, a man in his late 70s told how he tried as a boy in the 1950s to get a Roman Catholic official to help orphanage residents who were being beaten constantly by Christian Brothers.
“We need help here,” he said he pleaded to the official.
But while promises were made, nothing was done, the witness said in Newfoundland Supreme Court presided over by Justice Alphonsus Faour.
The Roman Catholic Church is now fighting four test cases, representing 60 claimants, because it says it did not operate the orphanage.
In cross examination, one of the church’s lawyers, Chris Blom, pointed out the church official the witness spoke to as a boy may have been bound by confessional confidentiality rules and could not break that seal.
“Could be, yes,” the witness said.
But the witness had also said that official was “the last resort” and he’d hoped the official could go to the Christian Brothers’ superior and have a word about the beatings without mentioning names.
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