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	Lawsuit Targets Priest, Diocese, Bishops Two Sexual Assult Victims Hope Their Action Will Give Others the Strength to Come Forward By Peter Geigen-Miller London Free Press [Canada] May 16, 2006 http://lfpress.ca/newsstand/CityandRegion/2006/05/16/1581884-sun.html Two former Port Dover altar boys are hoping their multi-million-dollar lawsuits will help others cope with the devastation of sexual abuse. Trevor Kannawin and Philippe Lauriault, both 22, are each seeking $3.1 million in damages in sexual abuse suits filed yesterday in the Superior Court of Justice in London. One reason the two men want to share their story is to give other victims the strength to report abuse, London lawyer Rob Talach said at a news conference called to announce the suits. "Their hope is to save others from the fate they have and will continue to endure for some time to come." Named as defendants in the civil actions are: - Konstanty Przybylski, 56, a Catholic priest who served as parish priest at St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church in Port Dover between 1994 and 2000. He now lives in London. - The Roman Catholic Diocese of London. - Bishop John Sherlock, retired bishop of the diocese. - Diocesan Bishop Ronald Fabbro. The suit comes as Przybylski awaits criminal court sentencing in June on three sexual abuse charges. He pleaded guilty in February to one charge of sexual assault and two of sexual exploitation. Originally, he faced six charges laid after an OPP investigation of complaints by Kannawin and Lauriault. Kannawin went to provincial police a year ago with complaints he'd been sexually abused by Przybylski. He said the abuse started about 10 years ago when he was 12. Lauriault had gone to the diocese with a sexual abuse complaint in 2000. The complaint resulted in the priest's removal from parish work. At the news conference at the law offices of Ledroit Beckett in London, the two men talked about the devastation of their lives that resulted from sexual abuse. Kannawin and his parents, Bill and Diane Kannawin of Port Dover, told how he went from being an A student to getting barely passing grades. He tried to attend university and college, but dropped out of both and is now holding down a low-paying job. He indulged in body piercings and a Mohawk hair cut, behaviour completely out of character, and became estranged from members of his close-knit family. Lauriault, who comes from a French Catholic background, once intended to become a priest, but has abandoned any such thought. He has required anti-depressant medication to help him cope with the emotional impact of abuse, he said. He said his educational ambitions were thwarted because of the impact of the abuse. He was expelled from the theatre program at the University of Ottawa because of poor academic performance and was unable to complete paramedic training. The two men hope their suits will help to answer questions about the abuse they suffered. One is how Przybylski came to serve in the Port Dover parish. A record of his service shows he'd served in London for two years in Our Lady of Czestochowa parish after moving from Chicago. The men also ask why the Church isn't doing more to combat sexual abuse by clergy. "The Catholic Church keeps saying they have a solution . . . but it's not adequate," Lauriault said. "They are not doing enough." More should have been done when he went to the Church with his complaint, he said. "I had assurances and found out recently those assurances were not kept." Both men said they were lured into accepting abuse by their trust in priests. "When you are Catholic, in my case French Catholic, you believe the priest knows all," Lauriault said. "When the priest says you do it, you do it." Bishop Tony Daniels said on behalf of the diocese yesterday, "We continue to deplore any sexual abuse, particularly by a priest and certainly with a young person. It's so contrary to the Church's reason for being." He added the Church is prepared to co-operate with the plaintiffs and their lawyers to bring the suits to a "just and hopefully a beneficial settlement."
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