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	Canadian Judge Puts Catholic Church in Perilous Position By Matt C. Abbott Renew America [Canada] May 25, 2006 http://www.renewamerica.us/columns/abbott/060525 The following article appeared in the May 11, 2006 issue of The Wanderer Catholic newspaper. It was written by news editor Paul Likoudis, and is not available on the paper's Web site. For subscription information, call 651-224-5733. CORNWALL, Ont. — The Canadian justice presiding over a public inquiry into "historic" sex abuse in this city on the St. Lawrence River, and a decades-long cover-up by prominent citizens, issued a novel ruling on May 1 that, for the first time in Canada, names the Catholic Church as a "public institution" subject to government oversight. The potential ramifications of Justice G. Norman Glaude's ruling are enormous for Catholics, said Sylvia MacEachern, an Ottawa-area Catholic who has been watching with intense interest the hearings of the Cornwall Inquiry held at the Weave Shed, a former cotton mill in this down-and-out city. "What I see the government doing through Justice Glaude is bringing the Catholic Church, and eventually all churches and organized religions, under the mantle of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and this could mean that the government has authority to regulate all matter of internal Church governance, specifically as it relates to issues of 'equality' and 'discrimination,'" she told The Wanderer in a telephone interview. Previously, the Church, and all other religious organizations, were considered "private," and beyond the reach of governmental interference. The Justice's ground-breaking decision, some observers suspect, was forced upon him by the mandate of the Provincial Liberal government to investigate male sexual abuse in Cornwall without probing the Diocese of Alexandria Cornwall. The Cornwall Public Inquiry was established by the Government of Ontario on April 14, 2005, under the Public Inquiries Act. The mandate of the Commission is to inquire into and report on the events surrounding allegations of abuse of young people in Cornwall by examining the response of the justice system and other public institutions to the allegations. It began hearings on the scope of its mission in November 2005, and in February 2006 opened hearings on the general issue of what constitutes sex abuse, its extent, and why it occurs. Victims of alleged clerical abuse, along with others who want full disclosure of the abuse of minor males in Cornwall by prominent businessmen, doctors, government and Church leaders and the subsequent cover-up, were outraged at the Church's exemption from the inquiry, and led the Justice to name the Church as a public institution. In a companion decision the Justice overturned a motion by attorneys representing alleged abuser Fr. Charlie MacDonald requiring that alleged victims not name their abusers — or even testify. Justice Glaude's surprise rulings won immediate praise from Adrien St. Louis, who claims he was sexually abused as a minor male by former Alexandria-Cornwall Bishop Eugene Larocque, and another priest, Fr. Don Scott, who is now deceased. St. Louis told the Canadian Press' Terri Saunder he was "overwhelmed" by Glaude's ruling. "Now we know we're going to able to speak about this and there will be no more hiding," he said. But Mrs. MacEachern fears the Justice's decision will lead to a legal quagmire, with so many legal challenges, stalling tactics, etc., that the Cornwall Inquiry will simply disappear from public view — a cynical notion shared by many in Cornwall who believe that the purpose of Glaude's commission was to cover-up the cover-up. (Wanderer readers who want to know more about the Cornwall Inquiry can visit Mrs. MacEachern's web site and blog at: http://www.theinquiry.ca — a web site that is now receiving more than 2,000 hits a day, from across Canada and the United States, including many readers from the provincial and federal governments.) Among Canadian reporters, only the Ottawa Citizen's Zev Singer caught the import of Glaude's ruling. In a report published May 2, he wrote: "A judge's ruling yesterday that a Catholic diocese will be treated as a 'public institution' at an inquiry into sexual abuse cases in Cornwall throws open the debate about the balance between Church and State, says a University of Toronto expert on public law. "Justice G. Norman Glaude, the commissioner of the Cornwall public inquiry looking into allegations of sexual abuse in the Cornwall area, ruled yesterday that the Diocese of Alexandria-Cornwall would be open to the same level of scrutiny as the police and other publicly funded and controlled organizations. "Lorne Sossin of the University of Toronto said the ruling challenges the traditional definition that churches are private organizations.... "David Sherriff-Scott, the lawyer for the diocese, said yesterday the diocese should not be viewed as part of the public sector, which has a much greater degree of accountability to the public. "'A public inquiry is designed to look into the machinery of government to see if it operates properly,' Mr. Sherriff-Scott said. 'The idea that (Judge Glaude) would treat any private institution or private organization or private charity like a governmental, public institution under his mandate is just frankly absurd'...." Sherriff-Scott said the diocese would likely appeal the ruling. Mrs. MacEachern further observed, on her web site blog, that those "who watched the proceedings at the Weave Shed yesterday noted that Glaude looked decidedly uncomfortable as he rendered his decision. I agree....I do believe the diocese's motion [to exclude the diocese from the inquiry, and to prohibit alleged victims from naming names and testifying] put Glaude between the devil and the deep blue sea, and he was well aware of that fact. In short, it left him with two options, both problematic and controversial: "(1) uphold the mandate and leave the diocese where it was neatly placed 'beyond the scope of the mandate' and risk a showdown with and possible withdrawal of the victims, or "(2) overrule the mandate and set legal precedent by ruling that the diocese is a public institution, and thereby risk the serious ramifications which may transpire. "Glaude chose the latter. He took pains to explain that defining the diocese as a public institution 'should not, and cannot, be looked upon as an investigation of the Church, its doctrine or its beliefs.' And that little addendum of course would mean diddly-squat if a Charter challenge on issues such as abortion, women's ordination or homosexuality is lurking in the wings..... "[T]he only givens at this point are that, thanks to the mandate "(1) the freedoms enjoyed by the alleged paedophiles of Cornwall will remain unhampered; "(2) there is no desire nor will there be any attempt to censure or hold accountable those who engaged in a cover-up; "(3) the 'alleged' victims will remain 'alleged' for life; "(4) there is no desire nor will there be any attempt to verify [Cornwall Constable] Perry Dunlop's finding and allegations; [Dunlop broke the cover-up in the mid-1990s, ed.] "(5) there is no desire nor will there be any attempt to restore Dunlop's reputation; and, last but by no means least; "(6) unless there is a concerted effort to expose them, cover-ups work. I expect the diocese will appeal. I would be surprised if it didn't. I am less certain about Father MacDonald but do believe the mandate gives him ample grounds to do so." But even if the cover-up continues on several levels, from police and high government agencies, it unravels on others, as more and more [alleged] victims gain the courage to tell their stories. Matt C. Abbott is a Catholic journalist and commentator. He is a columnist for and/or contributor to RenewAmerica.us, TheConservativeVoice.com, MichNews.com, Catholic.org, Opeds.com, and Speroforum.com. He can be reached at mattcabbott@gmail.com.
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