BishopAccountability.org
	Ex-Port Dover Priest Admits Sex Assaults on Altar Boys By Paul Legall The Hamilton Spectator [Canada] June 7, 2006 http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=hamilton/Layout/ Article_Type1&c=Article&cid=1149630614228&call_pageid=1020420665036&col=1014656511815 A disgraced priest who sexually abused a Port Dover altar boy during a trip to the Vatican says he secretly paid more than $36,000 to another victim who threatened to expose him. Father Konstanty Przybylski has pleaded guilty to sexually exploiting and sexually assaulting two boys from his parish from the mid-1990s to 2000. Yesterday at his sentencing hearing, he said one of the boys -- now 23 -- called him several years ago and demanded money. He stopped short of saying the man was blackmailing him, and denied suggestions he was portraying himself as an extortion victim as he faces a possible penitentiary term. Former altar boys Philippe Lauriault, now 24, and Trevor Kannawin, 23, worked with Przybylski at St. Cecilia's Roman Catholic Church in Port Dover. They have gone public with their stories and are suing the priest and the diocese for $6 million. Przybylski has pleaded guilty to abusing the two from the mid- 1990s until 2000. Lauriault was 16 years old when the abuse started and said most of the sexual activity occurred in the parish rectory. But he was also abused when Przybylski took him on unchaperoned trips to a family wedding in Chicago, his native Poland and a pilgrimage to the Vatican. Outside the courtroom, Lauriault said he was the only altar boy without his parents during the trip to Italy and the abuse occurred while he shared a bed with the priest in a religious conference centre near Vatican City. The next year, he said, Przybylski took him to Poland after the priest's mother died. In 2000, he was supposed to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land with the priest. The abuse of Kannawin began when the boy was 13. The attacks continued until 2000 when Lauriault reported the priest to his superiors in the London diocese. Przybylski told the court yesterday that Kannawin called him in January 2003 and demanded money. "He mentioned, 'You will give me the money or else you will go to prison,'" Przybylski testified through a Polish interpreter in Ontario court yesterday. "I asked how much and there was no answer," he added. From Feb. 15, 2003, to April 3, 2005, he said he had nine secret meetings with Kannawin in Port Dover and gave him a total of about $36,000 in sealed envelopes. Although he claimed Kannawin had never specified an amount, Przybylski said the payments ranged from $3,000 to $5,000. Always in cash. He testified there was little conversation during these encounters and the envelope was never opened. Testifying at his sentencing hearing yesterday, Przybylski denied trying to buy the victim's silence and claimed he was providing the money for professional counselling. During cross examination by Crown Attorney John Ayre, Przybylski conceded Kannawin had never demanded money for counselling when he phoned him with the prison threat in January 2003. Asked how he felt when he was threatened with prison, the priest replied: "I was amazed." But the thought of going to jail never occurred to him, he added. Kannawin has admitted phoning the priest but denied the blackmail allegations. During cross examination Przybylski said the thought of "extortion" never crossed his mind when Kannawin telephoned. With a net salary of less than $17,000 a year, Przybylski testified he had to exhaust his savings and collapse his Registered Retirement Savings Plans (RRSPs) to make the payments. "You were prepared to go to great lengths to keep a secret," Ayre charged. "I just wished to help him," replied the priest. In May 2005, after also first complaining to the London diocese, Kannawin reported the sexual abuse to the Norfolk OPP. The priest was initially charged with six sexual offences. But the charges were reduced to sexual assault relating to Kannawin, who was abused over a four-year period, and sexual exploitation for both victims. Sexual exploitation relates to the fact that Przybylski was in a position of trust and authority. Lauriault approached church authorities in 2000 and informed the diocese about the priest's behaviour. As a form of discipline, they relieved Przybylski of his pastoral duties and ordered him to undergo counselling at the Southdown Treatment Centre north of Toronto. When he left St. Cecilia's, he told his parishioners he had contracted stomach cancer. They didn't learn about the sexual abuse until he was charged four years later. During treatment at Southdown, he admitted his sexual involvement with Lauriault. But he never mentioned he had also abused Kannawin, who is now married with a young child. After Southdown, he spent some time with a sister in St. Catharines before he was moved to St. Martin of Tours Parish in London. He has no priestly duties. After studying for the priesthood in his native Poland, Przybylski immigrated to the United States in the 1970s and served as a priest in Chicago where he has relatives. He has been in Canada since 1988. His sentencing hearing will resume June 13. The Crown is pushing for a penitentiary term and his lawyer, Mike McArthur, has asked for a conditional sentence or "house arrest." He is out of custody awaiting his sentence. plegall@thespec.com 905-526-3385
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.